Pointe A Raquette

Pointe-à-Raquette is a small town in La Gonâve Arrondissement, Haiti. Pointe-a-Raquette is home to more than 22,800 people.

Gros Mangle, Grand Vide, La Source and Trou Louis are the sections composing the municipality.

Racquet Point, one of the two communes of Ile de la Gonâve, is in the ranks of the most deprived municipalities in infrastructure. It is a coastal town located on the side of a mountain. Its climate is considered normal. Its inhabitants bear the name of Pointe a Raquettois. The municipality, with an area of 317.61 km2, occupies the western half of the island, while the center of town is located more particularly on its south coast.

In 1998, the population of the Pointe-à-Raquette commune was 40,471 inhabitants, slightly more than 90% of its population lived in rural areas. In the year 2004, projections place it at 46,000 inhabitants. With an area of .5 km2 (0.22 sq mi), the town center has a density of 11,054 per km2 (28,641 per sq. mi.)

Agriculture, trade and livestock are the main economic activities of the municipality. Trade is mainly done with the municipalities of Saint-Marc, Port-au-Prince, Arcahaie and Miragoâne.

At the level of the economic and financial infrastructure, only one Caisse populaire and a marketing cooperative was listed. The town has no hotel, no restaurant, nor bank.

Transportation: Because it is only a small town, Pointe-à-Raquette needs more development when it comes to road construction and transportation. The town’s infrastructure remains underdeveloped, with more dirt roads than smooth ones. Some are paved but only with loose gravel.

Education: The Ministry of National Education for Youth and Sports is not represented in the municipality. One kindergarten School, some primary schools of which five public, nine community type, and several private have been counted. At the secondary level, the municipality has two schools: one public and one private. In addition, there are six Literacy centers.

Health: The Ministry of Public Health and Population is not represented in the municipality. There were three non-bed health centres, a dispensary, a clinic and a health center with a bed. A medical group consisting of two doctors, eight Auxiliaries and a Laboratory technician train the health personnel.

Utilities: The town of Pointe-à-Raquette has over a dozen springs, a pond and four lagoons. In addition, over 100 simple boreholes and an artesian well were inventoried at the municipality level. Raquette Point was not electrified at the time of the survey.

Security: There is a police station in the commune, however at the time of the inventory this local had no police officers. On the other hand, a peace court and an office of Civil status have been listed at Pointe-à-racquet.

Religion: Several temples are listed in the commune. The number of Catholic churches is proving to be the most numerous, thirteen in total. Most residents in Pointe-a-Raquette are Christian. They follow the Catholic doctrine and teachings but there are Christians who also perform Voodoo rituals. Aside from Christian believers, there are also Protestants and a small number of Muslims living in the town. Religious followers are mixed in the town, just like many other cities and towns in Haiti. This adds a little bit diversity to the town, which is situated along the Caribbean Sea’s coastal line.

Communication: This commune has a telephone desk with four lines available (four cabins). There is no postal office, no radio, no newspaper/magazine, no television station.

Leisure: As for leisure, the town has no museum, theatre nor cinema. Apart from the sports practiced in the commune such as the football (soccer), fifteen (15) Gaguères come to complement the meager places of entertainment and leisure of the inhabitants of the commune. In the field of cultural heritage, we will note the existence of seven natural Sites (caves) located in the various communal sections of the commune Pointe-à-Raquette. One of them located in Trou Pite, according to some characters, connects the Ile de la Gonave to the mainland (to the Great Earth). This connection was made by means of a secret passage that the Indians used to use. This cave at the time of the inventory was occupied by American military.

Climate: Residents in Pointe-a-Raquette deal with tropical hot and wet weathers, with usual temperatures ranging from 32 degrees Celsius to 22 degrees Celsius. It is also common for road travel to be affected by rains.