Exodus to Countryside Reverses Long Trend [in Haiti]

[FarCenter]

Maggie Steber for The New York Times
Published: January 21, 2010
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Arckela Dorvil carefully lifted his teenage sister from the road, practically holding his breath, trying desperately not to aggravate her wounded right side. He climbed into the back of a truck called Love Divine.

The other passengers waited. Normally, they would be scrambling for seats, but this time they held back. They all knew where the Dorvils were coming from. They all knew where they were going. Out, away from the destruction, the water shortages, the rancid stench of death, and back to the pastoral countryside where family and food were more plentiful.

They are part of a historic exodus. For more than a decade, Port-au-Prince has been growing as Haitians have left small villages and coastal towns for the capital. Now, countless thousands are going back, and some experts contend that the shift — if many people remain in the countryside — could benefit Haiti in the long run.

“The city does not have the capacity to sustain millions of people. It never did, and even in 10 years it will not have it,” said Pierre-Michel Fontaine, an international studies professor at the University of Miami. “If the money given to Haiti is used well and they establish a good program of forestation, people could work the land again.”

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