Canaan - Haiti Observer Blog

Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe arrived in Canaan on an exploratory mission on 6/17/13. Canaan is one of many towns near Port-au-Prince that received thousands of 2010 earthquake survivors. The survivors erected a tent city and received emergency supplies of food and water from the government of Haiti (GOH) and other non-government organizations (NGOs).

Lamothe talked about an urbanization program that will make Canaan a habitable place, supplying it with essential services such as electricity, water, and septic systems. But a conflict is brewing between GOH and the Diaspora, who have been building housing in the area. It focuses on the questionable necessity of the GOH to control the vicinity so the Unit for Housing Construction and Public Buildings (UHCPB) can perform its work. The GOH is discouraging the Diaspora from any further construction activity because it would interfere with the UHCPB's work. A collateral reason to prohibit more construction is the problem of squatters on the land.

Read more →  

A rose by another other name would smell just as...

This is not always so. The city of many names, born out of the efforts to house homeless victims, and launched in the presence of former President Preval and Hollywood celebrity Sean Penn, among others, the once shiny, new city built for the victims of the 2010 earthquake, fondly labeled Canaan, Jerusalem and by many other lofty names, can now be called by another name entirely, that of a shanty-town.

Corail-Cesselesse sits on about 11 kilometers square of land belonging to owners who are now considering making suit against the government to the tune of about $64 million USD. Adding to the colossal scope of the failure which is this new Canaan, is the deplorable state to which the homes and impromptu squatters' shanties that have popped up in the thousands have sunk. Between sixty-five and a hundred thousand people live in the flimsy, ramshackle buildings and the government now seeks to reorganize the area to create a more appealing living space for the masses.

Read more →