Sirona Cares

Hurricane Isaac Hit Sirona's Farmers, Hard

 

Saint Jean with his mother and his wife

Today I received the following e-mail from our agronomist, Saint Jean, in southern Haiti.  He writes on behalf of our jatropha farmers whose area took the worst hit from Hurricane Isaac.  They are desperate, I know because he has never written an e-mail like this.  The nursery was wiped out, which can be replaced, but their homes were also destroyed and they are suffering.

 

 

Sirona has always supported our communities by helping them become self-sufficient.  We give them the power to create, use and sell alternative energy.  In the wake of the earthquake we gave financial and charitable assistance, and so on behalf of my farmers I am sending this e-mail to our readers hoping that donations may be made to help them through this recent crisis. 

Dear Michelle,
                        How are you doing? In my side It's not really okay. Haiti is hit by an hurricane, gardens and animals are lost, many houses at 2nd plain are destroyed, the farmers are in difficulties then my mother is sick. how you can assit the farmers? It would be bettter if you use a way to do a donation to the farmers. I need to prepare new plants but I want you do the transfert.
 
 
Best regards

Saint Jean Illace

Thank you in advance, for anything you can do

Clean Fuel in Haiti: 250,000 Trees Will Change Lives

If you dig back into this blog you will see that the SunBlazer solar program has received all of the attention for some time.  That is only one of our programs though, and the other does so well that I fail to blog about it,which is a shortcoming on my part.

Sirona places the power to create, use and sell alternative energy into the hands of the poorest people.  We achieve many things with this mission, we provide light, improve lives, improve livelihoods, empower, and improve the environment locally and globally.  Our Jatropha Program allows small farmers who work in co-ops, or in Haiti, Kombit farmers, to receive free seedlings and in turn, Sirona purchases these seeds to process into two resources: clean fuel (Jatropha oil is a drop in replacement for diesel fuel) and an alternative charcoal.

As with any agricultural program, it takes time to reach milestones.  Sirona has just surpassed the planting of over 250,000 trees that will each bear enough seed to produce a gallon of clean fuel a year.  The residue will be used as nitrate rich fertilizer or compressed into briquettes to replace charcoal.

Haitians cook with charcoal.  It is a way of life, but the charcoal trade is destroying the fragile island.  Deforestation is arguably Haiti's largest issue.  We are working to encourage planting, rather than cutting down trees, and if we can stabilize these hillsides and replenish the soil, the indigenous trees will return in time.  This program creates the opportunities for the charcoal trade to shift to tree planting rather than cutting.

We could not have reached this milestone without the support of our donors, and we especially wish to highlight the support we have received from JDT Foundation.  Last fall they supported the planting of 50,000 seedlings and committed to 50,000 more this year.  JDT Foundation is a Haitian organization that saw Jatropha's potential and elected to support our endeavor rather than begin one of their own.  We are immensely appreciative of this support and look forward to continuing our program.  Pressing oil will begin in the coming months, seeds are being bought today to give us what we need when we are ready to press.  Organizations are now coming to us seeking contracts to purchase the oil.  As with everything we have done thus far, that decision will ultimately lie with the farmers.

I am looking at opportunities for Carbon Credit financing, and working to raise funds to continue this worthy program.  We are expecting to expand into the north this year working with a new group who has seen the program and hopes to displace the fuel they need for their hospital generator.  Many thanks to all who have supported our farmers, they have used your funding to it's fullest potential, and it will change lives for generations.  Consider this: the impact of a $100 donation to this program will allow us to plant 1,000 seedlings, each will produce a gallon of fuel per year as well as charcoal.  If the value of that is $5 per year, and the trees live for 25 years (typically between 25-45 years) your $100 donation creates $125,000 for the farmers in Haiti.  JDT's $5,000 donation will generate $6,250,000 over the life of these trees.

Anytime you can offset in import, particularly fuel, you are making a financial impact in a country.  Whenever you can reduce the amount of smoke children are exposed to you are having positive health impact in a country.  This program will not change all of Haiti, but for our farming communities it will generate badly needed revenue, empower, and improve lives.  Thank you again for your generosity and support.

Lighting the Mountain Villages of St. Marc

I am sitting on top of a mountain, literally, in Haiti.  We have made the treacherous drive up hauling a SunBlazer that will provide this community with its first access to electricity.  I am not speaking lightly when I say treacherous, as this was a steep, winding one-lane road.  At one point we met a large truck coming down too fast and we were lucky enough to both avoid colliding and avoid the truck going off the steep edge.  We arrived safely, to a magnificent view and the fresh cool air of the mountains.  This community farms coffee, corn, beans, and much more I’m sure.  It is very fertile, and absolutely stunning.

As with every deployment, while there are only a few present when we arrive, in time there is a crowd.  Boys play, men watch, and the women and girls watch as well from a short distance.  The crowd will grow constantly and continue to do so long after our departure, especially here because it is nearly dusk.  By the time we are gone, the lights will be on guiding interested villagers to the location to see the milestone that their village has reached today.

Here in rural Haiti there simply is no access to electricity.  In even the cities like St. Marc, from which we are operating as a base for this nine-unit deployment, there is little power that does not come from generators at larger businesses and hotels.  There is some grid power but for reasons unknown to us there is little evidence of energy that the local utility provides.

The Ti Soley (“Little Sun” in Haitian Kreyol) kits that we provide with lighting kits allow homes to enjoy three lights: two mounted pull-chain bulbs as well as a flashlight on the kit itself.  These have lasted our customers for five days on average before needing to be brought to the SunBlazer solar charging station.  The station and kits provide enough energy to reach the bottom rung of the Millennium Development Goals with regard to access to electricity.  This is a great milestone for our communities.  From this base level they can begin to enjoy life without kerosene fumes, and access to communication.  They can use a radio and charge their cell phones.  Energy changes lives, improves health, and gives those who have access to it opportunities that they would not have without it.

This is a business venture and we have spent a lot of time and energy training our nine new Operators.  They are entrepreneurs (as are their customers, who will be charging the phones of neighbors who were not able to access a Ti Soley kit).  Revenue generated by a franchise covers monthly maintenance visits, support for the local Operator (school/community development group/etc.) and Sirona’s operations and expansion.

 

Sirona is Doing Our Job.... Bringing Light

We have been working to deploy the nine SunBlazers built in the last two weeks in Port au Prince.  The IEEE donated the equipment, and a crew of seven Haitians installed the components and prepared the units for the field.  This program is paid for by a grant from USAID (a huge thank you to the American taxpayers for their generosity!) to bring light and sustainable business to villages in the six communes of St. Marc, Haiti.

Monday was our training day.  All nine Operators with their assistants came for training which took place at the Le Gou-T hotel in St. Marc.  The Operators were trained both on the technical aspects of the machine (we towed one in for them to see the set-up process) as well as business training.  Each village will operate a franchise for the newly formed Haitian corporation, Sirona Haiti, S.A.  Their clients must pay 250 Haitian Gourdes, or $6.25 per month, to receive unlimited access to recharges at the SunBlazer station.  Haitians are very entrepreneurial, and merging their business style with the American style is our goal.  With six stations in operation for over a year we are gaining momentum and stable business practices.

Tuesday we deployed in the middle of the Artibonite, which is Haiti's breadbasket.  As far as you can see rice patties extend in all directions.  The deployment was extremely difficult because it required ramp after ramp to be made from boards for the 3,000 lb. unit to cross the waterways in the rice fields.  Time after time villagers jumped into the mud and pushed with all their might.  The machine ultimately arrived in its destination and with great joy we showed them their new light kits, or Ti Soley kits (which translates to "Little Sun").  

That night as we left the community, which was still singing, we looked back and saw that the only light visible on the horizon in any direction was the point of light radiating from that center.  It was amazing to realize how far from electricity this community was, and how unlikely it was that anything was going to happen here if we had not been able to do our job.

It is our mission to deliver light in the context of sustainable business.  This encourages, empowers, and is transformational.  This was an excellent day!