Aid Slow to Reach Cite Soleil

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Friday, 05 February 2010 11:42
Numerous reports in the last few days have focused on the lack of essential aid reaching Cite Soleil, home to hundreds of thousands of Haitians.  Ansel Herz reports for Reuters today that while the World Food Program has now set up two distribution sites in the vast slum, the high-energy biscuits that had been given out have not been effective:
Judette Cange said she knows the high-energy biscuits, called bon-bon, are packed with vitamins, but she will not give them to her children.

"They have ants in them. They have insects and they have expired already," she said, pointing to the brown crackers.

"We need rice, water, and tents. We don't want bad food."

Meanwhile, Voice of America reported yesterday that:
As international aid continues to flow into Haiti, residents of the Port-au-Prince slum of Cite Soleil say they are still waiting for tents and other essentials more than three weeks after a devastating earthquake.

These echo a report yesterday from Democracy NOW! that showed a resident from Cite Soleil pleading:
“Rescue us! Rescue us! Those governments that want to give us help, please hurry. We don’t have homes or food. We don’t have anything. We are living in the plaza of Cité Soleil.”