Mismatched priorities.
Since 2013, the facade of the houses of Jalousie, a shantytown of Port-au-Prince which is home to some 45 000 inhabitants, have been painted in various bright Caribbean colors, reflecting the style of the Haitian painter Préfète Duffaut. Known as “Jalousie en Couleurs,” the scheme is part of the “16/6” initiative, an urban renewal project which is meant to relocate refugees from the 2010 earthquake as well as provide citizens adequate access to basic services and repair infrastructure. Critics of President Michel Martelly’s administration have noted that it is only because it is clearly visible from the wealthy hill-neighborhood of Pétionville, a borough which boasts several new luxury tourist hotels that overlook Jalousie, that these houses have been painted. Furthermore, the 1.4 million dollars which were spent on this superficial makeover came from the earthquake relief fund, a fact that is not lost on those who lived their daily lives without proper sewage, running water, or electricity in Haiti’s bidonvilles.
P.Dandenault
