It’s the land, stupid

UN/DPI Photo by Eskinder Debebe

If you owned land would you want refugees living there? Rent-free? Indefinitely?  Folks don’t even want their own family shacking up on their property much less strangers.

Land, was the answer that the aid worker who recently returned from Haiti gave when I asked him what was the most critical issue for Haiti in the next year. Want a home? Whose land are you going to use? Want a job? Whose land are you going to work on? Want a school? Whose land are you going to build on? Want a clinic? And so on.