Boileau is one of many, many villages throughout the country sides of Haiti. There are about 1,00 poverty stricken families, most of whom live off the land. There is very little employment available. Boileau is in the deep south, about 17 mile northeast of Les Cayes, the only city of any size south of Port au Prince. Cavalion, the largest village in the area is less than 2miles from Boileau. The names in blue on the map are parishes in that area. Typically, one priest will cover from 5 to 12 parishes.
Satellite photo of the village center of Boileau. The road is a one lane dirt trail which crosses the river (creek) at water level about ¼ mile west of the village center. The red A, B, C markings in this photo show the location of the Clinic, Church and School. (The church building is being built with money from sources other than St. Phillip.) The many houses in the area indicate their locations by the bluish roof tops.
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A
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B
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C
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As stated earlier, the people in Boileau are poverty stricken There is no electricity, running water, sewers, public transportation, telephones and on and on. Feet and bicycles are about the only transportation.
They are good people. Church is very important to them. Their attention to every aspect of the 90 minute mass is amazing. (Could this be that there are no cell phones to interrupt them?) The singing is special and sometimes accompanied by dancing in the aisles. In spite of their lack of resources, they find a way to ‘dress up’ for mass. (Don’t tell Fr. John about the 90 minute mass.)
These are the people that St. Phillip parish committed to assist in raising them to self-sufficiency. The focus was on Health, Education, Food and Economic Opportunity, following the classic approach of successful development.