Friday, February 19, 2010

Covering Haiti with rubber

LifeSite News reports that vital relief supplies destined for Haiti could not be offloaded because a storage facility was overloaded with a huge shipment of condoms. The condoms were estimated to occupy nearly 12,000 square feet in a 17,000 square foot warehouse. You couldn't make it up!

According to the report, the scenario of medical supply buildings in the developing world taken up mostly by condoms at the expense of true health care supplies is not new. When Canadian General Romeo Dallaire returned from Rwanda after the massacre there, he noted that military personnel referred to UN and other foreign aid as "covering the country with rubber."

Dallaire explained that tons of condoms and other contraceptives were being shipped to and distributed around the region in quantities far beyond what the population could use, and in place of much more needed food, medicine and other aid. Medical stores, he said, were filled with contraceptives and extremely short of any supplies to treat wounded Rwandans.

Earlier this week I asked an innocent question about Canadian Prime Minister Harper's visit to Haiti. What, I wondered, did Steve see that he didn't want to talk about, to the point where he refused to answer questions from the media who went along for the ride. Maybe now we have our answer. Even the P.M.'s blinkered vision couldn't miss a warehouse full of condoms!

4 comments:

  1. You couldn't make it up? Well, some basic math:

    70% of 17,000 sqft = 11,900 sqft
    Stacked up to 7′ = 83,300 cubic feet
    Subtract 10% for service space = 75,000 cubic feet
    One box containing 144 condoms measures 4″ x 6″x 2″ = 0.028 cubic feet.
    75,000 / 0.028 = 2.7 mln boxes
    2.7 mln x 144 = 390 mln condoms.

    Hardly likely.

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  2. Ummm... maybe it should have been cubic feet in the original report? So that would be...let's see...only 900,000 boxes of condoms? Math was never my strong suit.

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  3. When Canadian General Romeo Dallaire returned from Rwanda after the massacre there, he noted that military personnel referred to UN and other foreign aid as "covering the country with rubber."

    I'd like to see a source for that quote.

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  4. The quote from Romeo Dallaire is taken from the Lifesite article, linked in the post. Ask them! I have a hazy recollection, though, that General Dallaire testified before a committee of the Canadian parliament. He was reportedly very upset and disillusioned by the abject failure of the UN mission in Rwanda to do anything about the genocide there, so perhaps he made a few trenchant remarks.

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