Book Summary Thirsting for sensational stories about hunger, suffering, and violence, the world's most prestigious news agencies-the Associated Press (AP), Agence France-Presse (AFP), Reuters, CNN, CBS, The Guardian-have for decades uncritically repeated anything NGOs, UN agencies, or pseudo-researchers claim about Haiti. No vetting of data. No critical review. In the wake of January 2010 Haiti earthquake these exaggerations and lies erupted on a scale greater than ever before: apocalyptic disaster, machete wielding gangs with faces hidden behind bandannas battling in the streets for loot, dust covered earthquake survivors resurrected from concrete tombs, two million orphans and lost children, sexual predators and slave traders prowling the rubble-strewn slums of Port-au-Prince hunting the children down, marauding bands of armed men beating and raping women and children at will, and sprawling refugee camps infested with every kind of human affliction. The avalanche of exaggerations and outright lies precipitated a tsunami of sympathy and donations, the latter of which mostly disappeared into the coffers of aid agencies, pockets of consultants, flimflam experts, and the Haitian elite. The Great Haiti Humanitarian Aid Swindle is the inside story of how some of the world's most respected humanitarian aid agencies have deceived and manipulated the overseas public regarding what is really happening in Haiti. Sometimes they've done it knowingly, sometimes through self-delusion, but always with the goal of collecting money from sympathetic donors and always by ignoring or burying data that would contradict their fantastic claims. Their greatest ally has been the mainstream press.
About the Author: Timothy T Schwartz has a PhD in anthropology, is a specialist in statistical research methods, and has been working in the field as a consultant for much of the past 27 years. During that time he lived in Haiti and the Dominican Republic. He spent 5 years in rural areas of Haiti, first living for one year in a fishing community and later in towns and eventually Port-au-Prince where he worked as a consultant for international aid agencies. In 2001, disgusted with development, he went to live in the Dominican Republic for 10 years. The first year was in a squatter settlement at the edge of a camp of Haitian migrant laborers outside of Santo Domingo. While there he worked doing Social Impact Assessments for private corporations. In 2008, with the election of Obama, Schwartz began to work in Haiti once again. Before the earthquake he had done at least 20 major surveys and research consultancies in Haiti for the world's largest humanitarian aid agencies, including UNICEF, CARE International, and World Vision. Since the earthquake, in the past 7 years alone, he has done at least 47 consultancies for more than 60 different organizations. This is Schwartz's third book. The first was a popular book called Travesty in Haiti about failed development efforts, drugs, and corruption in the aid sector. The second book was an academic book about the rural Haitian family patterns called, Sex, Family and Fertility in Haiti. Schwartz has a PhD in Anthropology from the University of Florida (Gainesville: 2000). He speaks fluent English, Haitian Kreyol, and Spanish.