A Small Non-Profit Helps Haiti's Farmers to Get Back on Their Feet after Hurricane Matthew - the Worst Hurricane in a Decade.
MIAMI - Dec. 5, 2016 - PRLog -- After hurricane Matthew wiped out the farmers of Haiti's breadbasket in October, the international aid community responded quickly, first with much needed medicines and emergency food supplies, then quickly shifting to seeds and building materials. Now, a small charity led by Haiti's first Peace Corps Director has launched the first program to focus on real, long term, sustainable recovery. "The farmers appreciate the emergency help," says Bertrand Laurent, a Haitian-born agricultural anthropologist who is Executive Chair of The Caribbean Institute for Sustainable Development. "But you know how farmers are: they want to stand on their own feet. They want to move forward. That's just who they are."
The farmers are grateful for the well intentioned gifts of vegetable seeds that will enable them to plant gardens, but they know they can't save seeds for the next season because most of the donated seeds are hybrids. The Caribbean Institute for Sustainable Development is distributing fruit trees through local community organizations in the hurricane impact zone. Adds Yves-François Pierre, PhD, a Columbia University trained Haitian sociologist who is one of the Institute's Board Members: "The international community learned from the earthquake in 2010 that international aid delivered without involving local community organizations sends a message to local folks that Haitian organizations don't have what it needs for the country to bounce back, which of course isn't true, but it undermines local resilience. How can you build resilience if you don't have confidence in your local organizations?" So the Institute is delivering its trees through the local organizations – to strengthen not only the organizations' internal management systems but also their standing with the local residents. The Institute produces seedlings and also buys trees from wherever they can be found. The seedlings will be delivered by truck, boat, taxi, motorcycle, and mule train, all for under seven dollars a tree, probably the lowest cost for this kind of project in the world. The Institute is trying to raise money through private donations. As word gets out, people are realizing that the gift of a fruit tree for Christmas to farmers devastated by a hurricane is much more than just a gesture.
The Caribbean Institute is delivering 1,500 trees to 200 farmers for Christmas, and then 3,000 trees per month to 600 farmers by Easter. Said Laurent, "Christmas after a hurricane is a blessing, both for those who survived, and for those of us who can help. The gift of a fruit tree to a farmer who has been wiped out by a hurricane is probably the most meaningful gift one can give." The Caribbean Institute for Sustainable Development maintains a blog site at www.tci-inc.org, through which one can make a donation. Visit https://tci-inc.org/2016/12/02/312/
Media Contact
Bertrand Laurent, Executive Chairman
Caribbean Institute for Sustainable Development
tci@islandsystems.com
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Give Fruit Trees for Christmas!
December 05, 2016 at 16:18 PM EST
