Cap-Haitian is the second largest city in Haiti. When you drive through the streets of Cap-Haitian you will see trash on the sides of the road pushed high by bulldozers, open sewers running in front of houses, and broken glass bottles cemented to the top of walls to prevent intruders. The people walking down the streets all have western style clothing, though, almost all of the women wear dresses or skirts. You might see people carrying heavy loads on their heads, or pushing carts made from car axles. When you cross the river that runs through Cap-Haitian, you see hundreds of people washing clothes right in the midst of piles of garbage.

The people that live in the distant villages often think that there are better opprotunities for them in the city. They leave their homes and search for jobs in Cap-Haitian. The jobs in the city, though, are scarce. What they actually find is extreme poverty and crime.

Click on the photos to the left to see what the city of Cap-Haitian looks like.