Thread: Take Soap????

At a party last week we met a couple who had been in Labadee last year. They were telling us the flea market vendors offered to "trade" them for things they were wearing -- hats, shirts, shoes, ... anything they had with them.

It's a terribly poor country! There's a lack of money and a lack of availablity of goods. They said soap, toothpaste, and that sort of thing were in very short supply and much needed.

OK .... I would be happy to take a bag of soap with me ... but, I'd like to know if what this couple told us is accurate. I'd be horribly embarrassed if I gave them soap that was not needed ... like I thought they were dirty.

HELP! Tell me what to do!

LOL! That would be embarrassing! "here...take this soap..."

I seeme to recall (several years ago) reading on another board that the 'island manager' would take donations of very basic school supplies for the children of Hatai. (Pencils, pens, erasers, paper, spiral notebooks, etc) Perhaps basic toiletries are a need as well.
I dont' know if this is still the case or not... the Island Manager would be an RCL employee, and there would most likely be a different one now.

I don't know if writing to C&A would yield any results, but you could try. I'd be interested in hearing about their reply if you decide to do so.

did not see or hear any of that during our cruise last July; I'm sure they'd be just as happy with some cash!

However, if it's true that some things truely are in short supply there, the actual items would be better.
The prices could be quite high there... so the actual dollars that would buy, say, a dozen bars of soap here might only buy half a dozen there. IF there really IS a supply problem.

Hoping someone can give us some good info on if this is true... and maybe who to contact to see about bringing a bag of things when we go there late this year. If you could get that bag of supplies into the right hands, it could be distributed to a few people who really need it.

OK -
Ii decided that wondering about this simply wasn't going to cut the mustard.
So, I just sent an email to Crown & Anchor inquiring about it.

When (if) I get a response, I'll post it here.

Here's the answer I received from Crown & Anchor:

Thank you for your email.

Labadee is a private resort owned by Royal Caribbean International on the island of Haiti. Unfortunately, since it is far removed from any towns or citizens we are unable to provide you any political or cultural information on the island. Additionally, only Haitians that provide services to the resort are allowed to enter the resort. Due to this, it would be very difficult for Royal Caribbean International guests to provide any items to citizens of the island. We apologize for any disappointment this answer may cause.

Thank you for choosing Royal Caribbean International.

Christopher Fitzgerald
Customer Service Representative

Boy, that's certainly a perfect example of the party line. We see nothing, we hear nothing, we know nothing.

Not a lot of help, is it?
sometimes, all you want to do is do a little good, nothing more... but sometimes, there are a lot more obstacles that you would think there ought to be.