Near the bottom of the island of Hispaniola in southeast Haiti is a forgotten village, cut off from its own country, and slowly emptying as its residents leave for the neighbouring Dominican Republic.
Without health services, electricity, or paved roads, Boucan Ferdinand lost its only road to the nearest Haitian town, Bois Negresse, in devastating floods back in 2004.
11 Apr 2018 . Chapotin, Haiti. Reuters/Andres Martinez Casares
A man cuts a tree in the fields of Chapotin, with Boucan Ferdinand and the Dominican Republic in the background.
Some of its residents have left for the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince and others cling on to a precarious life. Many have crossed illegally into the more prosperous Dominican Republic.
"They do not have access to basic social services, this situation is at the root of the mass migration to the Dominican Republic," said Jean Gilles Viola, mayor of the municipality that governs Boucan Ferdinand and around 20 other villages.
5 Oct 2018 . Boucan Ferdinand, Haiti. Reuters/Andres Martinez Casares
A man walks next to some hanging laundry.
Those who remain live in thatch and stick hovels, collecting rainwater to drink and at constant risk of infectious diseases.
Some children, in impeccable blue uniforms, walk to a school in the town of Chapotin - a trip that takes an hour and a half over a narrow path, impassable in the rainy season.
10 Oct 2018 . Boucan Ferdinand, Haiti. Reuters/Andres Martinez Casares
Children attend a class inside the school at a Baptist church.
In the village are two makeshift classrooms, run by the Baptist and Catholic chapels.
"This year my children will not go to school," said village farmer Wilber Jean in October, as his children played nearby.
"Here you pay a ton. There," pointing across the border, "the president pays."
9 Apr 2018 . Boucan Ferdinand, Haiti. Reuters/Andres Martinez Casares
A boy carries sticks to be used as firewood.
Children collect firewood or graze small flocks of goats and sheep to help their parents. During planting time, many skip school in order to help on the farms, earning less than $2 a day.
8 Oct 2018 . Boucan Ferdinand, Haiti. Reuters/Andres Martinez Casares
Brothers Manes (left) and Fresnels Exalus (right), and Naida Ogisten have a snack with relatives in the house of Manes and Naida.
In the mornings, the village smells of burning firewood brought by the children as the women make breakfast: sometimes there is pasta, but more likely coffee and a piece of bread. Often there is rice and beans. Meat, a luxury.
Haiti, which according to the World Bank is the poorest country in the Americas, has not recovered from a powerful earthquake that hit it on Jan. 12 2010, leaving more than 200,000 dead.
10 Oct 2018 . Boucan Ferdinand, Haiti. Reuters/Andres Martinez Casares
Boys walk along a trail, that was used in the past by terrain vehicles connecting with Bois Negresse, on the outskirts of Boucan Ferdinand.
The countryside has been emptying out. Less than half of Haitians live in rural communities compared to 84 percent in 1960, World Bank data shows.
Boucan Ferdinand seems to have fallen off the map. Radios mainly capture Dominican signals.
8 Oct 2018 . Boucan Ferdinand, Haiti. Reuters/Andres Martinez Casares
A man, known as Polo, rests in the kitchen of his house as he gathers with family and friends.
"I'm tired of looking for stations in Haiti," complained Polo, a 64-year-old man who returned here with his wife and one of his grandchildren after spending more than 40 years in the Dominican Republic.
Aurana Augustin 'Timatant' sold bread and sweets until a few months ago when the left half of her body was paralyzed. Today, the grandmother spends her days lying in bed.
10 Oct 2018 . Boucan Ferdinand, Haiti. Reuters/Andres Martinez Casares
Augustin rests on a bed. "There are no doctors here. It's easier to go to Duverger (Dominican Republic). There is a truck to go there," she said.
The nearest Haitian health centre is across a mountain, so she has been crossing the border on a mule to seek care in the Dominican town of Duverge.
The local government wants to rebuild the road taken out by the floods but lacks the financial means, said the mayor.