SCIAF
Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund
19 Park Circus
Glasgow
G3 6BE
Tel: 0141 354 5555
Email: sciaf@sciaf.org.uk
© SCIAF 2008
Registered Charity No: SC012302
Company No: SC197327
Registered Office: as above
Chris MacLullich in Haiti (2008)
Vernia Saint Peaux and her son Vernel (Photo: SCIAF)
SCIAF's Latin American Officer reports back from Haiti, where SCIAF is helping poor communities overcome the global food crisis.
Haiti - February 2008
Haiti was once a verdant, green paradise. When it was first ‘discovered’ by Christopher Columbus in 1492 he wrote in his journal: “There in that high and mountainous country is the land of God.” This lush island - inhabited by the now extinct indigenous peoples who welcomed the Conquistadors - became the richest slave colony the world had ever known. Haiti was the first and only country in which there was a successful slave rebellion but the Haitian government was exploited and ostracised by Europe and the US and it is now the poorest country in the Western hemisphere.