HAITI: BUSINESS IS SPROUTING IN MAKE-SHIFT CAMPS (U.N. MINUSTAH)

MaximsNewsNetwork: 05 February 2010 - U.N. MINUSTAH: Port-au-Prince, Haiti - Business is sprouting in this make-shift camp in the department of Delmas, as people are trying to cope with their current living and working situation following last months earthquake.

Celange Matthieu is a businesswoman and mother, who is now living in the camp with her six children. She can no longer make a profit with prices hitting record levels and her children are hungry.

SOUNDBITE (Creole) Celange Mathieu, Seller and mother of six:
Around here we havent received anything for the kids. I have six children. The boys eat a lot. They are asking me for food as soon as they get up. So we have to find a way to buy some spaghetti and sell it. The benefit is used to buy more food for kids.

But others like Franillon Saintil are trying to benefit from this new market. His former barbershop collapsed during the earthquake.

SOUNDBITE (Creole) Francillon Saintil, Barber:
I already worked for a barber shop behind (the prison of) Fort-Dimanche. I realized that there isnt any barbershop around here. So I opened this business.

And with so many Haitians who have relatives in the United States, Dorval Jean Amos opened a rental service for charging mobile phones after he noticed that power shortages made it difficult to use them.

SOUNDBITE (Creole) Dorval Jean Amos, Businessman:
This small business I opened is very important for the population in this settlement of St. Louis. After this disaster, for people who are having their families in the United States, they now have this way of communicating. Families in the states can also call here to find out if their relatives are alive and how they are coping.

UPSOUND (Creole) Yes, he is going to go back home. He comes and goes.

A new life is slowly growing out of the rubble in camps throughout Port-au-Prince where an estimated 1.1 million people are now living. ........................................ ........................................ .... ( UNITED NATIONS STABILIZATION MISSION IN HAITI: MINUSTAH ) ........................................ ........................................ ....MaximsNewsNetwork:
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