It is easy to look at the shanty towns and slums around Port-au-Prince as a highly disorganized mess of buildings built haphazardly on the slopes of otherwise un-inhabitable areas.
These areas, though technically not “legal” incorporated zones with any land deeds, are highly organized and tight communities of families and individuals. They have their own councils and collect money for public projects completely aside from the official government agencies. There are no roads to speak of, but the passageways are paved and stairs built with community money.
It is one of the unusual paradoxes of Haiti. The status usually relegated to those who have fallen through the cracks are able to create a life for themselves and their families, literally, in those cracks.
Stay tuned…
-Noah D.
