ABOUT AU CENTRE/ BEAUMONT
Located deep in Haiti's Southern mountains near the market town of Beaumont,
we support a group of villages of peasant farmers. This roadless region has
never been served by any aid organization before, and living is primitive
and difficult. Au Centre was the original focus of the efforts and
initiatives of Haiti Community Support, and HCS remains committed to this
region.
Located at the very edge of the Pico Macaya National Park, Au Centre is
coffee country, giant shade trees protecting the crop. Residents also grow
black beans, corn and root crops. People live on survival's edge through
hard work, intelligence, and a good sense of humor. They experience a
perilous life that people born to comfort find hard to comprehend. The
carrying capacity of the land is too low to feed the population.
The village people are sincere and warm hearted. The climate is cool
mountain air, the views up the valley to Haiti's second highest peak are
lush. These are very peaceful villages, having no electricity; evening
times are spent close to a black sky glittering with stars, sleep comes
early and dawn brings the sound of conch shells blowing - calling the
"squads" of workers to the fields. Visitors are surprised by its sense of
isolation peacefulness. It is disorienting to find hunger and disease in
such a beautiful place.
Most residents cannot afford school for their children nor any medical care.
It's hard to make money when food production takes up most of your life. As
a result many children leave for the Capital hoping to find food or work
there. The huge slums like Citie Soleil in Port au Prince are largely
populated by refugees from the countryside. HCS free school and medical
support , and adult education and health services have begun to improve
conditions.
The village depends on one small polluted spring located about 1/2 mile down
a steep footpath from the village center. Most water is transported in
plastic jugs by village children. In some dry summers the spring goes
completely dry, putting the village into a very precarious situation.
Villages from three miles down the mountain are now making the walk to the
village spring.
Haiti Community Support was successful in raising major funds for the
implementation of a new water system for the Village. This project holds
major importance to the future stability and health of the community. Final
engineering studies are now complete on the project to bring water down the
mountain from a running stream. It involves digging over 3 KM of pipelines,
and cisterns at the source and distribution kiosks in the village. A
village water committee has now formed to manage and repair the system once
built. The water project is scheduled for completion sometime in 2011.
Life in Au Centre is a hard life of poverty, and many children may receive
only a piece of yam or cassava for their main meal. Realizing this, HCS
worked with villagers to cook a hot nutritious school lunch program to
strengthen our students. Now serving over 60,000 meals annually, and
providing formal education to more than 200 children, HCS is well on our way
to meeting our goals of Health, Education and Economic Development for this
wonderful community of Haitians.
The long term development of this region depends on a number of factors:
HCS has supported villagers in hand building a vehicle road from Au Centre
down the mountain to the national road. As the road is completed goods and
visitors will flow into and out of the village creating job opportunities,
and better access for medical and agronomy technicians, educators and
volunteers.
A site for an eco-lodge has been obtained, and planning has begun for an
eco-lodge that will accommodate visitors, hikers, and scientists at the
gateway to the mountains. Partners are being sought for this venture.
Improving the coffee yield and opening specialty markets to this rare
mountain coffee is a key target to improving livelihoods of farmers, almost
all of whom have coffee trees on their land.
