It's not often that a story idea crops up within view of my apartment window, but this is how I first started asking questions about the ship to Haiti.

A ship loaded with used cars steams out of Boston harbor, bound for Haiti. Chris Burrell/World Vision Report

I live in a gritty neighborhood called East Boston, which is wedged between a massive airport and Boston Harbor. A small but busy shipyard and marina sit just down the hill from my place, and I noticed a ship would arrive for a few days, load up with old cars and trucks, and then sail away. When I began asking people in the neighborhood, the story got even better. I was told that the cars were packed full of stuff.

I've now gone to the docks and climbed aboard the ship at least four times in the last couple of years to witness the raucous scene that unfolds under clouds of diesel exhaust.

You hear a lot about the global economy, and you can find tangible evidence of it by looking at the labels on just about anything in your home. But to see this trade up-close and in action makes it feel much more real. The main reason is that I met the people behind all this steel and rubber rolling and sailing off to Haiti — not just the ones who themselves buy and ship used trucks and cars, but the mariners who work aboard the ship and Haitians who see the goods take on a new life in their country.

A minister outside Boston who shipped a Jeep Wrangler to a fellow missionary in Port au Prince (the Jeep was later crushed in the earthquake) would not let a formal interview commence until he gave me an hour-long lesson in Haitian history.

Then there were Rafael and Chico, two Nicaraguan crewmen who worked aboard the Cala Galdana. When they loaded the ship in late fall while a cold Atlantic wind whipped over the deck, they would warm their hands on the hoods of the cars and trucks.

When I asked Ketcia Pierre-Louis about the used goods coming to Haiti — known there as pepe — you could feel the passion in her voice as she described what it feels like to see these mattresses and old vacuum cleaners arrive in her country. "Why are we getting all these shabby things?" she asked.

It was that question that made me think. It went beyond environmental and economic considerations to a place of pride. Maybe in the big picture of global trade, the cars and trucks and cheap goods are a necessity for Haiti, but nobody wants to feel like their country is a dumping ground.

The question that remains is whether industrialized countries like America, Germany and Japan (the biggest exporters of used vehicles to the developing world) should take some responsibility in the matter. What do you think? Should America put more restrictions on the used goods we export, especially to struggling countries like Haiti?

Listen to Chris' story about used cars being shipped from Boston to Haiti.