Role of Location. Our study included qualitative data of communities from three different Gadyen Dlo program regions. While context and place is always important to the understanding of qualitative data, we found that community perceptions of both cholera and water treatment were more similar than not between regions. This is perhaps most interesting given the amount of time that it takes to travel between each of these different program regions. Léogâne to Jolivert is a 6-7 hour trip by car or tap-tap9, Jolivert to the North is another 4-6 hours by car or tap-tap, and the North to Léogâne is such a long distance that DSI program supervisors typically take a plane when travelling between the two sites. The trip would most likely be between 8-10 hours in a car of tap-tap. Despite these distances, the same basic themes emerged in regards to both cholera and household water treatment. Not surprisingly, the differences in perceptions between these regions with vastly different histories and geographies were not only minor but most of them were expected. Our qualitative findings show that regardless of where a community is located, the disease of cholera pervades the community’s thoughts. Many of our findings corroborate those reported by (Grimaud & Xxxxxxxxx, 2011) who published findings from psycho-social interviews to raise awareness in communities affected by the earthquake conducted by the Haitian Red Cross in Léogâne, two urban slums in Port-au-Prince and in Petit-Goâve from mid- November to December 2010. The Port-au-Prince and Petit-Goâve areas are not covered by the 9 Truck or bus that serves as both short and long-distance transportation in Haiti Gadyen Dlo program and it would be reasonable to expect that different findings might emerge here. But, as we saw across our own data, the findings of (Grimaud & Xxxxxxxxx, 2011) were very similar to ours and further corroborate the fact that cholera is not a regional issue, but an issue that is country-wide. Although geography and infrastructure did not seem to change the messages communities received about cholera, it definitely played a role in how the disease was experienced in each of the communities we interviewed. For example, people in the rural communities in Jolivert shared more stories about people dying on the roads on their way to seek treatment. This is not surprising given that communities in rural Jolivert are remote and the mountainous roads that link them are very poor, making it more challenging to reach a c...
