Lavil

Book excerpt: Moving stories of life in a country enduring an ongoing crisis Seven years after the deadliest earthquake in the history of the Western Hemisphere struck Haiti, the island nation remains in crisis, all but ignored by the international community. At the center of this crisis is Lavil—“The City” in Kreyol, as Port-au-Prince is known to Haitians—the cultural, political, and economic capital of Haiti and home to over 2.5 million resilient souls. This immersive and engrossing oral history collection gives voice to the continuing struggle of Haitian people to live, love and prosper while trying to rebuild their city and country after disasters both natural and man-made. Among the narrators: Juslene, who moved to Port-au-Prince as a child for educational opportunities but was instead forced to work as a restavek—an unpaid servant—and who maintains unwavering hope despite the loss of her family when the city was destroyed. Johnny and Denis, a teacher and his younger brother, who spent years hustling for work and looking out for each other in one of the city’s sprawling post-earthquake tent camps. Lamothe, a wry and well-read expert on Haiti’s clean water crisis, who is one of the many Port-au-Prince citizens dedicated to rebuilding his city and nation.