Please Help Me Volunteer in Haiti
Straight up. I’m going to ask you for money. I warned you about this when MB asked WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO!?!
So click HERE and donate at my paypal button or please read on for the details.
I know, I know. I owe you all a diary on the Permaculture practice of "guilding". I mentioned that here. Please forgive, I've been busy trying to get myself to Haiti.
(Please, if you have an doubts or suggestions or questions feel free to email myself huajatollas@hotmail.com or project leader Mike Neumann mkneumann@comcast.net
Like most of us, I was heartbroken nearly a year ago as the earthquake struck Haiti. In the week after the disaster I made hundreds of calls and sent hundreds of emails - I was ready to go down there immediately to help. I'm fit and strong and...hell, I figured I'd just help move blocks of buildings. I was willing to do anything. What I heard back tho was...take your time and find the right project for your skill level. I calmed down, focused in and committed myself to that goal. Its taken awhile but I'm there.
I have joined with Pennsylvania-based Partners in Progress to work with rural farmers on an agro-forestry project in the Deslandes area of Haiti.
"Partners in Progress" (PIP) is a national, 501(c)(3), Pennsylvania based nonprofit corporation founded in 1999 by members of the Pittsburgh Regional Haiti Solidarity Committee. Its mission is to help the organized poor of Haiti help themselves to increase human capacity for living with dignity by promoting and advancing a Fondwa community model of (sustainable) rural development through educational outreach and resource networking.
Partners in Progress works "men nan men" ("hand in hand") with local land users and community associations. (Please take a look here for a detailed read at how PIP worked and continues to work with the people of the Fondwa region.)
My Mission
In January and February, will be taking part in Phase II of the "
Deslandes Intitiative for Soil Health to Improve Food Security," a collaborative effort of
Partners In Progress (PIP) and the
Centre d’Intervention Jeunesse (CIJ), a grassroots non-profit based in the village of Deslandes. The purpose of this initiative is:
"to promote and advance farmer-led research and innovation in agroecology aimed at improving the biological health of soil resources in rural Deslandes, so as to increase food security and lay a foundation for long-term community-based economic development."
Agroecology is an integrated approach to agriculture that focuses not only on the amount of food produced, but also on the ecological and social sustainability of food production systems. Farmers from the villages of Deslandes, Moge and Duvaut in the Artibonite Valley -- organized in 4 traditional collective work groups called Konbits -- will design trial plots that integrate the use of multi-purpose trees and shrubs, traditional food crops, composting, land formations, and other agroecological strategies designed to increase long-term soil fertility by rebuilding soil organic matter and biology. Each Konbit will manage, monitor and evaluate trial agroecosystems on an ongoing basis for their impact on soil health and production of healthful, nutritious food.
Another goal of this work is the creation and opening of an Agroecology Center. The Center is to provide basic educational, research, and communication tools needed to support: 1) training, knowledge-sharing, technical assistance, and experimentation in soil management and 2) hands-on experiential learning activities that empower young people to contribute to the health and well-being of their community and the land.
In the short term, the Agroecology Center will have an immediate impact on the knowledge and practices of the 60 farmers involved in the soil health initiative by expanding their knowledge of indigenous-based and conventional agroecological techniques for improving soil biological health and stimulating continuous experimentation and innovation. CIJ School students, grades 5-7, will participate in real-life educational experiences where they are actively engaged alongside farmers in addressing soil health and other environmental issues. In the long term, more widespread adoption of agroecology methods that improve soil health and productivity locally and regionally is expected. Children’s sense of pride in rural life and their engagement and interest in sustainable community development will be strengthened. The dissemination of knowledge related to improved soil health will contribute to increased production of more healthful foods, heightened food security and reduced hunger and malnutrition.
It goes without saying that, by every measure people of Haiti are living in a state of profound ecological crisis. Less than 1% of Haiti remains forested. The stark deforestation provides opportunity for severe and sudden mudslides and flash flooding, which was witnessed in 2004 and tragically resulted in several thousand Haitian peasants losing their lives. Furthermore, crop harvests are shrinking, topsoil is disappearing, malnutrition rates are growing, and preventable, infectious diseases are gaining ground. For more information on the state Haiti’s lack-of-forest issue take a look a: Agroforestry and Sustainable Resource Conservation in Haiti: A Case Study by Nathan C. McClintock
I will be volunteering my skills in permaculture design, agro-forestry, erosion control and intensive, small-scale food production for the people of Haiti beginning in January and February 2011. My goal is to establish solid, trusting, working relationships that will result in a community-based and community-lead initiative that will last for 4-5 years. During that time I would go visit the project as an advisor and funding facilitator several times a year.
This will be a total volunteer effort on my part. Thus, I am looking to raise $2000.00 in donations to begin this work. Approximately $1000 will cover travel to Haiti, the other $1000 will go directly to purchase supplies for the project. I will personally be putting $1000 towards the project.
So I am asking for your help. Please help me help the people of Haiti by contributing whatever you can towards this volunteer work in Haiti.
Go to Around The World In Eighty Years to click the PayPal button.
Further, I will be "reporting out" to various weblogs (e.g. Dailykos and the Permaculture Research Institute among others) on the course of my work as well as my travels in Haiti. I hope these posts can become of an archive to help others better understand the challenges facing rural Haiti, to learn from what I learned and to offer me suggestions for improving and continuing the project.
Upon return, I will post a slide show of my photographs at
Around The World in Eighty Years where you can see slide show of my travel photography and read my travel stories .
Please help if you can.
Around The World In Eighty Years
THANK YOU