shantytown (esp. on the outskirts of a city) n.: bidonville
“Bidon” is French for “container for liquids,” and this word refers to a town built of oil drums, tin cans, or other similar containers. Often (though not necessarily ) it refers to shantytowns in France or North Africa.
You pass the La Saline slum (in Haiti), the lesser known but no less horrific cousin of Cite Soleil. It is a hive of commotion, strapped together with plastic tarps, sheet metal and sticks. No one knows the actual populations of these bidonvilles, which, despite the daily toll of disease and hunger and violence, continue to swell with displaced peasants from the country. (Bill Duryea, “The Unbuilt Nation,” St. Petersburg [FL] Times, 5/25/2003.)
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