40 Hour Work Day: Day One in Haiti

We arrived in Port au Prince on Monday at 8:00 a.m. (Sunday had been a full day of packing, a presentation at our church, and a sleepless red-eye from San Francisco).  We traveled the countryside of Haiti in the back of a pickup truck and worked with our partners until 11:00 pm. This was the longest work day I can remember.

Doug Stevens of The Leadership Connection traveled with me to meet with and provide leadership training for Pastors in Haiti.  Just as we arrived I received notification that due to manifestations (demonstrations) in Grand Goave relating to the recent election we would not have our meeting there.  At the airport we began scheduling an event in Port au Prince, for Thursday to replace the lost training session.  Working in Haiti requires a lot of flexibility.  The call to cancel the Grand Goave meeting was the right one.  As we passed through the town there was a massive UN presence keeping the peace.  It was not a good time for a large gathering.

We stopped in Aquin to leave books for my young friend Pierre.  He and his friend have been teaching themselves English sharing a battered dictionary, so I brought him a new one and a few other books.  I also delivered nail clippers to him for his community to help combat cholera and diarhea from bacteria under the nails. 

Then we headed to L'Azile and I was amazed at how smooth the road was.  It is unpaved, so it will only stay smooth until the rainy season.  I walked the first field with transplanted jatropha from the nursery there where 500 new seedlings are waiting for the first rains of the season.  These seedlings are border cropped around a field with banana trees and other food crops.  The 10,000 seedling nursery for this community is under cultivation and by summer all of those seedlings will be transplanted.

I visited the L'Azile school to see the progress on the technology center.  The computers were en route to the school from Cap Haitian and by summer the class will have it's first students enrolled.  I also walked the school land and discussed the sustainable kitchen garden project.  The garden will supply food for the school and educate the students who care for it.  The first site was deemed too close to the soccer field (the Director was concerned that the boys might destroy the garden) so it is being re-located to a safer area.  This project was envisioned by an incredible student from the Oakland College Preperatory School, Callie Roberts.  Callie has given a tremendous amount of time and effort to make the lives of the children we work with in Haiti better.  She started by collecting clothing and French books, then worked with the Ashoka Youth Project to fund the sustainable kitchen garden for the school, and, in response to the earthquake, wrote an educational pamphlet for children in Haiti to help them understand what earthquakes are, and why they happen.  Callie is a remarkable girl, and I look forward to seeing where life takes her.  I'm quite sure many more will benefit from her incredible spirit.

We got back into the truck and drove to Les Cayes where we spent the night.  I was able to meet with people there, our first partners ESMI, and discuss the IEEE/Sirona Haiti Rural Electricity Project.  The excitement over that project is indescribable.  This is the first opportunity for affordable, sustainable electricity in homes at a price Haitians can afford.  I spent a great portion of this trip explaining the project to groups and individuals, poor and wealthy Haitians, and the reception is consistently one of excitement.  Many great things happened on this trip (and I've only covered the first day!).

Presidential Election: Not the Only Story in Haiti...

Tensions are high in Haiti.  The country is struggling through a prolonged Presidential election process which has created a setting for the frustrations of the Haitian people to be played out.  There will be, no doubt, coverage of events as they unfold if there is violence and strife.  Sadly that is the picture ever present of Haiti in the press: struggle, poverty, disease and violence.  There are important stories to be told, of course, but there are many organizations making progress, and unfortunately these stories are not generally captured.

I write most often about our development work because there is so much going on.  We've planted 50,000 trees and just this week I received a request to double the size of a nursery because 10,000 trees at a time isn't fast enough for the demand.  That project, designed to put the power to create, use and market biofuel in the hands of Haitian farmers without displacing any food crops is moving at a pace I am surprised, humbled and delighted by.

Our IEEE/Sirona Rural Electricity Project, bringing electricity to 240 homes in rural Haiti and starting 6 new businesses, is another big project that is underway.  We launch the pilot as soon as the equipment gets to Haiti, hopefully later this month.  This project with the IEEE is designed to bring light to 1,000,000 Haitians in five years time.  It's hard to understate the positive effects of these two projects.  Not only do they create clean, alternative energy sources for people, as well as increased income and a better standard of living, but having electric light alone changes lives.  Children can study after dark, and it's worth mentioning that as soon as a community has electric light the birth rates drop.  (Once they've got television, the birth rate plummets).  I'm not suggesting, by the way, that we put televisions throughout Haiti, but I am stating that positive change is getting a jumpstart in our rural communities.

In addition to sustainable development work we also advocate for our partners who care for and educate Haitian children.  On that front I wanted to show the pictures of children in their uniforms that were purchased from local seamstresses in L'Azile and Jeremie.  The uniform funds were collected when a little boy, Kian, turning 6 gave up his birthday gifts and asked instead that people buy school uniforms for the kids in Haiti.  Uniforms are required at schools in Haiti, and the $15 it costs to buy them can present an insurmountable hurdle to some parents.  This gift put children in school who would not have been able to attend this year otherwise.  These are the little stories that bring joy and improvement, but don't make the news.  These stories are powerful as well.  Kian changed these children's lives by giving up his birthday gifts.  What we may seem a small thing can make a huge difference in Haiti.  Ten cents plants a tree, $15 can keep a child in school.

We press on with our work in the rural areas where much is happening with not only our group, but many, that is not well publicized. 

I look at feedback reports on this blog to be sure I'm not just typing to myself.  The number of daily views spikes when crisis hits Haiti, and I'm not surprised that with today's tensions numbers rose again. 

I see generally that there is an audience out there that wants to see progress on the ground in Haiti, and as long as we are making progress and people are interested I will keep posting.  Thanks for reading!

Haiti's Earthquake: Looking Back & Forward

I have not written since the anniversary of the earthquake.  I have many mixed feelings and feared that I would not articulate any of them in a meaningful way.  Nobody can imagine really what it was like for Haiti to lose hundreds of thousands of people in moments.  The damage was beyond comprehension.  The lack of a plan to move forward has crippled the country and with no strong government, no plan, no focus and no funding or solid international support Haiti is still paralyzed.

A year ago I was literally drowning in the goodwill of the Bay Area in response to the earthquake.  I kept busy sorting and packing goods for survivors with volunteers to keep my mind off of all of the people I could not reach.  I held a ticket for Haiti dated only days after the earthquake and it took me two more weeks to get into the country through the Dominican Republic.  Donated planes flew us from one town to another allowing us to see many of our partners.  Haiti a year ago was full of American military.  When I arrived the streets were clogged with rubble, dust burned our eyes and throats, people slept in the roadways of Port au Prince, and NGO vehicles were everywhere.  Signs were posted with pleas for food, water and medicine.  The streets of Port au Prince were peaceful and eerily quiet, I have never experienced that level of calm in the city, before or since my Februrary visit.

Only some things have changed in a year.  The signs are gone, as is much of the assistance.  Haitians walk and live amongst the rubble of the earthquake.  They lack every form of service we take for granted, namely access to clean water and electricity.  A cholera epidemic has ravaged the country since October and turmoil from an unresolved presidential election looms ever present.  The extremity of the poverty and the complexity of the issues in Haiti were hard to articulate yesterday, and today the ousted dictator, Duvalier (Baby Doc) has returned to Haiti. 

I do not comment politics in Haiti.  I spend all of my energy and building sustainable communities in the rural areas of Haiti.  I work directly with community leaders designing programs with them that will benefit their people.  We focus upon addressing energy poverty, and are bringing real solutions to village people.  With over 1,000 farmers enrolled in our jatropha program we will soon see positive economic development in the countryside based on locally produced biofuel.  When we deploy six electricity stations next month we will create six businesses and bringing light to 240 homes. 

Our organization is successful because we listen to our Haitian partners and design with them programs that will work for them.  It pains me to look at how little over-all progress has been made in Haiti over the past year.  The urgent message that must come out of Haiti is that it is not hopeless; that people do want and will work for sustainable development.  They prefer this option to charity.  The population is young (a median age of 20) and they embrace change.  In their memory there are no "good old days" and they desperately want to create a future.  I would urge people who believe in the power of the human spirit to keep your eyes on our work in Haiti to be reassured that positive change is possible, and is taking place, regardless of the media's portrayal of this broken country.

 

Haiti 2011: Sirona's Goals for Rural Improvement

As we begin the year, we owe thanks to many people for supporting the work we are doing in Haiti.  2010 was an incredibly difficult year, beginning with the devastation of the earthquake. Cholera hit Haiti in the fall killing more than 2,000 people, storms flooded the west of Haiti and the presidential election resulted in chaos.  The news out of Haiti in 2010 was not good.

Current political instability is a serious issue.  For many an investment in Haiti is deemed too risky, and millions of dollars donated to Haiti's recovery have still not been sent.  I go to Haiti every other month, and it is my opinion that the primary cause of instability in Haiti is the horrific living conditions suffered by most of the population.  With 80%+ unemployment people are poorer than most readers of this blog could begin to comprehend.  They lack electricity, they lack safe water to drink, and many cannot eat, much less send their children to school.  Living in these conditions creates enourmous stress, and anger.  I believe that Haiti must be invested in, because I believe that the root of the instability is the stress suffered by the people there.  If they could find work, feed and educate their children, and have access to the basis for a life which includes electricity and water, then and only then could stability begin.  As long as the suffering of the people is as intense as it is, there will be instability.

All of our work is geared at building sustainable communities.  We will not change Haiti as a whole, but we will create communities that are stronger, where people have the means to work and gain access to power, to clean water, and make a living.  Our jatropha project is designed to give rural Haitians the ability to produce, use and sell biodiesel; our electricity project is designed to create small businesses and provide electricity to those with no access.  Rather than aim at making a small difference to a great number of people, we are geared at making a very big difference to small communities of people, and we are succeeding.

Sirona began working in Haiti in January of 2009 and what we have accomplished, and where we are going, is noteworthy:

• The jatropha program, designed to improve the lives and communities of rural Haiti: We have planted over 40,000 trees and enrolled 1,000 interested farmers.  Our 2011 goal is to plant 250,000 trees.  We have every reason to believe that we will exceed this goal with no problem.
• Rural Electricity:  We worked with the IEEE for over a year to design and prepare for deployment a Rural Electricity Program.  Our first shipment will occur this month.  In February we will bring light to 240 homes that have no access to electricity and power six new businesses. 
• We provided aid to over 20,000 people following the earthquake, the largest Northern California response.
• We have received the funding for our press to extract jatropha oil from the seeds so that we can begin selling it in Haiti in the coming months.
• Our nutrition program based on Moringa education has improved the health of over 2,000 children who were suffering from malnutrition, many of which are HIV positive.
• We have linked our partners who educate and care for children to resources and through this process fed thousands of meals, funded a sustainable school garden, bought locally produced school uniforms putting 75 children in school who would otherwise have been unable to attend, and funded the education of one little girl this year.  We also received enough cleats and shirts to create the soccer uniform for the orphans at Mission of Hope (above).

2011 is going to be a very exciting year, and we are eager to complete our funding goals.  This year we intend to accomplish the goals above as well as complete the rebuild of the Mission of Hope School in Grand Goave.  Haiti needs investment, and we need the support of people willing to invest in improving the lives of Haitians.  If you haven't donated, please do, every donation counts, and every dollar changes lives.  If you have donated, please accept our gratitude, and many thanks from our partners in Haiti.

 

Greetings from Haiti... It's been a very good trip

We Are in Port au Prince, Haiti ending an incredible trip, the best in a long time. Sometimes everything is easy, you meet who you need to and you accomplish a lot. This was one of those trips. It is clear here that everyone is bracing for the elections on the 28th. There are constant demonstrations all over the country. We saw marchers, a candidates arrival in Jeremie by helicopter, and every surface in the country is covered with candidates advertising. Everyone I talked to expects two things, a difficult election week, and no positive change from whomever is elected. Those who can are stocking up on supplies (food, diesel, etc.). For us, it's a good time leave. The good news is that we have accomplished so much, both on the energy projects and for kids here. We leave with great excitement and have a lot to accomplish before our return in January. Following posts will tell more, there are a lot of great stories coming in the following days. A picture is worth a thousand words, and I cannot add any from here... so please come back for the stories to come.

Cholera Hits Post-Earthquake Haiti

It has been almost ten months since the devastating earthquake rocked Haiti and the world has waited to see when diseases would begin to spread.  In Haiti there is no infrastructure, and weak civil services available to residents.  Rural people wash their clothing, bathe and get their drinking water from the same source of water: rivers and streams.  Many water borne diseases already affect Haitians.  You see children with swollen bellies indicating worms and other tell-tale signs of water based illnesses.

Sirona Cares is focused upon sustainable development.  We utilize our resources to build a stable economic base in rural Haiti based upon Jatropha farming.  This project will result in locally produced fuel for generators and an improved revenue base.  All proceeds from fuel sales are reinvested into the communities and the project.  Our goal is to create jobs and stabilize the poorest of the poor.

Our other goal is to support those that care for and educate children.  We are strong advocates for groups with no voice.  We connect resources and we supply valuable information that our partners employ to improve children's education, nutrition and health.  Our Moringa Project has already resulted in improved health for over 2,000 Haitian children. 

Immediately following the outbreak of Cholera we communitcated the following information to our partners in Haiti:  Cholera symptoms include diahreah and vomiting, and as soon as a person has those sypmtoms they need to seek medical attention.  Cholera can be cured, but it acts very quickly and people can die within hours of severe dehydration.  We told our partners to spread the word: anyone showing these symptoms needs to drink water with salt and sugar added to it beginning immediately and continuing until they can get medical attention.  This is not a cure, but can buy them valuable time.

In addition, we are focused upon our project with Global Arts and Education aimed at getting 50,000 sets of nail clippers into the hands of caregivers in Haiti.  Diarhea is the leading cause of death in children, and often this is caused not by the water, but by bacteria that accumulates under the nails of children.  Each set of clippers is estimated to potentially save five lives, getting these to Haiti is critical particularly in light of this new danger.  Global Arts and Education has secured the nail clippers and is hoping to complete the funding for this project as soon as possible so that we can get them where they are needed most.  Sirona Cares will handle the transfer and distribution of these clippers with leadership from GAE. 

Advocacy for those with no voice: Haitian Children

Sirona Cares is focused on sustainable development.  Most of our posts relate to our economic development work, however we consider advocacy for children as a critical component of sustainable development too.  The median age in Haiti is 20, the population is very young, and most children in Haiti are living in very vulnerable conditions.  They are suffering in silence.

Through our work we advocate heavily for people who care for and educate children.  Because we are here and have access to social networks, we have access to resources they do not.  We can manage these connections and guarantee that donor dollars are spent exactly as a donor would wish.  While creating a stable economic base is a worthy long-term goal, immediate gratification comes from making these types of connections.

Since the earthquake we have managed amazing connections.  It began with the dramatic: assisting volunteer medical workers in their search for tranport to Haiti, delivery of medication to a man with Parkinsons, arranging for cash to be taken in to Haiti on behalf of groups we work with.  We assisted in restoration of a well at an orphanage in Leogane where fifty plus children had been without clean water for months.  We made numerous connections between food resources and orphanages, appreciated deeply by orphanage directors.  Following our last trip we were contacted by Tech Assist Haiti and we facilitated transport of computers to a school in L'Azile.  We see the needs on the ground, and we are able to communicate those needs and, sometimes, have them met.

Last month a boy named Kian gave up his birthday gifts to collect money for children's uniforms in Haiti, it's hard to imagine that children may be barred from school because they lack the $15 uniform, but it happens.  Kian's efforts netted nearly $400, or 27 uniforms.

I get more notes from Haiti expressing needs every day, and that's tough.  Meeting a even a few of those needs through advocacy is very satisfying.  In 2011 we will be delivering 50,000 sets of nail clippers collected by Global Arts and Education to Haiti to save the lives of countless children (nail clippers help prevent infant diarhea) and we will rebuild the Mission of Hope School.  We're partnering with Extollo International and optimistic that they will use the Mission of Hope School as a training project in their endeavor to teach Haitians to build earthquake/hurricane safe structures.  Please consider a donation to our work, and watch what you helped make happen actually happen!  See, just to your right: Donate Now through PayPal.

Impressions of Haiti, Stories from the Field

Haiti can seem like a different world.  In fact, after my first trip when people asked me what it was like I said it was like being on the other side of the moon.  So many things don't make sense on your first trip.  You see delivery trucks from high end stores full of charcoal; you see things that simply don't make sense.  The more often you go, the more you learn, and the more sense it makes.  Older trucks or busses are often bought here and filled to the roof with donated goods.  The vehicle is then shipped to Haiti, unloaded and sold for the price of the shipping.  Now it doesn't surprise me to see a fancy catering truck or Macy's truck, I'm used to it.

Did you know that most of the children we work with, particularly those in orphanages, have no access to mirrors so they have no real concept of what they look like?  The girls do each others hair, and it's not unusual for them to not really know how it looks.  If you take a picture of a child and turn the camera around for them, they first find their clothes and then find the face above it.  Often kids in school uniforms will point out one another in pictures because it's harder to find yourself when everyone is dressed the same.

In this picture the woman was holding her 18 month old baby who was sick.  She said he couldn't keep down rice and she was very worried, and then she showed me the child's testicles which were the size of a baseball.  She was waiting for medicine from Les Cayes, and, as I said, she was very anxious.  I asked her if it was alright for me to take her picture and she nodded.  I took the photo and turned my camera for her to see... and she grabbed her hair and laughed.  She hadn't realized it was standing up until she saw her image, and her laughter surprised us both.  I won't forget that moment ever, just having the second or two to make her laugh and take her away from her worries... for a second or two.

There are lots of sad stories, happy stories, funny stories... believe it or not, laughter comes to my mind when I think about Haiti and our friends/partners there.  A good sense of humor serves them well.  I like to tell my stories about Haiti because it helps people here relate to the people there, even if they can never fully comprehend the struggles there.  We've all had a bad hair day and worried over a sick child.  Haitians want what we want, they want to have jobs and provide for their children.  Our goal is to create jobs and help Haitians create a world with fewer sick children, and more laughter.

 

Haiti Huddle: Collaboration in San Francisco

My last post about collaboration in San Francisco, namely the SOCAP10 and Haiti Huddle conferences ended with:

It's exciting to fill rooms with people passionate about the same things...I am very optimistic that such focused efforts will produce positive results. I will be facilitating a breakout session during the Haiti Huddle focused on Creating Sustainable Jobs through Microenterpreneurship.

After attending the Haiti Huddle and watching SOCAP10s live stream I would like to report that both events went well. The Huddle was filled with actors from many organizations and synergies were created through the process. Permaculture was needed in areas and connections were made; HR's Bruce Christensen was there connecting with regard to cement mixing. There were great presentations from groups like Architecture for Humanity, Nouvelle Vie and John Engles of Haiti Partners illuminating at the work on the ground.

Cameron Sinclair of Architecture for Humanity put it right when he stated that for any of us to succeed, egos must be checked at the door, and collaboration is critical. He pointed out that as small organizations we are "tugboats" rather than tankers. We are nimble, and we can accomplish much... and we accomplish much more by working together.

Meetings like the Haiti Huddle help people outside of Haiti connect, but also create value by giving us connections to pass on to our Haitian partners. It's not about "us", its about making things better there. It's about building something sustainable with Haitians that we can walk away from in the future and move to help others struggling in other places. Yesterday I was in a room with people who felt the same way.

In our group, Creating Sustainable Jobs through Micro-entrepreneurship we identified a critical component that needs immediate attention, and that is locating funding mechanisms for "larger than micro" financing. There must be funding opportunities for entrepreneurs to create sustainable businesses larger than the micro level, businesses that employ and have a multiplier effect. There are new opportunities in Haiti for such businesses to emerge, Life Giving Force, for instance, installs water treatment equipment and, if financed properly, can create businesses for would-be entrepreneurs. Sirona Cares is implementing a rural electricity project which also holds potential for job creation, but more than a micro loan is needed to put someone in business. NGOs know the people on the ground, we can attest to their creditworthiness, and eventually we hope to find the funding mechanisms necessary to get these businesses off the ground in Haiti.

I was correct in my last post, there was a lot of positive energy here in San Francisco, and hopefully through collaboration much more will be accomplished in Haiti.

Rural School Receives Technology!

The focus of our work is on sustainable development.  We take a two facet approach by supporting the agricultural sector and supporting those who care for/educate children.  By empowering the farmers and the children we hope to make a significant impact in our communities over time.  Haiti's median age is only 20, meaning that great change can occur in a short period of time.  Positive effects for this generation will fuel the next.  Haitians will propel themselves forward, and education is critical to this process.  Our bi-monthly trips to Haiti always include both aspects of our work: furthering our Jatropha projects and advocating for Haitian programs that need outside assistance.

While we were in L'Azile on this past trip (only two weeks ago) we met with the director of a school, the Eglise de Dieu.  The school survived the earthquake but classes were held outside through the summer as they reinforced the structure.  They will return indoors this fall.  At their site they were constructing a new building, a technology classroom.  They had received funding for the construction of this project, through Compassion International I believe, but had no access for funding the computers for the class.  While we were there we saw a class of about 40 students working with two computers.  Pictured below are members of our team, Janine & Chris, our Haitian partner Yves Gourdet, and Pastor Eden who runs the school.

Haiti Rewired is a site dedicated to creating an ongoing conversation about technology, infrastructure and the future of Haiti.  Through the Haiti Rewired site I was contacted by Tech Assist Haiti and asked (before I had even mentioned this project) if I needed their assistance.  I did, in fact, need computers for this project in L'Azile and I had no idea how to get them.  With in a matter of days I am thrilled to say that Tech Assist Haiti donated and shipped 9 refurbished (almost new) computers which are ready for use in the classroom as well as an inkjet printer.  It is always a wonderful experience to be able to link resources here to Haitians who need them, it's the best part of this work.  Many thanks to Tech Assist Haiti (you guys are making miracles happen), to Rick Davis who reached out to me, and to the Haiti Rewired group for creating an arena where we all learn and share so much for the benefit of Haiti.  Photo below: the computers ready for shipment.