Sorry "Annie",that effrot is commendable,but futile.It's like PI$$ING in the ocean,and hoping the level will rise!
Besides,there are an estimated 2,000,000 million illegal Haitians here, and they want to STAY!
The construction business would stop!
You couldn't buy an "Orange" on any street in the country,and finding a really BLACK hooker on the beaches of the country would be nearly imposable!
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I am sure that many of the Haitians who are here do indeed wish to stay
There are also a large number of them who would like to return.
This project is only dealing with the ones who wish to return.
The issue in places like Las Terrenas and perhaps Juan Dolio is that many came here and had a bit of work and no do not have any.
I did not start with this - I just asked the Haitians up in LT - once I saw that at least one of them was showing signs of kwashikor.. which is nutritional deficiency in which one's hair turns red...what THEY wanted.
And they said that they wanted to go back.
But many do not have the money to go back
And most do not have papers.
For me now, the only issue is to try to push the IOM and the funding agencies -- who design the program... to provide tools for the construction workers who wish to go back .
Perhaps this is only going to cover a small percentage of Haitians here.
But it is what they wanted.
Of course, if they stay here .. without papers.. and then have children.. then the number of really vulnerable people in the population increases.
two million Haitians here now is the estimate