16373: Karshan: Empowerment: Haitian town sees light after many years (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: MKarshan@aol.com

MSNBC Website, August 11, 2003
Empowerment: Haitian town sees light after many years
in the darkness
ASSOCIATED PRESS

PETIT-GOAVE, Haiti, Aug. 11 — For the first time in years,
the Haitians of Petit-Goave are seeing  the light — regularly.
       Children in the small coastal town no longer have to
squint under dim kerosene lamps, vendors  can serve frosty
drinks, and people feel safer.
The arrival of electricity also has a political dimension —
fewer anti-government protests.
       ''The immediate payoff is undeniable. Light is bringing
social stability,'' said Jean-Marie Vorbe,  president of Sogener,
the private energy company that brought electricity to Petit-
Goave.
       ''By the end of 2004, every major city except the capital
will have 24-hour electricity,'' he said.
       Since April 15, Sogener's two diesel-powered generators
have provided the town of 15,000 and  neighboring areas with
their first constant flow of power in a decade.
       In this town of brightly painted cottages, where front
porches are battered by salt-laden winds,  there's a new sense
of well-being. Petit-Goave is an anti-government stronghold,
but people here have  stopped mounting the often violent
protests that used to erupt every few days over questionable
elections, President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's government and
its failure to deliver basic services.
       Homes aren't electrified, and if they were, most Haitians
couldn't afford electricity even at the  government-subsidized
price.
       But in a town that faded into the shadows each night,
children can now study under bright  streetlights.
       ''People aren't afraid to go out at night any more,'' said
Jesula Israel, 45.
       Until three months ago, she provided for her two children
by selling cigarettes and candy. Now  she can run her
refrigerator, and people gather on her porch to buy cold drinks
and ice cream.
       Private companies sell electricity to the state utility, Haiti
Electricity, which resells it at subsidized  prices. Five towns
have gotten power in the past year, and the government has
projects, for example  one with the Canadian government, that
light another half dozen towns.
       Haiti's second city, Cap-Haitien, has had round-the-clock
power for a year, and Les Cayes since  February. Soon
Sogener plans to light up western Gonaives and St. Marc, joint
population about  150,000.
       ''We want to light the way to 2004,'' the 200th anniversary
of independence from France, said  Lionel Carre, Haiti
Electricity director in Petit-Goave.
       But there's a long way to go.
       Haiti still lacks the money to upgrade its decrepit web of
wires, transformers and electricity poles.  Last month a frayed
high voltage line snapped and fell onto fans watching a
nighttime basketball game  in Petit-Goave, electrocuting 15
spectators.
       Less than 6 percent of Haitians have electricity full-time,
and blackouts still plague greater  Port-au-Prince, the capital
and home to about one-third of Haiti's 7.9 million people.
       In 1999, Haiti consumed 40 kilowatt hours per capita,
compared with 646 in neighboring and  black-out prone
Dominican Republic, according to the latest U.N. Human
Development Report.
       Aristide has pleaded with Haitians to be patient, saying
progress takes time in a country whose  history is a timeline of
political unrest.
       ''When the price of food goes down, the current of hope
rises. Even if there isn't electricity, the  current of joy can rise,''
he said in his 2001 inauguration speech.
       Instead, poverty has taken a crueler grip as Aristide's
government and the opposition have  deadlocked over holding
parliamentary elections.
       While the improvements have satisfied many in Petit-
Goave, there's still dissatisfaction over  soaring prices and
battered infrastructure. In January fuel prices doubled after the
government  removed a subsidy.
       For Francine Chery, 68, who used to run her Internet cafe
and stationery store with a  gas-powered generator, the steady
electricity supply is an undeniable improvement.
       But there's still much to be done.
       ''We feel better,'' she said, ''but the psychological benefit
has not brought us out of our economic  depression.''