Haiti which shares and island (Hispaniola) with the Dominican Republic. Haiti is a former French colony and the Dominican Republic is a former Spanish colony. Haiti is located east of Jamaica to the south and east of Cuba to the north, and west of Puerto Rico.
To say that Haiti has had a troubled history would be grossly understating the problems that have beset the country. During slavery, Haiti was the richest country in the western world. Sadly, for much of the last almost 200 years, Haiti has been the poorest country in the western hemisphere.
Haiti was the first predominantly African country to defeat a European country in war, when the slaves revolted and defeated Napoleon's navy and became an independent nation in 1804, the first country in the western hemisphere to do so. France demanded reparations from Haiti for the loss of the income that the slaves produced and threatened a joint invasion with England and the USA. In 1830, with the threat of an invasion imminent, Haiti agreed to pay France USD$21 billion, which is over USD$1 Trillion in today's value. This payment was made over a period of 125 years and doomed Haiti to eternal poverty. The constant meddling of France and the USA in Haiti's internal affairs have also ensured that the nation is in a constant state of struggle and strife.
Most recently, the president of Haiti Jovenel Moise was murdered in his home in the capital Puerto Prince by a hired hit squad with ties to people in the USA. In the last few days an earthquake of 7.2 magnitude hit the island that was still reeling from the murder. Also, much of Haiti' infrastructure was still not fully recovered from the previous natural disaster 10 years ago. Much of the donated monies and supplies never quite made it to the island then.
The island of 11.5 million people is once again reeling from the devastation brought about by man made and natural circumstances.
The Anibesa team are using a sales drive of "Haiti" t-shirts to help raise funds for the people in Haiti. We will be using a local Haiti based charity (FOKAL - www.fokal.org) who we believe is independent and best placed to ensure any monies raised is spent where best suited.
We encourage you to support the people of Haiti through whatever means you chose. Let's adopt the African spirit of UBUNTU and help Haiti.
The Anibesa Team