Mirebalais - Haiti Observer Blog

Boston Marathon, one of the world's largest and oldest marathons, experienced a deadly climax when, with over 27,000 participants closing up on the finish line, two devices detonated without warning claiming 3 lives and leaving behind more than 100 injured. The sidewalks that were crowded with over 500,000 visitors was suddenly stained with blood and with several victims suffering from traumatic amputation.

Among the deceased was a boy of 8 years. Many other children and adults were rushed to the hospitals in critical conditions. Boylston Street, which was cheering up the international participants, suddenly turned into a container of random chaos followed by a graveyard silence. Officials have found out that the detonations were caused by gunpowder acting as explosives with shrapnel and ball bearing maximizing the impact.

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Tourism has been on a substantial descent over the last 20 years. But one series of events, the Fête champêtre, continues to give hope to a struggling industry as tourists, local, from the Diaspora, and international, flock Haiti to witness the countryside festival.

One of the main avenues for entertainment to the 18th century elite, a Fête champêtre (a country feast or pastoral festival) was a type of garden party much loved at court. With pretensions to simplicity, the Fête champêtre was patronized by the well dressed, entertained by musicians hidden in the trees, as they enjoyed the beauty of landscaped park.

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According to Partners in Health, an organization in healthcare based in the United States, a hospital is expected to open in Haiti in March. The name of the hospital is Mirebalais University Hospital. The hospital is one of its kind and is expected to benefit the people of Haiti greatly.

Construction

Cost of construction of the hospital is around 17 million dollars. It is a national public hospital with around three hundred beds. Construction has been completed and the hospital is due for opening in March.

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Mirebalais, capital city of Mirebalais Arrondissement, is part of the Central Plateau on the island of Haiti. Saut d'Eau, Boucan-Carrè, and Mirebalais comprise the Arrondisement. Mirebalais is easily accessible by recently-constructed National Highway 3, only 25 miles and less than an hour's drive from Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince.

Mirebalais is a model city, an example of what can be achieved elsewhere in struggling Haiti. It is an environment of uninterrupted streams of projects that has made possible more potential jobs available than ever before. In a deviation from many of Haiti's cities, it is on the power grid 24-hours a day, by its favorable location to it.

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There is no stopping Haiti's town of Mirebalais from developing into a significant municipality in the Mirebalais Arrondissement. The town is currently seeing various developmental projects that can surely improve the lives of the 165,000 people living there. The Arrondisement capital, which is only 30 miles and a 45-minute drive from Port-au-Prince, has become a place for people seeking a less populated town with many employment opportunities. With the developmental projects launched in the town, people are able to get jobs.

One of things that Mirebalais is proud of is the establishment of a modern teaching hospital, which is expected to be completed next year. It can be recalled that in 2010, non-government organizations Partners in Health and Zanmi Lasante rolled out a plan to build a state-of-the-art community hospital in the town. The construction, however, was hampered by the 2010 earthquake. Construction resumed and will likely finish in 2013. The Mirebalais National Teaching Hospital, the first of its kind, will be able accommodate about 320 in-patients. It will also feature training facilities for medical students, nurses and physicians. This is a good thing as Haiti is in need of more medical professionals in order to enhance health services.

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Boucan-Carré, a cityship in the Mirebalais Arrondisement, situated within the Centre Department of Haiti, is made up of three communal divisions: Duffailly, Petite Montagne, and Les Bayes.

Boucan-Carré's topography contains immense tracts of mountain terrain and plunging hollows. The Boucan-Carré River slices through the heart of the town of Chambeau. The chief means of income for residents of Boucan-Carré are agricultural farming and the charcoal industry.

Several non-government organizations (NGO) have stepped up to help improve the infrastructure beginning in the early 2000's. Haiti Outreach Program, Give Haiti Hope, and Partners in Health, all U.S.-based NGOs, have subsidized two schools, a church, and hospital. The hospital, a full-service facility, has grown from its modest beginnings as a community clinic.

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