Tired of seeing only depressing info when you type "Haiti" into Google?

The Real Haiti - What Comes Up First In Google When You Search Haiti?

12/29/2020

EARTHQUAKE
SAVE
DEVESTATION
RELIEF
CHOLERA
DEATH
DESTRUCTION
CATASTROPHIE
HURRICANES
POVERTY
DIRTY
DEFORESTATION
AIDS
SHITHOLE
THIRD WORLD
TUBERCULOSIS
RECOVERING
TPS
DEPORTATION
MORTALITY
DANGEROUS
POOR
VIOLENT
LITTERED
UN
NGOS
RAPE
CORRUPT
COOS
VICTIMS
MASSACRE
HEARTS WITH HAITI
HOPE FOR HAITI
THOUGHTS
PRAYERS
UN WORKERS

Do you like what you see when you search

If you're like us, you're most likely tired of seeing these negative words describing Haiti pop up on most Google searches.

While there's been positive visibility progress over the years, particularly after the 2010 earthquake thanks to social media, these keywords still show up too often. We can share beautiful pictures of Haiti all we want, but those nice beaches and beautiful mountain views don't erase peoples "image" and idea of Haiti. It's not their fault. They've been seeing it their whole lives. With a negative perception of the island, it's pretty much impossible to excite anyone to visit unless they have some sort of connection to Haiti like family, friends, church, etc.

Why would you want to travel to a "shithole" that has no trees, poor people and NGO workers who take advantage of ordinary people? I am being sarcastic.

Not again!
Seriously, though. I totally get why Haiti is pushed aside and not a thought until there's been a hurricane and then everyone is all, "Pray for Haiti" "donate for this cause, blah blah blah." People like sensationalism. People love to go to "help out" when others are in crisis. People love to donate things or money. Some people capitalize on poverty, in which we can refer to this as poverty porn.

There's often a white savior mentality attached to such which is a savior complex to help non-white people in a self-serving manner (Wikipedia, 2020). When the crisis and hype are gone, Haiti is forgotten about. Then it starts all over again and the news reminds us that "Haiti can't catch a break." This is unproductive.

While I (Diana) don't know what it's like to be born and raised in Haiti, except for the stories my family tells me, I know that Haiti and Haitian people deserve to be respected. My human experiences in Haiti have been so life-changing that I feel empowered to be the messenger of of the other side of Haiti and the Haitian culture. I believe this is my God-given talent.

I realize that I live in a pretty diverse place (South Florida). Other parts of the US, and maybe around the world, don't have access to Haitian culture, Haitian friends or a thought about Haiti past destruction.

As The Real Haiti has grown over the years, our efforts have increased to provide resources that will help kids understand Haiti, learn more about Haiti and those who are Haitian can be proud of their heritage, not embarrassed or pitied.

How do we change this?
I believe that teaching others about Haiti can improve the pity mentality. We've all heard it before, change starts with our little ones, our children are our future. It's so cliche, but it's true.

digital library with learning materials about haiti and the haitian culture through the real haiti academy

The Real Haiti Kids is an online portal for parents and teachers to access information about Haiti and the Haitian culture. Sure, you could spend hours and hours searching for kid-friendly information about Haiti (trust me, I've been doing this for years) and you will find some with lots of digging. However, the information either outdated, terrible quality, in 5 million different places or about an orphan or earthquake survivor. There's so much more to Haiti and Haitian culture than devastation and feeling like we need to save Haiti.

We provide quality resources for parents and teachers to use to teach kids about Haiti and Haitian culture.

For starters, we are offering free worksheet activities that you can download below.

Like what you see on the freebie download? Order our "Let's Learn About HAITI" workbook for immediate download. In this one-of-a-kind resource, you'll find many activities, games and fun learning for kids!

You also may like:

A Virtual Field Trip to Haiti
My Book of Haitian Cultural Symbols
Violette and Her Love short children's book
The Real Haiti Academy for families or organizations

The Real Haiti Freebies (PDF Worksheets)

$15.00 $0.00

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My Booklet of Haitian Cultural Symbols (PDF Worksheets)

$4.99

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The Real Haiti BUNDLE Activities for Kids

$49.99 $9.99

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I hope you enjoy these activities with your children or students. There will be a variety of resources to come. To make sure you stay connected, you can subscribe to the blog in the footer.