A few weeks ago, Lord Christopher Monckton told me a distressing story about a visit to Haiti. He said that poverty in that troubled nation is so pervasive that many of its inhabitants have been reduced to eating mud pies. The term “mud pies” is not slang for a local staple made from locally-grown cereal crops. We’re talking about people reduced to eating actual dirt. Monckton watched Haitians form mud into the shape of pies, mixing in a sprinkling of whatever nutritional foodstuffs might be available (like oil and salt) and then “cooking” the mud pies in the sun.

Sounds like further evidence of the devastating effects that the January 12 earthquake had on Haiti, right? Not really. Oh, did I forget to mention? This was the situation in Haiti before the earthquake hit, as this 2008 story that appeared in National Geographic documents.

Between 2000 and 2010 the World Food Price Index, the inflation-adjusted measure of how expensive food is across the globe, almost doubled. In 2000 the index sat at a value of 90. As of January 2010, the index had risen to a value of 172. That a 91% increase in the cost of food over the course of a decade.

While Americans and citizens of other industrialized nations may be able to absorb that kind of price increase, the poor living in the Third World cannot. Tragic cases of starvation like the ones Monckton witnessed in pre-earthquake Haiti are hardly unique. Dwindling, more expensive food supplies have led to an increasing number of food riots around the world. More and more people are dying, simply because they can not afford basic sustenance. How could this happen? (more…)

Haiti is on my mind and I am very sad today.

I was in Port-au-Prince twice in 2009.

When I arrived the first time and walked through the streets, the people stared at me cold.  At first glance, it was an unwelcoming place.

My dear friend Jean-Marc de Matteis, whom I hope is alive and well tonight, smirked a bit and said, “The thing with Haitian people is that they’ve been through a lot.  It’s a hard life here and people wear it on their faces.  But that’s not the true nature of Haitian people.  Watch what happens if you make eye contact and simply say ‘bonjour’ to someone.”

I did.  And I always got a smile.   Sometimes a quick flash of a smile and back to a glare, but the glare became an easier glare.  Sometimes they’d smile a massive smile and say “bonjour” back.   It’s an amazing feeling of getting a smile 100 times out of 100 attempts.   The country really was a welcoming place.

I don’t exaggerate when I tell you I said “bonjour” to almost everyone with whom I made eye contact.   And Port-au-Prince is a crowded place, which means a lot of people to greet.  My friend and interpreter, Alain Charles, who, as of this moment I cannot locate — and it’s taking me enormous restraint to not cry — took notice and would often laugh whenever I said “bonjour.”  To him it seemed like I was kind of insane.  Like I would if he tried it in L. A. or New York City.  But I loved doing it. (more…)