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Father Pollux Byas, founder of the Hospital of Hope

In 1959, Haitian-born Father Pollux Byas (see biographical notes) went to Antigonish in the province of Nova Scotia, Canada to study community development at Saint-Francis Xavier University. This Department of Community Development provided the foundation of the Antigonish movement. It proposes an approach to development based on cooperative structures, envisioning community development as the result of a collective organized effort.

In 1960, Father Byas was Vicar of the Parish of Sainte-Rose-de-Lima in Pilate, Haiti. There he quickly put into practice what he had learned in Antigonish. Focusing on the population of Pilate, he developed a plan based on four pillars (or sectors): Public health, education, agriculture and economic organization. Representatives of each of these sectors formed an agency called “The Community Development Movement of Pilate” (MODECOP). This agency became the foundation of the cooperative movement that slowly began to take root in Pilate. From there a credit union, small consumer cooperative and coffee growers' cooperative grew.

Next an extensive literacy campaign was launched in the community. In 1966, Father Byas built Hospital of Hope on the identical location of the communal dispensary. Then the MODECOP helped the hospital implement a large community health program. This program was, and still is, based on the work of benevolent health agents and midwives in each of the 8 rural sectors of Pilate. The personnel of both the school and the hospital are directly involved in the education of the cooperative members and assist member management primarily through counselling.

Biographical notes

• 1928: born in Limonade, North Department, Haiti.
• Attended high school at Notre-Dame College, Cap-Haïtien.
• 1949: entered novitiate of Fathers of Holy Cross in Pointe-Claire, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
• 1955: ordained priest in Cap-Haïtien where he taught for a year.
• 1956: pastoral mandate at Saint-Joseph's Oratory, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
• 1959: attended curriculum of Saint-Francis Xavier University in Community Development, Antigonish, Nova-Scotia, Canada.
• 1960: named Vicar of the Parish of Sainte-Rose-de-Lima in Pilate, Haiti.
• 1965: named Parish priest in Pilate.
• 1966: built Hospital of Hope.
• 1968: built a blacksmith's and a welding shop.
• 1969: began training community development leaders in Pilate.
• 1970: initiated the Community Development Movement (MODECOP) of Pilate.
• 1970-1974: began coffee producers' cooperative, credit unions and small consumers' cooperative.
• 1975: built an aqueduct system to provide clean drinking water around Pilate.
• 1976-1986: built 350 houses for the homeless population.
• 1988: died of cancer at Hospital of Hope.