heifer - haiti
Post on 09-Apr-2018
223 Views
Preview:
TRANSCRIPT
8/8/2019 Heifer - Haiti
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/heifer-haiti 1/5
Heifer Haiti After the Qu
Heifer puts the power of its ag
By Jaman Matthews and Donn
Photos by Bryan Clifton
Jaqueline Adophe stands outside the t
months after the quake. She fears her
For decades, people pointed to Heverything goes wrong—politica
Modern politics in Haiti is a trag
interventions and a supporting ceach year a parade of hurricanes
the Dominican Republic. People
trees years ago, leaving the soil
island washed away, and the oraAnd so Haiti now depends on im
Haiti was the place where things
before 5 o'clock in the evening, t
15 miles southwest of the capital
country.
ke
icultural model to work helping 8,000 more
a Stokes, World Ark editors
ent she still sleeps in, eight
damaged house is unsafe.
aiti as an example of what happens to a countrylly, socially, environmentally.
icomic drama, with coups and rigged elections
st of despots and political puppets. As if that wand tropical storms rake the Caribbean island H
in need of firewood or charcoal chopped down
nprotected from the storms. The topsoil on Hai
ge subsoil that's left can barely support even aports for more than half of its food supply.
couldn't get any worse. Then on Jan. 12, 2010,
hings got much worse, as a magnitude 7.0earth
and largest city, Port-au-Prince, crumbled an al
amilies.
when
nd foreign
ren't enough,aiti shares with
most of Haiti's
i's half of the
meager crop.
a few minutes
uake centered
ready fragile
8/8/2019 Heifer - Haiti
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/heifer-haiti 2/5
One Woman's Story
Heifer participant Jaqueline Ado
community in Cite Soleil on the
"I saw pieces of my neighbor's hthe shade of her porch on a hot a
against another wall for support.twice, and the third time I jumpe
"I ran in terror; I didn't know wh
son had to come find me to take
She didn't know it was an earthq
killed, including a child who wa
Adolphe pointed to jagged crack
To this day, she sleeps in a tent f on top of her as she sleeps. Her f
even though the tent leaks when
In the weeks after the quake, Hei
in her village that included rice,
Heifer after the quake when Heicommunities to beneficiaries of
Adolphe looks forward to the daothers in need, then sell others f
Heifer Haiti in the Afterma
Jaqueline Adolphe looks
forward to income from her
lphe was walking on the road to her house in V
outskirts of Port-au-Prince, when the quaking st
ouse falling right in front of me," she recalled, sfternoon several months later. Overcome with s
Then that wall began to shake. "The wall bouncd away just before the wall crumbled behind m
ere I was going, only that I had to get away fro
me home on his motorcycle, I had run so far."
uake until later that day. Three people in her tin
hit in the head by a falling cement block.
s throughout her house, still there eight months
ashioned from tarps, too afraid that her house mamily has since moved back into the house, but
it rains.
fer International provided aid kits to Adolphe a
assava, beans and sugar. She also received two
er distributed 100 goats in Varreux and neighbHeifer project that began in 2003.
when her two goats reproduce, so she can pasr income so she can repair her house.
th
rreux, a
arted.
peaking fromhock, she leaned
ed once, then," Adolphe said.
that area. My
y village were
after the quake.
ay come downAdolphe won't,
d other people
goats from
ring
on goats to
8/8/2019 Heifer - Haiti
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/heifer-haiti 3/5
Heifer goats.
Heifer International started work worked with more than 16,000 f
close as 12 miles from Port-au-P
At the time of the quake, Heifer
north and Les Cayes in the southa few days, but Heifer was able t
days after the earthquake, Heifere-mail update to Heifer headquar
"It is said that more than 70,000more than two million more hav
disappeared are government offi
officers and clergy personnel. Thhealth centers in the country hav
Alcé's e-mail then turned from th
"In this tragedy, the majority of t
different for Heifer staff in the csister. Our administrative assista
The numbers would get worse asfrom the earthquake would rise t
according to Haiti government a
million inhabitants.
According to Heifer Haiti, the eatally, 370 houses of Heifer familidamage in rural areas, many rura
The Plan
ing in Haiti in 1999. Prior to the 2010 earthquamilies, with projects scattered around the count
rince.
ad six employees in Haiti, with offices in Cap-
. Communication with the country staff was dif o confirm that all six staff members were safe.
Haiti interim Country Director Justin Alcé manters that filled in some of the bleak details.
people have been buried, over 200,000 are unacbeen affected," the e-mail said. "Among the d
ials, the chief of the United Nations Mission in
e majority of the state offices are damaged or dexceeded their capacity."
e national scope of the disaster to the details of
he Haitian families have lost at least one relativ
untry," Alcé wrote. "Our accountant/administrnt lost several cousins. … and I have lost a cous
the weeks went on. The final estimate of the no 230,000 and the number of those affected to 3
d Red Cross estimates. That's nearly a third of
rthquake affected almost 3,000 Heifer project f ies collapsed, and almost 600 more were damagl families took in refugees streaming in from th
e, Heiferry, some as
Haïtien in the
icult and it took n Jan. 19, eight
aged to send an
counted for andceased and
Haiti, police
stroyed. All the
personal loss.
e. It is no
tor has lost ain."
mber of deathsmillion,
Haiti's 10
milies. By theired. Despite the
city.
8/8/2019 Heifer - Haiti
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/heifer-haiti 4/5
Justin Alce, Charles Stewart, Hervil Cherubin and Edwin Rocha
visit Nordely, Haiti.
Following the quake, there was a reverse migration as people fled crumbled urban areas to return
to the countryside. The government estimated that 600,000 had emigrated from Port-au-Prince,
though by September, half of those who left had already returned. This put a tremendous burden
on rural areas, but also provided a unique opportunity for Heifer to do what it has done aroundthe world—long-term, sustainable development through agriculture.
"We will work with families in Haiti the same way we do everywhere," said Charles Stewart,
Heifer's interim CEO , "providing geographically appropriate animals and crops, working withHaiti communities, organizations and government with the stated purpose of helping people to
help themselves."
Stewart visited Haiti in September, joined by Hervil Cherubin, an assistant professor of
economic development and public policy at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, who was
born in Haiti. Cherubin has led Heifer's emergency response team since March to work on itsshort term and recovery strategy.
"You can tell when you're in a Heifer community," Cherubin said as Heifer's three-truck convoycarrying Stewart, Heifer Haiti staff and four other representatives from Heifer headquarters
arrived for a visit at a project site in Saut Mathurine. Outside the truck, first dozens and then
hundreds from the community were singing, dancing, waving flags and playing Haiti's nationalanthem and Shakira's World Cup song, "Waka Waka," on trumpets in front of a "Welcome
Heifer" sign decorated with balloons and streamers.
"I've seen no other NGO here have the uniting effect that Heifer does," Cherubin said.
"Everything Heifer does in a community—with gender equity and justice, family and cultural
values, veterinary training, soil conservation, reforestation—all of this shows Heifer is good to
its word that it's there to help people long-term."
Next Steps
The next step of the rehabilitation project—called From the Ground Up—has already begun.
Heifer Haiti will assist 8,000 families, mostly in the southern and northern regions of Haiti,
where Heifer offices already exist. Heifer plans to work with existing and new local partners toexpand to the Central Plateau as well.
Edwin Rocha, Heifer's director of programs and change management for the Americas, said the
goal of the project is to work with local partners to decentralize and rebuild post-quake Haiti bymaking rural agriculture a viable business, not just a means of subsistence. With the promise of
stable income and a role in returning Haiti to self-reliance, it is hoped that many now living inoverpopulated and shattered Port-au-Prince will choose to return to their rural homes to stay thistime.
Key strategies for participants include raising sheep and goats, increasing agriculturalproductivity, developing seed banks, developing watershed management plans, strengthening
rural economies, and rehabilitating earthquake-affected homes and infrastructure. Heifer's
interim CEO Stewart said he is anxious for Heifer to expand its Haiti program and to start seeing
8/8/2019 Heifer - Haiti
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/heifer-haiti 5/5
results.
"I have been very impatient since early this year, asking staff again and again, ‘What are we
doing in Haiti?'" Stewart said in Port-au-Prince. "The conditions people are living in throughoutthis city are conditions no human being should be expected to live in over a long period of time.
"Yet now that I have seen our plan, I believe the time invested has been worth it. Heifer and ourmodel can be a part of the solution for all of Haiti. It's a very, very good, sound strategy," he
said. "The time is done for planning. The time now is for executing."
top related