Mr. and Ms. proposal authors, I firmly believe you are acting on the basis of emotion. As much as these can help to alleviate what we are hearing, I unfortunately and strongly disagree with both proposals: "Tentative Proposal A Journey of Hope for the Children of Haiti " and "A Voice for the Children of Haiti" are attempting to push forward, simply because most of our Caribbean leaders are not altruistically, legally/morally, politically, socially, intellectually and economically equipped to act in good faith in reference to the welfare of these children. The Caribbean islands do not have laws in place to properly protect these kids once they are removed from the homeland and have taken up residence in those foreign lands. A prime example, can any of these authors tell his readers which country has any law(s) that would protect these children from child molestation, sodomy, rape, child pornography, sexual exploitation of a minor? Is there a social welfare system in place to versee the day to day well-being of these children? Mr. author, the people of Haiti are not asking us for proposals. They need immediate help in their country, not to be further exploited for the betterment of others..remember, life's basic resources/needs (food, clothing, shelter, security, love of family and community...) are what they need right now. Unfortunately, a lot of the latter sent to Haiti which we undoubtedly saw and heard of via the media, internet, etc. never made their way to those who needed them most. WHY...control, control by the greedy and selfish within...the latter is control by the bureacrats-UN club and some of our socal island govermental officials and employees. Do you recall hearing President Obama following the quake stating taht prior to the earthquake incident in Haiti, the government received from the US one-half billion dollars in aid. Following the devastation of the country no one was able to give an account of that money, which arrived in Haiti a few weeks prior to the earthquake. No one had any evidence where the money went after arriving in the country. Apparently, there's no evidence to show the money was spent to help improve the infrastructure or improve the lives of those in desperation-the social, economical, educational...destitute needs of a people. The port of Haiti was and might still be rigged with corrupt government officials and employees. Just imagine one employee from the port has two and three houses, 4 and 5 cars. All of these achieved within a short period of time. Now, do you think the children of Haiti should be shipped out of their comfort zone-where their roots are to some foreign land...thus forcing them to leave their beloved ones...those who care for them most and be shipped off to unknow countries/families with no knowledge/clueless as to whether not they'd be sexually abused, sodomized, overworked, enslaved and mistreated simply because they are fleeing their country on account of the earthquake's devastation of Haiti? Gone are those days when our ancestors were hunted down, bounded in chain and shackles by members of their own family, gang/tribe, village, community, race...because they did not fit the status quo of the latter family, village, community, tribe and gang... sold off cheaply for pieces of shiny metals, watches, knives, food, chocolate bars, pots and pans, pints of oil, trinkets, cloth, piece of silver, guns (to catch those who ran off in hiding/escape capture) in order to sell them to the other race and be taken into unknown lans, salvery...then had the audacity to turn around and blame the other race for enslaving us. Are you implicating that the Haitian children should suffer the same fate...no identity of their own...would they be discriminated against because they're different-speak a different language...are we as a Caribbean people cohesive as a race or region? I would not want to see slavery repeat itself. The children of Haiti don't need to be shipped off throughout the Caribbean to be mistreated by those in whose care they would be placed. The children of Haiti deserve and have the right to remain in their country and see it redeveloped politically, socially, educationally, infrastrually...The entire country-Haiti did not get detroyed. Too many of sit back and ignorant enought o think the entire population of Haiti is not living on the street of Port-au-Prince...no houses withstood the quake and the country is being totally destroyed. People, it's just a small portion of the capital that was destroyed... the other cities and countrysides are intact. at the same time, the country does not need all these bureaucrats to handle its rebuilding. What the country needs now is effective supervision and management of the donated funds and grants deemed to the rebuilding process of the country. An Establish Check-and Balance System to ensure the money does not end up in the wrong hands is what Haiti needs now. Hold people responsible and punish them when they deviate accordingly...if they misuse government funds for personal/selfish gains, seize the properties to replace what was taken away from the public. Take Cuba for example, when the Cuban government responded to devastations in foreign countris, Castro did not just send money. He sent human resources and materials and they helped to rebuild whatever country went to. The efforts of the Cuban government was strictly monitored by the Cuban government and things got done. I think the world body of nations should use the Cuban model (used by Fidel) as an example. Since grants and funds normally disappear or end up in the hands of greedy and corrupt governments in 3rd world countries, I would recommend that the US use the PEACE CORP at the forefront in its endeavor to rebuild Haiti. Members of the Peace Corp would do a much better and less corrupt tainted job to rebuild Haiti. I think they would do much more to accomplish what the Haitian people would want to see happen to their country. Following the aftermath of Hurricane Ivan in Grenada, I was told that most of the donations in goods, clothing, materials... went to government officials, party supporters, those who worked at the docks,families/friends...the things the latter grops did not want remained at the port for rot and was later dumped. The world answered to a plea for aid. Their sacrifices never got to the ones who needed it most. Let's hope the children, seniors, those with disabilities, non government officials and nonemployees are not facing the same fate as was seen in other places. Haiti needs one voice right now. Not a voice of what the outside world wants for Haiti, but rather, what the Haitian people want for Haiti. Let's us (as outsiders)not make decisions for the children of Haiti. Let the children and their families decide what good for them. Teach them how to fish rather than simply give them a fish. Give them the skills so that in return they can become independent providers for themselves and community. They are as educationally, Socially, intellectally, politically and economically savvy and quite capable of managing whatever is allowed to them as any other Caribbean nation. Our leaders are under no circumstance more effective nd trusworthy thsn President Preval and his partners. They all use the same cheap psychology and demeaning strategies to have our vulnerable people elect them to office. The Haiti people are not asking for hands-me-down and for us to make decisions for them...they are simply requesting our support to rebuild their lives and to ensure they are not exploited by their leadership and corrupt government employees who would double charge them when they apply for services. Personally, we as a Black race...yes, I am going to generalize here, we don't hold hold our BLACK LEADERS accountable and responsible for their mismanagement of our countries' resources. We don't even organize and demonstrate peacefully anymore...we turn a blind eye when we see corrupt government practices. We have unfortuately concluded that it's no longer "Government by the People, for the People and of the People." On the contrary, we see it as "People by the Government, for Government and of the Government." We are not afraid to kill and maim those around us who are trying to better themselves through personal labor and perseverance, but we're scared to verbalize and tell it as it is to our corrupt elected officials...even afraid to secretly demonstrate that God-given right at the pole. The Tousaint Louvertures, Fedons, Ghandis, Malcom Xs, Garveys, Martin Luther King, Jrs. Walter Rodneys, Maurice Bishops, William Pitts, Wilberforces...are no longer alive to lead and unselfishly fight our struggles. We-our own enemies, filled with Crabs-the-Barrel mentality...grudgingly, opportunistically, selfishly and unfortunately killed them off. I am sadden to say that our presently day Black elected leaders/officials(from a 3rd World political perspective)do not see their appointments as altruistic, humanistic and sacrificial as should be considered. Good governance can never be achieved unless the people become consciencios of their environments, open their eyes and read, read, read, question themselves, looking at the issues rather than their immediate gratifiications. I long for the day, though I know it would never happen, when the majority of folk throughout the Caribbean islands can elected their leaders on the basis of the issues rather than what "Ah going to, me go vote fah...mr. so and so coz he ge me a bottle of run, killed ah sheep, ge us ah cow head last week to cook...im ge us two weeks work on da road in the last five years im bing in office." It would better serve the younger generations if we can carefully assess and evaluate our elected officials on what they have done for the community-their constituency and country on a whole. We need to move away from this immediate and short term gratifications.