City - Haiti Observer Blog

Candidate of Pitit Desalin, Moise jean Charles, who believes that "Haiti is not for sale, either wholesale or retail" was very disappointed to learn about the deal made by former President Michel Martelly with an undisclosed institution to transform La Gonave island into an International Financial Center. According to an Executive order issued by the Martelly government and published on January 7, 2016 the President gave the right and authority to an institution (name unknown) to created inside of a 100 km2 in the island of La Gonave a new city with an International Financial Center. This new city is to be managed privately and the private entity will be free to collect revenues, build infrastructure, roads, or do anything necessary for the functioning of the project.

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Central plateau is one of the poorest regions in Haiti. Baille Tourible is a small town, surrounded by mountains, in the third communal section of Thomonde. The village is populated by 12,000 inhabitants.

Here water is a part of the luxury goods. This village is one of the very few places that have been spared from mass deforestation. Deforestation causes erosion and it has severely affected the agricultural production in the central plateau. KANPE is a foundation that works for the most vulnerable families in Haiti who are in extreme poverty; it helps them to achieve their individual financial autonomy. They work in the central plateau taking one village at a time.

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It has been reported that a truck overturned last Saturday and many people were killed as a result. The crash took place in the town of Roseaux, east of Jeremie, Haiti.

The bus has plunged off a cliff in the coastal city of Roseaux. Report indicated that the truck was packed with people. 23 have been reported dead. Another 24 were injured, some seriously. About 50 vendors were riding inside the truck. Most of people in that overturned truck are from the town of d'Anse d'Hainault.

As it has been the case in the past, the passengers were crammed inside the vehicle surrounded by products.

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Martissant is known for its dense population, being a district of the capital, and also for the prolific violence that plagues the city and its residents. The surfeit of bad press, armed with truths, half-truths and suppositions about Martissant have painted the area as a 'no-go' zone for those who can avoid it.

Listed among the bad are those points in history that stick in the brain to this day; its part in the slaying of over 500 people due to gang related violence in 2006, the murder of freelance journalist Jean-Rémy Badio at his home in 2007, as well as the mass murder of no fewer than one dozen patrons at a soccer match in 2005.

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The little town of Marigot, home to just over 50,000 residents, can be found in the south-east department of Haiti, and has been the recipient of propitious projects geared towards developing those towns in the country's South-East department.

Marigot has been the home of a new communal fishing center since early this year. In February of 2013, Secretary of State for Animal Production, a part of the Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Development, Michel Chancy, along with the Secretary of State for Spanish Cooperation, Jesús Gracia Aldaz and Pierre-Guy Lafontant, noted agronomist and the Director-General for Fisheries, Health and Animal Production for the Ministry of Agriculture's Natural Resources and Rural Development arm, hosted the inauguration of the Communal Fishing Center (CCPM), as the second in a series of 5 such centers throughout the southeast.

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The activity of washing hands became more than just a routine matter of hygiene in Thomonde recently. It became a symbolic gesture to emphasize the impending end of the epidemic of cholera and other intestinal diseases that has plagued the country for far too long.

A community got together and washed hands, inaugurating the newly built latrine and station for hand washing built in Thomonde village at the Rezo Koze Lasante clinic. It was to coincide with the activities for World Hand Washing Day and was funded by the AmeriCares Haiti foundation. The construction was a step in the bigger project of making the health care of the community better so as to stem the tide of transmission of these diarrheal diseases.

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It's been over a year since a mysterious housing development sprang up in the Morne à Cabri region, in the desert some 15 kilometers to the east of Port-au-Prince. These little houses, totaling approximately 3,000, are so described because the public has heard next to no details about the construction, despite the prescripts of the constitution, and a demand to hear more from the Haitian Government.

Despite the lack of information, as well as because of it, the questions keep piling up, largely still unanswered. Is it a private venture or is the Government in charge? Who has commissioned the construction, and to what end? What is the budget for the work being done in Morne à Cabri and where is the money coming from? What firm has responsibility for the construction and are the new guidelines for housing and building code policies being observed?

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Haiti took its freedom and became The First Free-Black Country in the world in 1804. As its capital, Dessalines became the First Black Capital of the world. Undoubtedly named for Haitian revolutionary and first ruler of the independent state, Jean-Jacques Dessalines, the town is today home to just a few hundred thousand people.

So unfrequented it is called one of Haiti's hidden treasures, Marchand Dessalines has been overlooked as a historical site with benefit to the tourism industry though inclusion in the 'Experience It' brand would be easy for the well maintained site that still boasts its buildings and fortifications that are well preserved.

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Maïssade, with the Creole name, Mayisad is a municipality in the Centre Department's Hinche Arrondissement. The small town, with only 43, 000 plus inhabitants can be found at coordinates 190 10' 0'' N and 720 8' 0'' W, lying near to other towns and cities such as Fort D'Piquant, Nan Maye and Cajou Brule.

As a municipality, Maïssade is a little city with some autonomy. As such, they started a watershed project in the area known as the Maïssade Integrated Watershed Management Project. The venture was put in place by the Save the Children Federation and was implemented to successfully plan the sustained use of a resource that is sometimes hard to find in Maïssade's general location.

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In the Nord Department of Haiti lies Grande-Rivière-du-Nord, part of its Arrondissement that observed the 300th anniversary of its founding at St. Rose de Lima Church.

The city is one of the few places in Haiti to possess a large population of people living to 100 years of age. No one knows exactly why, but future studies may give up some answers.

A place of historical interest in Grande-Rivière-du-Nord is Gallifet Plantation where Haiti's slave revolt began, motivated by Voodoo rites.

Many of Haiti's rulers have been born in Grande-Rivière-du-Nord, among them first ruler, Jean-Jacques Dessalines. It has also been the birthplace of Haiti's intelligentsia: Jean Price Mars, who pioneered the Negritude movement, inspiring the Black is Beautiful slogan of the 60s.

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