Chasing the aid-worker’s dollar

THE catastrophic earthquake that killed perhaps 220,000 people in Haiti in January has brought a flood of aid workers and other outsiders to Port-au-Prince, the capital. Rebuilding has still barely begun. But many enterprising Haitians are seizing the opportunity to supply services to the well-heeled newcomers. On top of the inflow of foreign aid, this is helping to get the economy moving again.

The outsiders’ first need is shelter. Many of the city’s hotels were damaged in the quake, and the largest, the Montana, completely collapsed. Virtually all the surviving hotels have raised their rates but are still booked solid. That has forced many relief workers to sleep outside. But while homeless locals must crowd into flimsy and dangerous tent cities, foreigners can pay $50 a night for an air-conditioned tent on the lawn of the Palm Inn, a hotel by the airport.

The next requirement is transport. Car dealers are struggling to meet demand, particularly for the white trucks and SUVs that are the NGOs’ wheels of choice. Driver-interpreters can take home $200 a day. Port-au-Prince’s snarling traffic is now punctuated by curses in Chinese and Cuban Spanish.

Because transport is so difficult, relief workers often cannot get to cafeterias or restaurants for lunch. Many have turned to Abraham Pierre-Mary, an aspiring entrepreneur. He delivers chicken and rice, packed in styrofoam boxes, to their offices for around $4 a plate—twice last year’s price.

The worry is that the aid workers will merely push up inflation. To develop, Haiti needs investment in textiles and tourism, not climate-controlled bivouacs. “Haiti is a nation, not a refugee camp,” says Patrick Moynihan, the president of the Haitian Project, a Catholic education group. “NGOs are like one-night stands. They will romance the country to get their fix right up until a more interesting disaster comes along.”