They know nothing about how government works and its mission, said Smarck Michel, who resigned in October as Haiti's prime minister, under fire for a sweeping plan to sell off state-run enterprises. That knowledge, however, is just an abstraction in many parts of Haiti. Along the shores of a tidal basin in northern Cap Haitien live up to 30,000 of Haiti's poorest of the poor. The murky, malodorous water meanders between tiny houses amid refuse and hogs. A humanitarian worker estimates that 50 people die weekly of typhoid.
People defecate in the water behind the home, leaving the foulness to fester.
He looks from his doorway to a crudely made pig pen where the huge animals languish in the refuse. In the rainy season, every day when I get out of bed, I have to cover my nose because it's too much smell. The children often have fevers, diarrhea and malaria. Mercedes worked a long time ago but now relies on friends to give him a little money so he can buy breadfruit and avocados for 20 to 40 cents apiece. Occasionally they eat rice and beans.