Overview:
Some residents in the hilly neighborhood of Cap-Haïtien are selling rocks to make up for their demolished homes. This is partly due to the town hall’s refusal to compensate them, as their houses were not registered within the commune.
CAP-HAITIEN — In the sweltering heat, a man and two teenage boys are hauling large, gold-colored rocks down Laborie, a hilly neighborhood in Cap-Haïtien. They are going to sell these rocks, which have been on the hilltop for years.
Following a landslide triggered by heavy rains in northern Haiti last week, the town hall demolished several houses. This government’s action cleared the way for residents to move the rocks from the debris. The authorities deemed these hilltop homes as a continuous risk. Consequently, many residents have started collecting and selling these large rocks from the rubble.
For resident Djeff Maurancy, these gold-colored rocks serve as makeshift compensation, as he and his family received no financial assistance from the town hall after their houses were demolished last week.
“It can’t do much, we’ll never get back what we lost but we see this as our compensation,” 20-year-old Maurancy said. “They just came and broke our homes down without telling us. This was like a coup d’état. They didn’t even give us somewhere else to stay or money. It’s true that this hill isn’t beautiful but they would’ve been right to break the houses only if they gave us somewhere else to stay.”
Pierre has yet to evaluate how much he will make from selling the rocks.
Another man, who had also been gathering rocks, had planned to sell his for 10,000 gourdes (approximately $172) and a cellphone. However, the deal fell through when the buyer reported him to the police, confiscating the money, the phone and the rocks. Jacquelin Philippe discovered these rocks amidst the debris of his mother’s home, where she had stored them for future house construction.
“There’s no state [government] in Haiti,” Philippe, 35, said about not getting justice from the deal that went wrong. “We’re left on our own. We have to defend ourselves. We have to look for our own food.”
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