A Leap Into The Dark: A Day Out in Sun City (Cité Soleil)

the infamous coastal shanty town of Cité Soleil

Wilkens, my tent-mate, friend, brother, revolutionary and ex-marine has been keen for me to visit City Soleil – Sun City – probably the most infamous of all areas of the country. This is where, even before the earthquake of 12th January, residents are so poor they eat biscuits made of butter, salt and mud as reported several months earlier on Ketchup.

Wilkens wants to introduce me to Castro Pierre who has set up an interesting project in the area and he arranges me to visit and tour the vicinity.

three remarkable visionaries - from left to right Jonathon (teacher), Alex (Principal) and Castro Pierre (owner)

Now Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and it is in Sun City where the poorest and most poverty-stricken people inhabit. It has a reputation for complete lawlessness and indeed between 2004 – 2006 was a complete no-go area, not just for Haiti´s police force, but indeed for the United Nations. Remnants of previous battles scar buildings in and around the area. Some 300,000 residents inhabit this coastal area. Wikepedia notes that these people rarely survive beyond the age of 50. Drugs (crack, cocaine and marijuana) and some 30 warring gangs blight this ghetto.

We drive through into this area via one of the dirtiest, smelliest and disgusting markets i have ever witnessed, before being picked up by Castro Pierre who delivers us safely to his project. It is based at Av. Soleil 20#135 with a telephone hotline (509) 3708 5463

Castro (like his famous name-sake) is a complete visionary and philanthropist. Having grown up in the ghetto he realised the necessity of changing the patterns of lawlessness. With his own money in 2006 he set up his own school, open to all students both in Sun City and the neighbouring areas. He provided classrooms and resources single-handedly, and up until the Earthquake it provided vital education to some 250 students aged between 5 – 20 year olds.

It was free to students who did not have the economic resources, indeed even providing free food and water to the students where necessary. 13 teachers were employed with his friend Principal Alex in charge of pedagogical practice and school development, as well as a school secretary and supervisor. It ran from 7.30am – 1pm every Monday to Friday and plans were in place to provide extended services in the afternoon for secondary classes.

the remains of the school

remnants of the classroom - eerily the board reads 12 Janvier 2010

Castro informs me he tried to get other external organisations involved in the project including UNICEF, but unbelievably, amazingly and completely shockingly, nothing ever materialised. I asked them why, and the only hypothesis was that they were black. I´m horrified! He kept the project going single-handedly.

The last day of school was 12th January when the earthquake struck, and much of the school and classrooms were completely destroyed. He has no more money, but is determined to try to resurrect the school. Some of the school´s resources were saved from looters and he is desperate to get things up and running again as soon as possible. Indeed, whilst we visit, two Grade Four students turn up to ask when the school will re-open. They have nothing else in their lives apart from this school.

Given the situation, Sun City self perpetuates its problems with children having nothing else apart from continuing in their parents´ vane – namely drug abuse and lawless gangs. Their only escape from this cyclical pattern is through education. Both Castro Pierre´s and Alex´s vision is that the students will leave this ghetto and to escape the drug and gun culture.

two young residents - what future will they have without an education?

Both Castro and Alex are more than pleased to welcome me, for they have never had an “outside agent” come to look and explore their facilities. They show me all the students´ files meticulously kept from each class, including attendance and birth records – made even more difficult by the fact that often these are non-existent due to the child´s abandonment and homelessness. Nonetheless they persevere and can get court issues of these retrospectively.

The school can be contacted via org.seed@yahoo.fr

another young resident

Both Castro Pierre are keen to give me a guided tour of Sun City. We head to the outlying shanty town with pigs and humans living in the same residence. It is truly a pitiful sight surrounded by squalor and filth.

filth by the quayside

Next we head across to see the carbon manufacturers in action, via the cock-fighting ring, their houses completely black, and what looks completely uninhabitable. Yet it houses complete families in deplorable conditions.

Heading on to the quay, we see fishermen in action as well as identifiable cracks in the road from 12th January. We pass buildings with bullet holes from stand-offs between gangland gunfighters and the United Nations dating back from 2006.

gunshot wounds from battles with both the police and United Nations peace-keeping forces

Lastly, the trip would be incomplete without a visit to the “biscuit factory”. I would like to report that they taste of chicken, but they don´t, just like salty mud really.

The Biscuit Factory - mud, salt and a little butter - Yum! Not!

wild-looking mud biscuit seller

The trip is a complete eye-opener and an education into the atrocious conditions that humans can survive in. It makes the Seed project seem even more vital if the situation is ever to change.

I know i have been asking for a lot of support through this blog, but this cause is vital if the situation is ever going to improve for this impoverished community. If you can help in any way, please contact Alex and Castro through their yahoo account. Meanwhile, i am sending this blog posting to any appropriate international charity i can find - this project is too immense for it not to have international support.

Not for the first time on this trip i am grateful to Nurse Carol for administering me with a tetanus jab before leaving.