The area of Gran Chemen is inside of the village of Cazale. How do people make a living or work? The area has many people that buy items in bulk and resell them for a profit. There is a bakery that makes bread. The bread is then sold throughout the village each day. There are others that sell dry food from their homes, and some that cook food to sell. There are others that sell cold drinks. There are seamstress in the area that sew clothing to make a living. They are very busy during the school season when they sew uniforms for the children.

Since the area is a part of Cazale we share in the tragedy of the massacre of 1969. There were many from our area that lost their lives. It was a sad time for our community. We never felt like we received justice for these crimes. Our area also has many from the Polish decent that is a part of our history. Both of these stories are an important part of our history.

In our area if we are sick we go to the government clinic or the clinic at RHFH. Those that are pregnant can go out of Cazale to the next town to deliver their babies. Most of the ladies stay here in Cazale to deliver. If they have complications then they travel out to a hospital. If someone dies here in the area the family can call the morgue to come get the body or bury the body within 24 hours.

In our area we do not have any houses that are build with tarps or brush. The majority of the homes are build with cinder block and covered with tin roofs or cement roofs. There are 2 schools in our area that do kindergarten through 6th grade. We do not have any high schools in our area but there is one that is not far away. There are 3 churches in the area and 1 voodoo house. The children like to jump rope, shoot marbles, rike bikes and swim in the river for fun.

In our area, when there is a problem, we try to sit together and come up with a solution. When we had a flood we all came together to make repairs in the area. If there is work that needs to be done on the irrigation system, road or river we do our best to talk and have as many as are able to patriciate. We have gardens where we plant bananas, beans, corn and roots. We also have mango, breadfruit, and avocado trees in the area.

With all the issues in Haiti right now we are thankful that we all feel safe in our village and that we can look after each other.