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. It piles up everywhere in great mounds that people periodically burn to reduce the volume and to check the spread of disease. In the last half-century, the people of Haiti have demanded free elections time and time again, both violently and peacefully. Since the days of the 1791 revolution, however, there has not been a majority of the populace coming together behind any single party.