Swamp Survival
Life in a Haitian Swamp
Like predators, young boys prowl through the swamp near their slum in Cap Haitien, Haiti, searching for small fish or shrimp to supplement their meager diets.
A tidal swamp is home to hundreds, if not thousands, of poor Haitians who relocate from the countryside to the northern city of Cap Haitien in search of a better life. In the country� second largest city, land is as scarce as food for the newly arriving poor, so the city's garbage is mixed with earth to create tiny islands of new land on which a shack is perched in the swamp that borders the city.
The children that live on the fringes of Cap Haitien pass many hours each day aware of their hunger and when they venture into the swamp it is to supplement their meager diets, not to play. Like their parents, who hustle and scrap on the streets of Cap Haitien, the children crawl and claw through the mangroves and tall grasses in search of tiny fish, shrimp and crabs, all of which are caught by hand. If they are lucky, these young predators may even snare a wading bird. Survival of the fittest rules the lives of all the swamp� inhabitants.
