Plaisance

Plaisance is a municipality located in Haiti’s Nord Department, part of the Plaisance Arrondissement. Around 63,278 people inhabit the place as indicated by the 2009 estimates. During the colonial times, the French considered Plaisance a favorite destination for relaxation and rest.

The commune of Plaisance has eight communal sections. It is inland, its dominant terrain is the mountains and its climate is fresh. Its inhabitants call themselves Placentin. In 1998, the population of the commune of Plaisance was estimated at 65,750 inhabitants, projected at 72,000 inhabitants in the year 2004.

Buccaneers lived there in large numbers, hunting oxen and wild pigs. This commune was also the refuge of maroons, such Jean-François, Biassou and Scylla, during the War of the Independence .

The region is rich in flora and fauna, a large number of rivers flow here and the climate is nice and cool. The place has been inhabited by a large number of buccaneers who raised feral pigs and cattle. A large number of livestock thrives here. This region is home to a large number of natural sights, such as waterfalls and caves.

For the economic and financial infrastructures, the municipality is almost without it, there is a Caisse populaire and nine marketing cooperatives. Agriculture and trade are the main activities of this municipality. Subsistence crops are raised by the people to make a living. Depots, shops, building materials and food supply centers form the main commercial establishments. In addition, two pharmacies, a gas station and two photocopy services were counted in the municipality.

To look for work or to sell goods, people have to travel down the mountains to reach places in and around Port-au-Prince.

Charcoal is made by cutting down the few trees that remain now. The best thing about the inhabitants of Plaisance is that they are hard core survivors and courageous. Even though the area was hit hard by the 2010 earthquake and hurricanes that took place recently, the people have courageously taken up the challenge of survival. People live with amazing dignity and classic hospitality of the Haitian people.

Transportation: Plaisance is a remote destination and not a very easy destination to live or reach. You will have to take a long ride on a mountainous and rocky road for 3 miles to reach here by road from the paved highway.

Education: The Ministry of the National Education for Youth and Sports is represented by a school district office. There is a private kindergarten, about a dozen primary public schools and several private in the commune of Plaisance. At the secondary level, there are six schools of which three are public and three private. Four vocational schools were counted. There is no literacy center, no university, no other higher schools.

Health: The Ministry of Public Health and Population is represented by a local district office. The establishments providing the health service of the area are four with dozens of technicians and a medical team consisting of matrons, lab technician, Doctors, dentists, a Nurse and some auxiliaries.

Utilities: With respect to the availability of water, the commune of Plaisance has a River, two dozen Springs and about a dozen public Fountains (only 5 were in operation at the time of the survey). The municipality of Plaisance is not electrified.

Religion: In the area of religion, many faiths were counted in the commune. Twenty five Adventist temples, Fourteen Catholic churches (including chapels), and eighteen Baptist churches, for the most important, were inventoried in the commune.

Communication: This commune has a telephone service and a Postal Service. Moreover, in the field of the press, the municipality has a radio station, but does not have a newspaper/magazine nor a television station.

Leisure: As for leisure, the municipality has no library, museum, nor cinema room. However, the parish hall, although small, serves as a theatre room. The sports practiced in the commune of Plaisance are football (soccer), basketball, athletics and karate. With regard to monuments and sites, the commune of Plaisance has a Fort, two falls and a cave.

Located nearby, is a peak called Morne Bedoret at a height of 543 meters. The Fort Bedourete is located here. There are a large number of sites and monuments to see in Plaisance. They include Miracles Virgin Gobert’s former chapel where in 1803, Alexandre Petion and Jean-Jacques Dessalines met before the launch of the final assault against Cap-Francais.

You get to see a single walled local Catholic church. Basic shelter in the church is created by using anchor tarps by the parishioners. Now this church serves as a school, chapel and clinic. Various sections the Plaisance municipality include, Mapou, Hill-Gobert, Martineau and Champagne.