'I won't ever go back to Haiti'


http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9676000/9676317.stm

Hans Charles

Two years ago, more than 200,000 people lost their lives in the catastrophic earthquake that struck Haiti.

Just after the earthquake struck, our correspondent Mike Thomson visited an emergency hospital in Port-au-Prince where he met a mother who has already lost her three young daughters.

Viviane's only remaining child, 12-year-old Hans Charles, lay unconscious next to her with severe leg injuries.

Two years on, Mike reports on what has happened to them both since then.

The child was sent to Miami for medical treatment and the life was spared.

Haitians going home

Thanks to a program established in March 2010 by the International Migration Organization (IOM) working together with the Dominican Migration authorities, a total of 2,272 Haitians have returned to their country from the Dominican Republic. Since the beginning of the project, 2,808 people who wanted to return to Haiti have been registered, and 2,272 of them have returned to the border at Dajabon in buses arranged by the IOM.

The latest two trips allowing voluntary repatriation were of 297 and 199 Haitians living in Santiago and Puerto Plata. The IOM and the Department of Migration cover all of the costs of these trips, including financial assistance to help the returnees set up small businesses when they return,

El Nuevo Diario reports that the program was set up after the earthquake that is thought to have brought an additional 200,000 Haitians to shortly after migrate to the Dominican Republic, many of whom wish to return as they have been unable to establish a satisfactory life here. Of that figure, 50,000 are in the Santiago area.

It is estimated that two million Haitians are living in the DR, with an estimated one million living illegally, according to recent statements of the Department of Migration.

Haitians going home

Thanks to a program established in March 2010 by the International Migration Organization (IOM) working together with the Dominican Migration authorities, a total of 2,272 Haitians have returned to their country from the Dominican Republic. Since the beginning of the project, 2,808 people who wanted to return to Haiti have been registered, and 2,272 of them have returned to the border at Dajabon in buses arranged by the IOM.

The latest two trips allowing voluntary repatriation were of 297 and 199 Haitians living in Santiago and Puerto Plata. The IOM and the Department of Migration cover all of the costs of these trips, including financial assistance to help the returnees set up small businesses when they return,

El Nuevo Diario reports that the program was set up after the earthquake that is thought to have brought an additional 200,000 Haitians to shortly after migrate to the Dominican Republic, many of whom wish to return as they have been unable to establish a satisfactory life here. Of that figure, 50,000 are in the Santiago area.

It is estimated that two million Haitians are living in the DR, with an estimated one million living illegally, according to recent statements of the Department of Migration.