12-236 Garand Picture of the day - Haiti present day

[Bob Seijas]

Haiti was always plagued by Yaws, a disease that hits children, causes bone damage and terrible deformities. About one out of three kids got it. It turned out that Penicillin is a magic bullet for Yaws, one dose cures it. At the end of WWII we had a TON of penicillin that was no longer needed, so what to do with it? Somebody said, "Well, we could cure all the Yaws in Haiti." That sounded like a good idea.

Unfortunately, nobody knew how to do this outside of Port-Au-Prince -- most of the population lived in widely scattered jungle villages and there were no roads outside the capitol, just a network of jungle paths. Nobody even knew where all these villages were... except an itinerant doctor who made a regular circuit of the country treating patients in the bush. So the doctor was asked if he would distribute the Penicillin on his rounds, and he agreed.

The doctor, however, was a schemer. He went to the head man of each village and said, "I can make you the hero of your people. This drug will cure the disease, and I will give it to you to administer... on one condition. There will be an election in a few months to choose the leader of the nation, I want all your people to come and vote for me." Of course they agreed enthusiastically.

The doctor's name was Duvalier, and after years as dictator, he would be known as "Papa Doc."