Dear friends,

 

An eventful, busy 2 weeks has come to a close and I am “transitioning” in Florida with my mom.  She cannot stop talking about her experiences in Haiti, and her desire to return!  I arrived at noon yesterday and at 4:30 I was already making a presentation to a large group of her friends!

 

Over 3 short days, Chris Papadapolous and Marcel Castro, 2 engineering professors from the University of Puerto Rico, visited Duchity to study potential projects in collaboration with Youthaiti.  We discussed ways to improve our toilet construction with small projects that might be undertaken with students.  More exciting however, was a preliminary study of the potential for hydro-electric power to serve all of Duchity.  We hiked down to the Glace River through terrain that gave a hint of what all of Haiti must have looked like once.  Grand’Anse is an area that still retains many of its trees, unlike much of the rest of Haiti which has been largely deforested.  Over the years trees have been cut down to provide charcoal and livelihoods to people in the countryside.  We saw many instances of that continuing in our area, and each one broke my heart.  I hope that Youthaiti will be able to discourage that practice by providing people with fruit trees to provide income when they use their Arborloos.  But I digress.

 

The Glace River was nowhere near its peak, as the rainy season has not yet started (although we had rain almost daily!).  A sufficient flow and a 39 meter waterfall set the stage for a potential project that could change the lives of thousands by providing reliable current.  Now they will begin to explore feasability, environmental impact and funding!!

 

We visited the market and the schools, bringing Chris to tears.  We learned of the huge challenges facing the children and the educators who know that education is the only key out of the trap of poverty.  In the public primary school there are 80 children in the fifth grade and only ONE teacher!  Novel teaching methods are impossible in such a situation!  Yet the children learn with discipline, and we see the hope and aspirations in their eyes.  So many dream of finishing high school and opportunities to study at university which are beyond their reach.  We strive to bring whatever resources we are able to them through our projects that might enhance their learning opportunities.

 

Ever day in Duchity we are all continually moved by the gracious hospitality of our Haitian hosts.  Not a day goes by without them reaching out in many ways to see to all our needs.  Despite the lack of electricity, or running water, we had 3 delicious meals each day, all our needs met with loving care.  Each visitor was sent off with a handmade gift in token of appreciation for our presence. 

 

On our way back to Port-au-Prince we visited the teaching garden established in Les Cayes by our Agronomist, Jean Samuel Alteus.  It is so rewarding to see him applying techniques he learned while studying Permaculture in Wisconsin last summer!  I hope to post some photos to our Flickr page soon.  The future of Haiti is in our hands!  I can already see it blooming again!

 

As always, I must say it is thanks to you, our many supporters of Youthaiti, that we are able to be partners in this rewarding work.  The problems of Haiti sometimes seem so immense, and yet little by little we are helping one community transform back into the paradise it once was.

 

I hope to see you all at our fund-raising benefit on Friday May 13 at the Milwaukee County Zoo.  It will be an opportunity to meet some of our partners face to face, and see photos of our work over the past year.  I know you will be moved by their stories.

 

a la pwochenn (until next time)

love

gigi

Dear friends,

 

My first week of this visit is winding down.  Mom and I have settled into Matthew 25 guesthouse in Port au Prince for her last night here.   Our visit has been punctuated every day by exciting rides through the mountains, with amazing views across the southern peninsula of Haiti.  We had great weather all week – an hour of rain many days, but then clear skies and cool evening

 

I am very encouraged by the response to the idea of a sanitation business selling arborloos in the duchity area.  After initial trepidation, all the people I have spoken to have responded positively to investing in sanitation to protect their health and the health of their families.  Our partners in Duchity will now begin to work on completing some models, a pricing structure and a marketing plan.  Hopefully by my next visit this model will be operational.

 

We visited the community of Fon Deron where we launched a dry toilet and some arborloos last summer.  It was wonderful to see the care they are taking of it – so clean you could lamost eat inside it!  And the garden was flourishing, using urine on the cabbage and yams.

The Arborloos need some adjustments – like covers and adjustments of the pits, but most importantly, the are being used.

 

Cholera has abated in the Duchity area – thanks in part to our extensive education program which people thanked us for.  But we are all aware that the rains can bring an upsurge, and our work is far from over. 

 

Franci got his visa to come to Milwaukee for our dinner in May.  We are still hoping that Jonette , an auxilliary nurse and head of the health committee of OJPDD will also be able to join us, as I hope all of you are planning to do.  Mark your calenders – Friday May 13, and write us to let us know you’ll join us!!

 

More next week when 2 engineers from the University of Puerto Rico join me in Duchity!!

 

a pita – (until later)

gigi

Dear Friends of Youthaiti,

The first week of March in Haiti is an exciting time – Carnival!
Although we are in the countryside and not Port-au-Prince where the really big festivities are happening, we have seen ra-ra bands up and down the roads throughout the countryside.  People have taken to the streets in numbers you would not believe!!

We have visited several of our toilet installations and found them in good working order and much appreciated.  We continue our youth development work including learning what dreams motivate them.  In this way, we hope to work with them in discovering ways to fulfill these dreams.  Many dream of communities where everyone has access to sanitation and clean water, everyone has enough to eat and good health.  The other focus of our work now is leadership development.  We began a leadership development training for our local partners to help build skills in organizational development.  This will help us build capacity.

I’m sure many of you wonder how my mother’s visit is going. At an undisclosed age, she is much venerated by the young people we work with.  I hope she will share her impressions with you when she returns to Florida on Saturday.  But I believe her view of life will never be quite the same.

Internet time is running out, I hope to write more when I am in Port-au-Prince this weekend.

Your ongoing support makes all the difference.  I’m looking forward to seeing some of you in May at our dinner and introducing you to our representatives from Haiti.

a bientot (until later)
gigi

SODIS uses increased temperature, UV light, and oxidative chemistry to inactivate
disease-causing organisms. Users are trained to place bottles in the sun for 6 hours-2
days, depending on climate. Diarrhea reduction is 9-86%. Aside from initial bottles,
SODIS is a zero-cost option. Benefits include acceptability to users because of the
minimal cost and ease-of-use. Also, recontamination is unlikely because water is
consumed directly from the bottles in which it is treated. Drawbacks include the need for
pretreatment of turbid water, limited volume of water that can be treated at once, length of
time required to treat water, and the need to obtain clear plastic bottles. www.sodis.ch

WTO – World Toilet Organization

I am writing from Philadelphia at the annual World Toilet Summit hosted by the WTO – World Toilet Organization, ASPE – American Society of Plumbing Engineers and ICC – International Code Council.  What a great partnership! People dedicated to improving access to sanitation have travelled from throughout the world – from Cambodia to Ghanna, from Oregon to Georgia – to share innovative ideas and approaches to sanitation.

The World Toilet Organization was founded in 2001 by Jack Sim, a businessman from Singapore. With 2.6 Billion people in the world without sanitation, Sim sees this as a business opportunity for social entrepreneurs. The approximately 8 million people in Haiti are a small part of the world-wide crisis. Of all the UN Millenium Development Goals to reduce world-wide poverty, Sanitation is the farthest from reaching it’s goal.  However, I have learned at this meeting that there is a 5 year “push” to change that by 2015.

The opportunity to hear from and network with thought leaders throughout the world on sanitation in the developing world has been invaluable.  I promise in coming weeks and months you will hear how some of these ideas have been integrated into YOUTHAITI’s programs. We are also seeking partnerships with companies whose work involves sanitation related business who have a Philanthropic mission of giving back to the world in which we live.

We will not let Haiti disappear from the world’s eyes as to the ongoing needs for sanitation, hygiene and health.  I hope you will continue to give your support to make our dreams of a world in which everyone has access to toilets and clean water a reality.

love from Philly-
gigi

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We are waiting for the second team to arrive in Duchity.  I have 2 days of other work preparing for their arrival.

The last day of team 1 we went up to Lakadonie to meet the community of coffee growers.  A 45 minute drive up the mountain from Duchity brings you to a small cabin owned by Fred Cheron, our contact with Fondation Espoir-Grande’Anse, a collective of 1501 coffee growers.  Almost everything that arrives there arrives by foot – a 2 hour+ walk from Duchity center.  Fred helped bring up cement and other equipment for the construction of the new toilet, but sand and water was carried by community members.  This has created some significant delays, and unfortunately it does not seem the toilet will be finished before we leave.   None-the-less, we will visit again with team 2.  We learned about the process of preparing coffee for sale – a process that requires treatment begin the same day as the coffee is picked, and can take 3 days in the mountains before being shipped by truck to Port-au-Prince for final drying to 11% humidity. The whole process is very time sensitive, and requires making sure the coffee is well sorted so hat only the best quality coffee if prepared for export.  I hope you all will get a chance to taste La Hotte Coffee which is available through YOUTHAITI (write us at info@youthaiti.org) or at some local Milwaukee Fair Trade stores.  After that we hiked down the mountain a bit to visit a small cave and a waterfall and natural pool, where a few of us went for a spontaneous swim!  The water was so cool and refreshing, it was the cleanest we have felt since arriving!

We returned to Duchity for a sumptuous dinner of skewers of grilled chicken, beef and vegetables at Fred’s house in Duchity, and then to our final farewell party at “La Fraicheur”, Franci’s bar.  Another night of Barbancourt, Prestige and Compa dancing wound up a very busy week for Team 1.

Yesterday should have been a day of relaxation for me.  Instead, I rode with Franci on the motorcycle down to Les Cayes and back  to meet with a representative from the World Food Program (acronym PAM in French).  They are launching programs  of “Food for Work”, and we were invited to submit a proposal for a short term project which would employ 200 – 300 people.  So today, while we wait for Team 2 to arrive,   I will meet with the OJPDD board to discuss the possibilities.  This would be a larger project than we have done to date, but the need for sanitation is so great, the requests are coming every day from different communities, it is just a question of can we organize it?

The week will run out before I know it.  Soon I will be home with you all again and dreaming and planning of how to continue this important work with people whose needs are so great and enthusiasm for advancement contagious.  Thanks for all your support!!

Love

gigi