Often I browse the internet at night with my laptop looking for news stories that I find interesting. After the terrible earthquakes in Haiti, millions of dollars of aid money has been raised. But it will take more than that. It is estimated that $3 billion is needed to rebuild the country. Will it help? According to USA Today:

During the 1990s, the U.S. government spent $100 million trying to improve Haiti’s police and justice systems, and had little to show for it.

After a decade of such aid, the nation’s law enforcement and courts remained corrupt and ineffectual, a 2000 Government Accountability Office report said.

From 2005 to 2007, the USA tried again, paying a contractor nearly $4 million to improve Haiti’s judicial system. There was “no measurable improvement,” a government audit found.

Cultural trends and attitudes will not change with money. It will be an uphill battle to get true change to Haiti.