Haiti has infrastructure issues

It's a gross understatement to say that Haiti has governmental problems, as evidenced by the presence of the UN, every NGO known to man, and the fact that the electricity is on for 14 hours a day, at best (5 or so of those while most people are sleeping.)

Seeing UNICEF tents, buildings covered in USAID Tyvek, and almost everyone wearing clothes that were clearly donations not exactly shocking but like a semi-fictional story that turns out to be true. You know people donate boatloads of clothing and food to Haiti and that a staggering amount of aid goes down there, but when you see all that instead of regular stores, hospitals, etc...it has an impact on you.

 On our way over the mountain to Jacmel, we stopped at an outpost run by a Christian non-profit where a clinic is held several times a week...

 ...and it was called Christian Ville...or at least the former location had been called that.

 

The group (I forget the name) is building a permanent clinic that will service over 30,000 people in the area, and will be complete with a lab and everything. Pretty cool. In Jacmel, I saw a kid with a large abscess on his foot from having stepped on something because he didn't have shoes. Basic medical care is just not available to so many people.

 

...enter random photo from the compound.

 While this is fairly green, it's also fairly deforested. These used to be lush mountains, but now every time there's a good rain, there are landslides, making the roads impassable until the UN comes and plows it out. Restoring (repairing?) the mountains is something that is apparently only being done on a very small scale at the moment.

...and if you still had a question about the infrastructure of Haiti – Exhibit A.