2011-4-25
Children and adults choose lottery numbers at Chavanne Augustin's lottery. Augustin says the number of trucks and busses psasing in front of his house has gone way up but nothing has changed for his village. He says the soil is bad and the only thing that can improve his village is if an agronomist comes to help them improve the soil. The Inter-American Development Bank is funding this road project in the south of Haiti, aiming to cut travel time and transportation costs, and to improve living conditions in the southern provinces. This 50-mile stretch of road connects the small cities of Les Cayes and Jeremie and many rural villages in between. A Brazilian company, OAS, is doing the construction. The road is far from complete, but is already transforming commerce and daily life in the area. Travel time has been cut in half; fewer trucks are breaking down, so less food is spoiled; and farmers are planting more crops in anticipation of more dependable farm-to-market transportation.
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