Cite Soleil and the Coronavirus–July 19, 2020

Photo by John Carroll

We entered Cite Soleil this morning from Route 9 and traveled towards Bwa Neuf. I was with Fr. Tom Hagan of Hands Together. I have known Father Tom for years and Father baptized Luke in Haiti in 2006 when Maria and I were in the middle of Luke’s adoption.

The hundreds of thousands of people in Soleil are currently caught in the middle of yet another war between local gangs. Intense shooting between the gangs was as recent as yesterday which resulted in at least 20 deaths. I can’t definitively say why certain gangs are involved or who finances them, but I can confirm it is a vicious situation that has paralyzed the population of Soleil for several months and has shut down the clinic where I normally work.

Due to the violence yesterday in Soleil, there were not many people on the streets and there were no cars except ours. The Bwa Neuf neighborhood appeared dead and was very depressing to see. We soon crossed the water canal that bisects Route 9. As usual, this canal was full of garbage and black sludge as it trickles towards the ocean.

As we traveled towards the main intersection in Soleil, there were occasional roadblocks made up of garbage, rocks, and large objects. However, they were moved for us so we could inch through the opening under the watchful eyes of armed gang soldiers in the adjacent destitute neighborhoods.

However, as we approached the abandoned police station in Soleil, another large barricade of debris was strewn across the road which was impossible to quickly clear. So we turned right and coursed through a water engulfed and very muddy neighborhood before we turned right on the main Soleil drag which leads to the wharf in Soleil.

My main goal in coming to Soleil this morning was to ask the locals what their experiences were with coronavirus. We stopped near Soleil 17 and I talked to various people inside a “COVID-closed” school which is scheduled to reopen on August 10.

The same story was told to me by almost everyone I talked to this morning–

Many people in Soleil have had fever and headache. And when I asked if these sick people were going to the doctor, they said “no” because the state-run St. Catherine’s Hospital in Soleil is not functional and is “empty”. They also said that sick people are very afraid of being attacked if there is the possibility that they have Covid-19. So almost every sick person elects to stay inside and drink homemade tea. (Tea is made using lila leaves which are boiled in water and a pinch of sugar and salt and a few drops of honey are added.) I was also told that no one in the slum was getting tested for coronavirus because there is nowhere in the slum that offers testing and many would not want to be tested due to the associated stigma. And when I asked if they are aware of anyone dying of the “fever” in Soleil, they said no, but cautioned that their views may be constricted because of where they live and that there was no “proof” what the sick people really have.

After doing my random interviews, I walked over to St. Ann’s Catholic Church where Father Tom was starting Mass. There were several hundred people in attendance–mainly women and children. Gazing up, I could see the linear bullet holes in the corrugated metal roof of the church from fifteen years earlier when the UN soldiers (MINUSTAH) were fighting gangs in Soleil leaving many dead.

During mass this morning there was frequent shooting in the neighborhood near the church. It was interesting to see from my wooden bench in the back the many heads in front of me that quickly ducked in unison with each gunshot. Even though they are used to the daily chaos and mayhem in the slum, their reflexes work quickly to protect their precious lives.

 Conclusion–

Cite Soleil is the worst I have seen it in 40 years. My written words above do this dire situation little justice. The gangs and the virus have decimated a broken place and its innocent people.

I would say that the level of coronavirus infections in Soleil is very high with essentially no confirmed cases because of a lack of testing. The case fatality rate from Covid-19 is not known here and will never be known. Optimistically, maybe it is lower than in the United States or Italy due to the young median age in Soleil.

The number of sick people in Soleil is directly correlated with the violence and poverty in the slum and the dysfunction of the Haitian government which long ago abandoned this population.

 

 John A. Carroll, MD