Lausanne World Pulse – Urban Articles – The Haitian City and the Unease of the Church

By Jules Monel
June 2009

Haitian cities crave love, but they are no longer loved. In spite of an increase in urban populations, cities are not cherished. As Jean-Bernard Racine reminds us, history is moving toward an urban future.¹ Our Haitian rural regions continue to decline; our cities are saturated. Peripheral areas and suburbs are annexed as unending ghetto regions. Misery in all its forms tramples our aging urban structures. Cities become great boroughs which are transformed into endless areas of poverty; villages are abandoned and people find their home in problematic popular neighborhoods often called “bidonvilles.”²

Carrying the strict necessities (including voodoo), “le paysan” is an urban dweller followed by the voodoo spirits (les Laos). This “paysan” melts into the city, still haunted by hunger. He or she is forced to beg, and the spirit of voodoo perpetuates his or her state. A vicious cycle ensues. Often, such a person converts to Protestantism without taking notice of his or her real state of “lostness.” The cycle continues.

Haitian Cities
The most recent census (1997) affirms that our cities/regions—Port-au-Prince (three million), Cap Haitian (750,000), Les Cayes (120,000), Les Gonaïves (120,000), and Jacmel (120,000)—are mixed with wealth and slums. Each of these coastal cities has colonial roots; each grew slowly but has increasingly fallen on very hard economic times.

The urban population in Haiti has tripled in the last thirty years—mostly in the city/region of the capital.

Haiti has a rural past which continues today. However, the last three demographic studies underscore rapid urbanization.³ The urban population has tripled in the last thirty years—mostly in the city/region of the capital that represents more than sixty percent of the urban population of the country.

The two largest cities (Port-au-Prince and Cap Haitien) have rich political, economic, and historical significance. Unfortunately, on their streets many Christians are not thinking biblically or theologically. However, we believe a theology of transformation is critical—God desires to change our cities, individually and socially.

Port-au-Prince is a primate city in spite of all its contrasts—symbols of modernity mixed with a highly defective infrastructure developed at the turn of the twentieth century to house 180,000 people. Development has been late and slow. Although globalization is evident everywhere, the city is slow to adapt.

Cap Haitien was the tourist stop. Over the past thirty years it has been exposed to multiple wounds. The main city is still visible; however, it has been rendered invalid by in-migration. The “ghettoization” of the city is clear for all to see.

Both cities share a common destiny: filth which can lead to ecological and health disasters. However, cities are still the principal attraction of people from rural regions. Throughout the 1980s, population was quite stable and cities maintained their charm. However, in-migration broke the charm and put an end to slow and accidental urbanization.

Jules Monel is dean of the faculty of Theology at the Université chrétienne du nord d’Haïti. He completed a doctorate in ministry at Bakke Graduate University in 2009 on the subject of this paper. He is married to a medical doctor, Joselie Dorméus, and they have one daughter. They are actively involved in the Baptist Convention of Northern Haïti and one of their churches in Limbé.