Chantal

Chantal is a commune in the Les Cayes Arrondissement, in the Suddepartment of Haiti. It has 31,030 inhabitants.

Chantal is a community that aspires to development. Its inhabitants, in spite of their weak means, make efforts in this direction.

History: Chantal, First district of the commune of Torbeck, was erected as a commune in 1937, under the Government of Stenio Vincent, on the request of the notables of the locality. Mainly the citizen Feu Dieuveuille Saint Paul, a progressive, helped in this task by the then Senator Antoine Thélémaque and his fellow parliamentarians. On the historical level, the name of Chantal (Jantal) is probably the name of a French colonist, as one day said, one of the mayors of this commune.

Government: Chantal’s three sections are La Ville and three sections. Generally all social and political activities focus in the Center (La Ville). Administratively, this commune’s three sections headed each by a  “CASEC ”  (Administrative Board of the communal section) and a “ASEC ”  (Assembly of the communal section). The administration of the municipality is entrusted to a Council of three members.

Geography: Chantal is an interior commune of the southern department and has three communal sections. Its dominant relief is the plain and its climate is normal. The inhabitants of the town are called Chantalais. This population is relatively young. In 1998, the total population of the municipality was 21,725 ​​inhabitants with a density of 156.53 inhabitants / km2. In 2015, the slow growth brought it to just over 30,000 inhabitants in 2015.

Economy: From the point of view of Economic and Financial Infrastructures, the municipality is quite deprived. There is no hotel, board, restaurant or bank.

Agriculture, livestock and trade are the main economic activities of the inhabitants of the municipality. Trade with other municipalities such as Les Cayes and Port-au-Prince.

Cattle Market in Chantal: The inhabitants are mainly concerned with agriculture which is very precarious. The weather is marked by prolonged droughts. This agriculture is traditional and rudimentary, not mechanized. However, they are familiar with the use of the marshes especially in maize and millet crops. The use of the animal traction plow is also known.

Women are engaged in the retail trade. They offer their goods to the inhabitants of Arniquet and Ducis. Friday is the public market day to Chantal. People come from various localities and especially from the town of Les Cayes.

Industrial activities are non-existent. No processing plant. The craft professions have declined considerably. In the past there were flourishing cabinet, shoe, sewing workshops for young people and girls. Now all of this is gone and leaves very few traces.

Dry Plains: The plains of Smith and Dupéron were once known for their paddy fields. Today their capacities are greatly reduced because of the drought. Yet they are crossed by an important river called Rivière des Mornes whose waters could irrigate them. Unfortunately the technical means are totally lacking. Aid for irrigation and employ of modern agricultural techniques would be welcomed as an asset that would allow the still backward inhabitants to change their kind of life.

The city of Les Cayes, head of the South department, is about 15 miles (24 kilometers) from Chantal. There is a close relationship between these communities. Economically, Chantal, with her public market on Friday, represents an important storehouse for both Les Cayes and Port-au-Prince. Food supplies (bananas, yams, sweet potato, Mazombelle, taro), cereals (maize, petit-mil), green vegetables, animals for slaughter (oxen, pigs, goats, sheep or ewes) are transported to cities by trucks or on the backs of animals by mobile merchants commonly referred to as salesmen.

Transportation: Chantal is located off the Route 2 Extension, further west past Les Cayes. Directions here include making a left after Carrefour Béraud and “crossing a river bed”. If it rains, the town is inaccessible.

The line of communication linking the Melonnière and Carrefour-canon sections is a gravel road. Then the other ways are only trails.

Education: The Ministry of the National Education of the Youth and the Sports is not represented in the commune of Chantal. Chantal has many primary and secondary schools that comprise its school system:

1. a public primary school

2. Evangelical Schools (about three)

3. The _Lycée Sylvain Salnave ^{High School}

(operating in the afternoon from 13 hrs to 19 hrs)

4. Several nursery schools (kindergartens)

5. Presbytérales Schools

6. The school of the Sisters of the Immaculate Conception of Chantal

7. A primary school in each communal section

Chantal’s school youth study preferably in Les Cayes. She intends to find in this great city more teachers that are better prepared. Secondary courses are offered to Chantal in a high school and classical colleges. On the other hand, no sign of a vocational school is visible. The Chantalaise youth would also like to be trained professionally. There is a lack of that education. The learning of a profession has the virtue of raising the economic, social, moral and spiritual level of man. The Chantalis aspires to it and hopes that solidarity will help reach this goal.

Health: The Ministry of Public Health and Population is not represented in the commune of Chantal. As a result, ARDESCH (Association for the rehabilitation and economic and Social development of Chantal) does not remain indifferent. Its members know that the path of development undoubtedly passes through health. The agglomeration of Chantalaise, in order to achieve its objectives, needs to improve its sanitary conditions. Chantal is not yet subject to urban pollution, but her health needs are numerous and are felt.

The health infrastructure is very rudimentary. This is what it consists of: ARDESCH, in its field research, can be based on information provided by the authentic representatives Chantal’s health sector.

• A health clinic in Chantal
• A health Centre in Leprêtre
• A mobile clinic in Canon
• A mobile clinic in Mathieu
• A mobile clinic in Riviere Morne
• 24 assembly posts in the three communal sections with three health workers for first aid, injection, dressing.
• A disabled centre in Laplace (L’Arche)
• A nutritional program for children and adults Tuberculosis surveillance
• A Family planning program

This framework reveals all its shortcomings. The agents who provide this care are not doctors, nurses or nurses. We have two or three experienced auxiliaries who serve Chantal’s clinic.

For the others they are trained agents on the job and have a real volunteerism in the hope of becoming employees. Their formation is due to short term seminars. Among them one recruits mostly midwives or matrons for the deliveries of the peasants. When the situation goes beyond them, they refer the case to the General Hospital of Les Cayes.

Utilities: The town of Chantal has six rivers, six springs and public fountains with about 107 taps. The city of Chantal has a sanitation service and is electrified. The power supply frequency is 70 hours per week.

Security: For Administrative and Judiciary Infrastructures, the National Police of Haiti (PNH) is represented by a sub-commission and the Ministry of Justice, by a court of peace. There is also a civil status office. There is no prison in the commune.

Religion: Within the commune evolve various religious faiths. The most prominent are the Catholics, the Pentecostals, and the Baptist churches. Seventh-day Adventists are beginning to implant. We must also add the Jehovah’s Witnesses. The Vodun is practiced at different levels.

Organizations: At the level of parties and organizations, the municipality is very poorly endowed. It has only two grassroots organizations, two women’s groups and a non-commercial cooperative.

Communication: The municipality has a post office. However, there is no radio station, television, nor newspaper / magazine.

Leisure: As for Leisure, there are twenty-one listed gaguères in the commune. The football (soccer) is the only sport practiced by the inhabitants of the town. There is no library, museum, theater nor cinema. The Fortress of the Plantons is the only site inventoried in the commune of Chantal.