The upper-class elite who took over a majority of the large plantations were indeed Haitians, but they were French speaking, wealthy businessmen. For the next one hundred and fifty years, landowners paid criminally low labor wages, sometimes practically enslaving whole families who couldn't pay the rent to live on their land. Shanty towns grew on the outskirts of larger cities, from which peasants would spend most of their scant wages simply commuting to and from the fields in which they worked. When the wind blows in off the ocean, the metal roofs strain and rattle. It's like being inside a tin can.
Open sewers flow down the dirt streets, which are deeply rutted by erosion.
When it rains, the sewage overflows into people's homes. There are no bathrooms, no running water. Thousands depend on a public faucet or a broken water main where people scoop up water. Children can be seen playing and washing in the open sewers. The government doesn't collect garbage.