Update from the Field

Project manager Josue Jean discusses the progress of the reforestation efforts so far and his hopes for the future of his country.

Postcard from Haiti

A month ago, our project manager, Josue, sent me this photo of our largest field of jatropha trees. Earlier today, I read Wendell Berry’s 2012 Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities. Together, I thought Josue’s trees and Berry’s words beautifully summarized what Imagine Haitian is striving to accomplish. I will be traveling to Haiti in one month and can’t wait to see the trees in person.

Note: Click on the image to enlarge it.

Imagine Haitian 2011 Annual Report

Imagine Haitian 2010 Annual Report

Please note: This presentation is best viewed in full-screen mode. The report is also available for download as a pdf.

Stage Two Photos: Gonaives

My work in Haiti centers on reforestation and tree-based biofuels (www.imaginehaitian.org).  Below are photos from my recent trip to Haiti, including many photos of the trees and the people who are planting them.

Inspecting the nursery at Eben-Ezer Mission with 2 of my good friends: Remy, the nursery attendant, and Pastor Josue, the general manager.

CJ and I pose in front of the Eben-Ezer nursery.

A row of castor trees planted at Eben-Ezer Mission.

A view of the lake that formed after the hurricanes.

CJ, Genia, and Michael walk across dried mud along the shore of the slowly evaporating lake.

One of the papaya trees that my students and I planted in the nursery we constructed in spring 2009. It's taller than me now!

Papaya, anyone?

On a trip into Gonaives, we stopped to visit the monument marking the place where Toussaint Louverture was captured (under false pretenses) by the French. Since the last time I was here, someone had cleared out the brush around the monument and placed flowers on it.

On the way back to our car, CJ stopped to chat with a young boy bringing his cow to the river for water.

In Gonaives, we came across a group of young men sitting in the central plaza. They heckled us until we informed them we spoke Kreyol.

A monument in the central plaza of Gonaives, which is considered the City of Independence in Haiti.

A snapshot of downtown Gonaives.

Back at the mission, we sat on the front porch of Pastor Michel's house with Madame Michel and her grandson.

We visited the main nursery in La Croix, where a group of curious young men and boys met us. The nursery attendant Lucson is in front on the right, while Pastor Josue is in front in the baseball cap.

The main nursery at La Croix.

Everyone filing out of the main nursery at La Croix.

Jatropha seeds grown in the La Croix area.

Genia and I pose with one small tree in a field of jatropha seedlings.

A row of young jatropha trees shining in the sunlight.

We took a break to visit with some of Pastor Josue's friends in La Croix.

A young girl plays on the clothesline in the yard.

In addition to the main nursery, the residents of La Croix have started 6 other tree nurseries. This man showed us his nursery, where he grows jatropha and mango trees.

We were curious to examine the man's rainwater collection system, which was funded by another NGO. We would like to install similar systems at other houses in the La Croix area, which has been suffering from drought conditions.

The man and his wife said they save the water in the cistern for emergencies, so they get their daily water from the river downhill from their house.

The man's wife said she and her husband had three children but have lost all three.

Water is a problem for many in the La Croix area. Many people retrieve irrigation water from this natural spring, but the water is unsuitable for drinking and requires long transport by bucket to reach the dry fields. We hope to install new wells with pumps and gravity-driven irrigation systems.

We climbed a nearby hill to investigate the prospects for placing a large water tank on top of the hill and using gravity to send water down to the local farms. We might even be able to use a windmill to pump water up the hill to the tank. The local children were eager to follow us on our adventures.

A young girl on top of the hill, with a view of the valley where she lives in the background.

Many of the local children climbed the hill with bare feet, despite the many prickers that managed to go all the way through the soles of my tennis shoes.

Pretty flowers.

After La Croix, we visited the nursery in Passe-Reine, which is managed by Joel who is also the head of the local youth organization.

We collected mango trees for a tree distribution in Gonaives, carrying them down a narrow path from the nursery to the car.

Luckily, we had lots of little helpers!

This little boy was so proud to help out that he would carry a tree to the car and then run all the way back to the nursery, shouting "Beep! Beep!" at the rest of us who were along the path.

Another little helper.

Pastor Josue was like a proud father with a trunk full of little mango seedlings.

We distributed mango trees to university students in Gonaives. I explained the history of the trees going back to the original nursery that was flooded in the 2008 hurricanes.

I handed out a bag of compost to each student.

Michael handed out a mango tree to each student.

They were excited to get the trees (and have their photos taken!).

Showing off their trees.

Two young men with their mango trees.

Mango on motorcycle: they brought their mango trees home however they could.

Some got very creative.

Preval and Pastor Josue were excited, too.

The next day, we distributed the extra mango seedlings at a local church.

People of all ages came to get a tree.

The young man with a broken arm was determined to carry his mango tree himself.

The people were mocking this little mango tree, so Michael and I tried to convince them that it just needed a bit of love--like the Charlie Brown Christmas tree!

We had one taker.

It wasn't all about trees during our trip. We also helped clean and reorganize the mission's school library (under Michael's expert guidance). Benjy, one of my friends and former English students, came to help us every day and agreed to oversee the library after we left.

In addition, we delivered 3 suitcases worth of school supplies and toys to Cherline, the head of the mission's kindergarten. Every time Cherline said, "Thank you," we'd say, "Wait, there's more!" and open another suitcase, much to her delight. The supplies were donated by my elementary school-- St. Mary's School in Richland Center, Wisconsin.

One of our last mornings, we got up before sunrise to go watch the fishermen at their work.

We discovered the path beneath our feet was made up entirely of shells.

Walking on water.

Preparing to head out onto the lake.

The fishermen pose with a young woman staying at the mission. She was born in Haiti but moved to France when she was less than 4 years old. This was her first time back in Haiti.

Shipping out.

Walking back to the mission.

A last look at the mission's jatropha trees before leaving.

Jatropha fruit.

Mmmm. . . mango

Gorgeous. We made a quick stop at the beach on our way back to the airport.

The beach at Club Indigo, the former Club Med of Haiti.

Next time, we're staying here!

Stage One Photos: Port-au-Prince

Here are a few photos from the first part of our trip, including Port-au-Prince and the drive to Gonaives. More to come.

Part of the collapsed Palais National in downtown Port-au-Prince.

A particularly creative tent on the soccer field next to our guest house. The field is now home to over 1,000 Haitians. One of the women in the tent village gave birth to a baby boy while we were there. Luckily, there were lots of doctors at the guest house.

Our own tent village behind our guest house, Matthew 25 House. Although the house is still standing and used for daytime activities, everyone spends the night in tents in the backyard for safety reasons.

CJ talks with a woman in a makeshift wheelchair. The woman lives in the tent village next to Matthew 25 House.

The inhabitants of the tent village next to Matthew 25 House enjoy a Saturday evening party, including food, music, and games.

Anyone want to snowboard in Haiti?

A Haitian schoolgirl in uniform. She is the daughter of former Indiana University Creole Instructor Nick Andre. At the end of last summer, Nick decided to stay in Port-au-Prince for the 2009-2010 school year, feeling an inexplicable need to be with his family this year.

Michael and I pose in front of the office of Le Matin, one of the two major Haitian newspapers. Since the earthquake, the newspaper has switched from a daily to a weekly publication cycle and has cut its staff by more than 50 percent. The paper must now be sent to the Dominican Republic to be published. The finished product is flown back to Haiti every week.

Thanks to the graciousness of the owners, we were able to arrange an impromptu tour of the Prestige brewery, the only brewery in Haiti. In addition to brewing Prestige, the factory brews Guinness and bottles most of the beverages in Haiti, including Coca Cola products, Toro Energy Drink, and milk.

A small corner of the massive tent village covering the Champs de Mars in downtown Port-au-Prince. Some estimate there are over 1 million people living at the site.

A staircase inside Le Plaza Haiti Hotel, where many foreign journalists and aid workers stay. The hotel overlooks the Champs de Mars.

A view of Port-au-Prince from an overlook far above the city.

A lovely flower.

Bags of charcoal in the streets of Port-au-Prince.

A hand-painted advertisement for a vocational school in Port-au-Prince, depicting all of the skills you can learn at the school.

One of the many tent villages outside Port-au-Prince.

Jatropha seedlings ready for planting at a test field set up by Haitian geneticist Gael Pressoir (chibas-bioenergy.org). Photos from the ImagineHaitian jatropha project in Gonaives will be posted soon.

En route to Gonaives, we stopped briefly in Montrouis to visit Moulin Sur Mer, an 18th century sugarcane plantation that has been converted into a museum and resort.

Carved wooden figures at Moulin Sur Mer depict the Haitian slave trade.

A view of the lovely gardens at Moulin Sur Mer.

Arrival in Port-au-Prince

We arrived in Port-au-Prince on Wednesday. I could not possibly describe the past couple of days in the few minutes that I have now. I will simply say that so much has changed in this city and yet so much remains the same. The most shocking image was the sight of thousands upon thousands of tents crowding the Champs-de-Mars in front of the collapsed National Palace. The dichotomy of rich and poor is more striking than ever. Within an hour of seeing the desperately poor people living in tents, we climbed to the mountain heights above Port-au-Prince, where mansions still stand surveying the city that sprawls beneath them toward the sea. The stories we hear in the evening from teams of medical workers are horrifying: filthy orphanages, female prisoners held for years without cause, etc. I want to tell you that the children still smile their sweet smiles and the old men still laugh as they play dominoes on the street corner. And they do. But such joys are a very thin veneer covering a very large sorrow.