St. Pierre parish, Baradères, Haiti
Sister parish of St. John the Baptist, Silver Spring, Md.


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January 2001 visit
The town and the economy

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Crumbling two- and three-story wooden houses line the the town square. "Much of the story of Baradères," said Matt Minahan, "can be seen in the village market place. Women (mostly) gather in twos and threes to barter rice, beans, plantains, and other farm goods to other women, who are there to barter their own rice, beans, plaintains, etc."

"What’s missing?"

• "Money, because most people don’t have any;
• Men, because many are working in Port-au-Prince (a torturous 8 hour truck ride away) or working the fields and rivers to produce the goods the women are selling; and
• Finished goods, because there’s no electricity to operate tools or equipment with which to transform raw materials into finished goods."

Several years ago the government built two large tin-roofed buildings to serve as a covered market area.

But the structures were built on the other side of the river. There is no bridge. The people prefer the town square. It is unprotected, but accessible.

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