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[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Tttnhm@aol.com

Dirty Black Gold
Entrepreneur Takes on Haiti’s Lucrative Charcoal Market

By Conor Bohan
Special to the Haitian Times
from The Haitian Times,  29 May 2002

PORT-AU-PRINCE - Andre Dalaire is out to make the Haitian insult "Maman ou se
yon machan chabon," or "Your mother is a charcoal woman," into a compliment.
Behind one of the many high walls and sturdy gates in the quiet Santo suburb
of Port-au-Prince, the former professor of political morals in Canada is
trying to make a living out of saving Haiti's few remaining trees.

Dalaire is recycling the mountains of charcoal dust that collect at markets
throughout the country, turning them into charcoal briquettes and selling
them under the name Chabon Tout Bon, or Real Good Charcoal. Dalaire's claim
that Chabon Tout Bon burns better and longer than the traditional charcoal
made from chopping trees is seconded by the many customers who regularly line
up at his gate or run after his salesmen when they see them in the
marketplace.

"Chabon Tout Bon e tout bon vre," or "Real Good Charcoal is really good,"
said Roget Fanfan from her perch in the Petion-Ville market, packed with
yams, potatoes, onions and malangas. "I've been buying it since it first came
out," she said, "back when it sold for a (Haitian) dollar. It lights well and
stays in the grill longer. I can cook a whole meal on two little briquettes
and sometimes, when I'm finished I can throw water on them and then light
them again later."
Even though a "marmite," or can, of charcoal can sell for seven gourdes,
three gourdes less than a similar size bag of Chabon Tout Bon, Fanfan said
Chabon Tout Bon is so efficient that it saves her money.

Fellow Petion-Ville Market merchant Evna Pierre agrees. She said she's been
using Chabon Tout Bon since she tried it out of curiosity. She finds it
lights easily and retains heat better than traditional charcoal.