Down With the Expensive Life

It is spray painted on many walls around Port-au-Prince.  Aba lavi che!  Down with the expensive life.  You may have read about the recent demonstrations in Haiti.  Much of is related to the rising cost of food.  The price of staples like rice and beans have risen anywhere between 50-10 percent over thelast few months.  The issues are complicated though by the political situation and interests of various groups (both good and bad).

We drove down main Delmas, the road that runs from the docks in Port-au-Prince up the mountain to Petionville.  Nearly all the stores along the road had some damage, mostly broken glass.  Life was back to normal, though, at least temporarily.  The tap-taps were running, the street vendors were out and churches were holding services.

Here are some pictures of the damage from the recent manifestastions.  We continue to pray that calm would prevail.

The Unibank all boarded up

Broken windows at a building materials store