Hope on a String’s work is located in the Arcahaie region of Haiti, northwest up the coast from Port-au-Prince. Rather than operate within the Haitian capital city, we made the conscious choice to locate our program and the associated development in Arcahaie to encourage the decentralization of Haiti’s assets away from Port-au-Prince.
Arcahaie is a historic town that lies in a pocket of fertile land between arid mountains and the Port-au-Prince Bay where the population supplements their main income of remittances with small-scale commerce, agriculture, and fishing.
With a population of roughly 115,000 people, Arcahaie will sustain robust participation in Hope on a String programs and serve as grounds for new economic activity. Also, Arcahaie’s relative proximity to Port-au-Prince allows for supplies to be transported and visitors to travel with relative ease. Because the town sustained only minimal damage from the earthquake in 2010, Hope on a String focuses on solving long-term, system challenges and not simply those aligned with this acute natural disaster.