The village of Frettas (fret-ta) is 8 kilometers (5 miles) up the Mountrouis River from my home on the coast of Haiti. I first visited this area back in 2003. As travel in mountain areas go river corridors often afford the easiest access through mountain ranges. That evidently was the case with the Road to Frettas. This village by comparison to other rural maountain villages here in in Haiti is a very well kept and beautiful place. There is a sense of pride around this village of 300 people along the Mountrouis River. A pride of community and a pride of history.
The most obvious thing you notice as you reach the village and gaze down on the community below is the huge church. The question immediately arises how and why did that get built here. The Baptist Church was built in 1933. Unlike any of the other mountain church I have visited it evokes pride of craftsmenship and materials. It's representative of an earlier European style of churches. It is very tall with a rather steep roof which is supported by brick buttresses on the outside walls. Between each buttress it is framed and pegged with timbers from Haiti's once magnificent forests. The majority of the walls are finished with mortared rocks. Another characteristic of pride is it sits in the middle of town along with the much newer school announcing to all who arrive this is a Christian community.
Through out history towns have sprung up and prospered because of their important location. Natural travel routes , access to markets, availability of water and natural resources for a few, Frettas fits all of these. Since it's very beginning the east bank of the Mountrouis River has offered enough land to locate a very good road to the villages up stream. On numerous occassions over the years I have even driven my 3.5 ton truck up the road. This past summer's three successive hurricanes and ensuing flooding have dramatically altered the river landscape.
What took nature thousands of years into a beautiful river canyon was forever altered over a 3 week period this last summer. Homes were swept away as were several sections of the road. Community efforts have resulted in some of the road being reopened to traffic but to the last two villages of Dauphine and Frettas. In this particular area the road will have to be cut high above the river with pick ax and hammer and chisel through the rocky mountain slope.
On Monday morning G.A.P go and produce Ministry in cooperation with the Haitian Organization for District 8 (OPD8) started working on completing this last link in the Road to Frettas. My next several blogs will keep you updated on our progress as well as the "Feet Across the Mountain "ministry outreach of G.A.P. Ministry that helps the mountain people of Haiti. In God's Love , Steve
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