Haiti Overcrowded Cities - Is Decentralization Possible?

How did the population of Port-au-Prince grow from 200,000 people just a few decades ago to more than 3 million?

Keep this in mind while reading this article:

People move in search of a better life, people move to a place where they can feel safe and secure, people move where their children have a future.

In Haiti, they call it "La paix nan tet, la paix nan vant."

Question: If things are worse where you are going than of were you have been...

Do you STAY or do you GO?

With that in mind, here's what triggered me to write about this...

I was reading an article recently and the Duvalier dictatorship is to blame... Well... In part, they say...

The article says:

"Part of the reason [for Port-au-Prince being so overcrowded] was that Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier, the late dictator, shut down ports and tore up roads to undermine his opponents in the countryside. And in the 1980s, new factories lured farmers to the city from fields where they were struggling to survive." (The Associated Press)

KEYWORD: they were struggling to survive...

Do you agree or disagree with this statement?

Eyewitness News - Growing up as a kid in Hinche Haiti in the 70's, it was amazing to notice the amount of people who came to town during election time. Truck loads of "Habitants" (countrymen) came to the city for some FREE 'kleren/tafia' when mayors, prefets, and deputes were being elected. They were brought in by the truck loads, the politicians thew a hell of a party, got them drunk, and they voted to pay the bill.

Some of them never left Hinche...

If this was happening in Hinche Haiti back in the 70's, imagine how many people were heading to Port-au-Prince from all over the country.

Port-au-Prince is the hub... To Haitians living in Haiti, Port-au-Prince is like New York City, the city of dreams, If you can make it here you can make it anywhere!

Is it really possible to encourage the sons and daughters of these people to go back home?

The only way, I think, is to promise them a BETTER life...

How is life on the country side?

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Responses

Yvrance Unelus says...

Yes, Decentralization is possible. Port au Prince is overcrowded. The poor people of Port au Prince live in very bad conditions, They are more »

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Gigie says...

Just thinking...... Why we more »

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Sergo Jean says...

I do believe people move because they want to.And I believe to be safe and secure,we have to create it for ourself,for our children and to have more »

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Josy says...

Decentralization is the only solution, and the city cannot sustain so many people. Port au Prince is too crowded, and we should go back more »

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Bernard says...

Oh boy! Here we go again, blaming Duvalier for the over population! Well its amazing how people forget. Jean Claude left Haiti in 1986, are more »

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Frantz Dorismond says...

there are a lot of truths in those statements,but i won't aggree with everything; because there are some exgerations there.but what is more »

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Pat says...

Toulimin, you make a lot of sense. Thanks for the education. The anamacity is not necessary. They want people like you to talk like that to more »

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Cam says...

SI CA CONTINUE MEME LES HAITIENS QUI VIVENT A LA CAMPAFNE AURONT BESOIN D UN VISA POUR CIRCULER DANS NOTRE PRORE PAYS.HAITI EST MISE AUX RNCHERES more »

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Jean Pierre Alexandre says...

Hey Animal,if you don't have anything constructive to say"just shut you stinking mouth. I have a better topic for you to discuss. Feel free to more »

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