Mount Olive - Haiti Observer Blog

Mount Olive, a small town in Wayne County in rural North Carolina is best known for its pickle factories. The small town has recently received worldwide attention for its changing demographics. As many as 3000 Haitian population has been added so far with the town's population of 4,600. Haitian immigrants from toddlers to grandmothers have flooded this tiny hamlet south of Goldsboro.

There are many stories behind how this transition started. At the most basic, every story goes like this: in late summer of 2010, a Haitian who was working at the Butterball plant in Mount Olive once heard that his boss has to replace a dozen of his workers because their work permits have some problems. The Haitian worker came forward to solicit new workers from his country. He first called an aspirant friend in Miami, who again called some of his mates in other places. Two days later, two vans packed with energized Haitians arrived at Butterball who were offered immediate jobs. This was the beginning of exodus. Another similar wave of immigrants came twelve years ago when Mexican workers came to pick cucumbers for pickle factories.

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