Los Cacaos: Road to Clean Water in Haiti

A new project spearheaded by Catholic nuns and sponsored by Jesuit Refugee Service aims to bring healthy water and reliable irrigation to this mountain village in central Haiti.

Los Cacaos is located near Banica in the Dominican Republic. The area is parched and dusty during the dry season, and muddy and dangerous when tropical storms lash the countryside. The area was nearly impassable before the nuns arrived and bulldozed more than 23 miles of roads through the rocky mountains.

"The nuns came to help us, especially with the road. This is one of the greatest things we've ever had," said Ereze Prophétte, 62, of Los Cacaos.

"Before the road we used to have a lot of problems here. When a woman was pregnant and ready to give birth, but had problems, we had to take that woman on a chair or a kind of hammock and get her to Banica," said Desinard Oracius, 52. "By the help of God, and of Maria, we have this road today. Trucks can get to us, and take us when we have to get to a hospital."

Learn more by reading the full story at jrsusa.org/​haiti

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• Haiti
• water
• cholera
• nuns
• displaced
• earthquake
• irrigation