Today their greatest challenge is to learn how to live and work together. The AFSC helps by providing training and opportunities for people to make group decisions and carry them out. The Service Committee's program takes place in the Grand' Anse, the most isolated and least developed part of Haiti. A mountainous and rocky region, its roads are mostly impassable. Electricity, telephone service, safe water, and sanitation are limited and unreliable, and in some areas nearly nonexistent.
Community meeting is the place to make plans and priorities.
Farming In the Grand' Anse, more than 80 percent of the people make their living by farming. However, farming is difficult because of poor seed quality, lack of tools and storage facilities, subsidies, and technical assistance. An AFSC agronomist works with peasants, training them in ways to take care of the soil and to make compost. Community-based groups have established tree nurseries and family gardens to provide income and improve diets. An important piece of AFSC's agricultural program is its Creole pig breeding center.