Women stroll down the streets of downtown Port-au-Prince with bulky bags of rice sitting on top of their heads. It's an image imprinted on the collective conscious of many Haitians, and behind these classic silhouette, there's an all too familiar story, even amid the extraordinary destruction of the Jan. 12 earthquake. With beads of sweat sliding down her face, 17-year-old Claire Fondnancy said she woke up at 4 in the morning to make her way up to Delmas to wait in line for three hours for her bag of rice. But it's not the wait that bothers her but the 250 Gourdes (or about $6) she had to pay for a carte or coupon. "We're obliged to buy the coupons because we can't find food," says the mother of a three-year old son.

The coupons are a part of the World Food Program distribution plan aimed at women and children. Theoretically, the program disseminates coupons to Haitian community leaders who then are supposed to give them out to the women of that community. But they are quickly becoming a commodity. The women tell me of places where I can go to find the men selling the cartes: the stadium, the gas station on the corner, all places where you go to meet the right people. It's clear relief has come hand in hand with Haiti's age-old, seemingly death-defying corruption. "Let the white people give out the coupons. The Haitians will just take them and sell them," says Josmen Jean, 25, who also made the journey for her 50 lbs bag of rice.

Haitians who've had to deal with the loss of their family members and their homes, now find fellow citizens profiting from their pain. But the hunger on the streets is growing. In the suburban city of Petion-ville, protesters wove in between cars chanting against the mayor Claire Lydia Parent. The demonstrators allege that Parent too is charging them 250 Gourdes for coupons for bags of rice. "She's keeping it in the depot so when elections come around she'll give the rice away. Then people will vote for her," says Danka Tranzil, 17. (Mayor Parent has said that food is constantly being distributed and that what people in the street may perceive as supplies being kept from them is actually being taken to other parts of the city in need.)