8.) Accomplishments in 2005 - figures and numbers:
1.) Relief work to Hurricane Jeanne victims : (Dec. 2004 - July 2005)
Establishing volunteer-managed canteens in 8 villages.Project funded by World Food Progfunded (180 tons of food). 2,800 children and elderly fed daily for 7 months.
2.) Establishing seeds and tools village cooperatives (May, 2005 - ongoing)
16 tons of seeds (beans, vegetables, cereal) and hundreds of gardening tools distributed. Sponsored by FAO of United Nations. AMURT formed and still supports seed and tool cooperatives to keep the program running.
3.) Rehabilitation of community water supply systems , including drinking water filtration, irrigation and watershed management through reforestation (since August 2005 and ongoing):
Grant by USAID : $ 300,000
a) Water Supply Rehabilitation (in progress)
Building a 6 km section of water supply piping connecting 5 villages to the water source.
Rehabilitating and building public bathing, drinking, and washing facilities.
Building 3 new water reservoirs and rehabilitating 3 existing ones.
b) Waterfilter program (ongoing):
900 water filters produced and distributed for 23 villages in Anse Rouge area.The production cost of a filter is $25, but the villagers pay installation and delivery costs at $8. 5,000 villagers have been educated about reforestation and watershed management.
c) Reforestation:
Several thousand trees - planted in September, 30,000 - in the process of being transplanted. Another 100,000 will be grown in the nurseries until May, 2006.
The reforestation initiative relies heavily on community participation and education initiatives.
6.)Volunteers comments and stories:
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"It takes something to work here", says operational manager Demeter Russafov, a.k.a. Dharma. "I think the training of VSS helped me tremendously." |
In 1998 I participated in a weekend VSS training program organized in the US in Asheville/NC, where we learnt how to overcome our fears, develop a thirst for our higher inner potential, and work on overcoming challenges cooperatively. It was quite intense and we were very exhausted after it was over. It gave me an initiation to be able to understand certain things that I had to cope with 7 years later here in Haiti and has helped me to convert problems into successes".
"We came here in the summer of 2004. We brought a school bus full with school supplies and building materials for the upgrade of the two schools in Port-au-Prince. Then in September of 2004 Hurricane Jeanne hit the Northwest, flooding big areas and bringing along chaos and a great need for disaster relief. I remember boarding a rickety old bus with only enough money for transport and a little food, and passing through scenes of complete devastation and human suffering. We had to switch vehicles 4 times, being transfered from one bus to another, then a truck, then pickups, then a big closed -in container truck. There was a little window cut out from where I could see only water and rooftops of submerged houses. There were people running along, so hungry and thirsty that I felt in shock even though I had somewhat adjusted to the country."
The first assessment team found out that the greatest need was for fresh food and water. After several weeks of daily negotiations with the UN World Food Program AMURT started a large community canteen initiative involving 8 villages, and serving daily hot nutritious meals to 2,800 elderly and kids. The main team consisted of 8 volunteers who had passed a VSS training in Port-au-Prince. The faces of the team members lighten up when they share their experiences, but become serious at times when remembering some of the more harrowing moments.
"I remember the time when our pickup truck got flipped over full with volunteers, and still miraculously no body was hurt," shares RamaDeva, a team member. "Then some bandits attacked our tents and set them on fire, stealing some of the food and threatening to kill us if we didn't "cooperate".
"All the daily clash that we were going through collectively happened in front of the eyes of the villagers, and thus helped create an atmosphere of trust and immediacy," says Dharma. "There are not many other NGOs who can convince their members to leave their families and risk their comforts and lives. AMURT was the first and only NGO which responded to the disaster within weeks, choosing to stay afterwards and start long-term development projects. I believe that if it wasn't for these first 6 months we all would have lacked the capacity to initiate and establish projects that are well adjusted and sustainable."
The project which followed immediately after, involved setting up seeds and tools cooperatives with the help of FAO. AMURT distributed more than 16 tons of seeds and hundreds of tools, starting a close relationship between the NGO and the locally formed village committees.
The major problem in the NW is connected to water, and the problem is further exasperated by inter-village conflicts and environmental degradation. "We started going deeper and deeper into the causes for the conflicts", says Dharma. "It was very strange to us to see kids from the coastal villages walking for 4 hours to fetch a few gallons of water, while in the mountain kids of poorer villages had to walk for 2 hours across streams and ravines to go to school. We offered the villages an alternative option - the mountain villages would allow us to rehabilitate the water supply lines to the coast, in exchange for improvement of their infrastructure and the establishment of a school and clinic.
USAID liked the proposed project, and decided to invest $300,000 for 6 months. The project funded the establishment of a bio-sand water filtration systems factory, which gave training and employment to 15 local people, and built and installed 900 filter systems in the first 4 months (benefitting 10,000 people). "We have now people from all over walking great distances to request filters", says Kiirtana Devi/Karen Engelke, the coordinator of the filtration initiative. "It is very satisfying to see the excitement of villagers at the possibility of having clean water."
The team added 4 agronomists, established 3 tree nurseries, and started a broad and very popular reforestation initiative. More than 40,000 fruit tree seedlings were grown, now in the process of getting replanted by families after the obligatory interview and training. The school in Tite Place opened doors, starting with 105 students amidst grand community celebrations. A system of environmental seminars was established, offering training to teachers and farmers. Then followed the canal rehabilitation, the water supply, and the reservoirs...and the excitement of the local communities.
In December 2005 AMURT signed a contract with the WFP, begining a 203 Metric Tons (of food) Food-for-Work project which focuses on rehabilitating the salt ponds, establishing a model modern solar salt mine complex, building roads, and strengthening watersheds. And with it the team gained another invaluable volunteer, Ewan Bloomfield, a Scottish engineer who flew all the way from South Africa. "I am very excited by this opportunity to create a cooperative model of community development in a country like Haiti," says Ewan. "I was very drawn to AMURT's teamwork, their connection to the local communities, and the warmth and good energy of their volunteers. I feel very positive about what pleasant and unpleasant surprises 2006 holds in store for me." "Yes, and be ready for plenty of clash and adventures, laugh Dharma and Kiirtana.
The team began developing an increasing focus on sustainable project solutions. A partnership with a Canadian NGO, the Kyotto Twist, began the assembly and distribution of solar ovens. Another volunteer, the Italian engineer Raffaela Bellanca, began developing a solar PV micro-credit program. "I was amazed to see the high level of support which AMURT has gained amongst the local communities," says Raffaela. "After working with AMURT for 2 months I just can't believe how well the reforestation initiatives have succeeded." Here everyone wants a tree, but AMURT doesn't just give it away. We make sure the people get educational and environmental training. It's very interesting how all the projects are interconnected, leading to a completely different model of community development."
" What we need most urgently is experienced volunteers", says Dharma. "It is an experience I would recommend to those who are willing to undergo a certain amount of clash and inconveniences. It is worth every little bit of it, though!"
Kiirtana :
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" My vision is to teach G.L.O.B.E. programs to the local children at the schools and make field trips to learn about the environment on islands or in the forests . " |
Kiirtana (left) listening to an agronomist explaining the re-forestation program.
In the summer of 2005 Kiirtanadevi (Karin Engelke) came to know about the Haiti project taking off and she accepted an assignment to manage the filter project in Anse Rouge. Her comments:
" The water-filter project has been one of the most inspiring achievements for the villagers here. People were having serious health problems due to contaminated water and this low-cost alternative has been like heaven sent. As we figured out some time later that we could make the filters with less cement, we could reduce the cost. My work includes the day to day managing of sales and distribution of these filters. The project went so well that we exceeded the target of 55 filters per week and were able to make 150 a week."
The water restoration program will help people to get water who normally have to walk over 2 hours just to get a bucket of water for the day. Some of it has already been achieved, but a lot still has to be done. People are very inspired and devoted to their work... and everyone wants our orange AMURT T-shirts almost to the point of fighting over them..."
" My vision is to teach G.L.O.B.E. programs to the local children at the schools and make field trips to learn about the environment on islands or in the forests. So as soon as the filter program can be managed by a local person, I will have more time to devote for the schools. I enjoy the scenery, the simple life and my daily meditation and yoga routine which is so different here, when you are away from high-power lines, carbon-dioxide pollution and stress."
Kiirtanadevi or Karin Engelke has been engaged in social service for a long time. She organized several bike trips to raise funds for school projects in third world countries. her latest adventure was in Mexico and Central America working with G.L.O.B.E. (Global Learning and Observation to Benefit the Environment) to educate school children and creating public awareness of environmental problems.
In 2003 she started off with her mexican friend to collect donations from health food stores and businesses in California and then went of on bikes touring most of Mexico, then entering Belize from the Yukatan island through Guatemala up to Costa Rica where a program was arranged by several schools for 3 months for the G.L.O.B.E. education. By June 2004 it was time to return home and she taught spanish immigrants english and science to 7-8 graders for a year.
Raffaela :
Raffaela at the tree nursery in Tite place...
Some excerpts from her evaluation report :
AMURT's working style was under my eyes everyday; people were knocking since five in the morning on the majestic wood doors of the “restructured” factory where I slept in my tent. The fervent activity would go on all day long. As I soon understood, participatory observation means getting out of your sleeping bag before the sun gets out of its. It means to queue for the daily “shower” in the public baths and to get water for domestic use from the fountain (actually kids would always make some space for me, let me pass before… and even helped me out when it became clear that I did not know all the tricks).
It was evident that these people were participating in the projects. No, actually, better said, they considered the projects their property; better still, they considered us, “les blancs” their properties. Women coming from neighbor villages would pass by AMURT's “headquarters” on their way to the market riding their donkeys. They would stop to check us out: “how are you doing?”, “what's up?”, “when are you coming to our village, to do projects?”. Students organized in small voluntary associations came often with nicely prepared proposal for social projects: latrines, a radio station, potable water. Teachers would come to promote their schools… I visited a couple of them; kids did not have tables, they wrote on their laps, sitting crowded on benches, different classes all occupying a single space, the blackboards were so worn out that I don't know how they could still write on it.
All these people saw AMURT as a way to realize their own projects and dreams and as an inspiration to imagine new ones.
Could this sense of empowerment, this trust toward the NGO, be the key for the unbelievable success of the reforestation project?
I inserted a new question in my questionnaire: “do you know AMURT?” and “could you mention some of AMURT's activities?”.
... One old man proudly said that he, himself, had been working for the road. He also included among other of AMURT's activities a peculiar item: Dharma passing by his field and stopping for a brief chat; an activity indeed, never underestimate public relations!
I already knew about the communication strategy adopted in the project from the interviews with the agronomists and Demeter. The project had been designed with the villages committees, assuring in this way a good level of adaptation of the diffusion strategy to the local settings. A team of three agronomists, Celidon, Gilbert and Shudler, all Haitians from neighboring regions, and all fairly talkative persons, initiated a series of lectures in schools and villages and also built a tree nursery (where few local people were employed). Each intervention started with a community meeting where all population was invited. The communication channel was therefore to some extent homophile, having the change agents a background similar to that of the interested communities. They shared the same language and they all came from rural Haiti. The level of education was the only difference.
Another positive factor was the presence of the committee members, since their opinion leadership can work as an incentive in the acceptation of the project. After the public meeting, the agronomists in collaboration with the local committees distributed the plants to the farmers. At this stage other specific training for the receivers was carried out showing the planting and watering techniques.
In the survey, the farmers mostly confirmed that the explanation was clear enough. Some had seen the agronomists several times while others just twice. A few confessed that some more training wouldn't have hurt.
Raffaela Bellanca has a PhD in Physics and belongs to "Engineers without borders" in Sweden. She volunteered two months for the project in November/December 2005. She did an evaluation of the project in terms of its response with the people and its results.
9.) How can you help ?
We need help from volunteers that have been in a third world country before and have some experience. To know french helps, but in dealing with the local people one will have to learn creole which has some french words but is altogether different. People who have experience in construction, biology and medical treatments are welcome.
For details on the ongoing programs best to e-mail coordinator@NHEhaiti.org or mark@vssnet.org phone is more difficult but early morning is best :
(509)-413-1337 Dada Karma
(509)-511-0449 (509)-404-4986 Dharma
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