Thomonde - Haiti Observer Blog

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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Thomonde, part of the Hinche Arrondissement, rests in the Central Plateau of Haiti. Ruled over by a city council and mayor, it has a population of 4,000, with French and Creole its official languages. A Catholic community, its population celebrates the feast day of its patron saint, Saint Joseph, in March of every year.

Agricultural farming predominates, and farmers grow crops of bananas, mangoes, coffee, and tobacco. Some farmers are beekeepers. Residents depend on donkeys and horses for transportation.

To strengthen the town's infrastructure, the Thomonde city council has partnered with the Border Development Commission to fund an $8 million project. The goal is to build greenhouses that will house plant varieties indigenous to the region. Deforestation has left large acreages of land barren and disrupted the ecosystem. Plant cultivation for use in reforestation efforts, plus tree seedlings that have already been put into the ground, will strengthen agriculture production in these areas.

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