Our mission is to support the work of Passion for Haiti: Achieve Food and Income Security for the People of Haiti
Our Key Initiatives
Micro Loans
Latest News & Updates
- Update on the Current Situation in Haiti
The news here in the US is full of reporting about the assassination of the President of Haiti and the resulting turmoil in politics and on the streets of Port-au-Prince. The assassination itself has very little direct impact on the lives of those in the Sud (South) Department of Haiti, which includes Les Cayes and Les Anglais and everything in between. However, many people are leaving Port-au-Prince for the far provinces to escape potential violence. As happened after the 2010 earthquake, people already living in the Sud area may find themselves hosting or otherwise providing support to those coming from the capital city. There may also be additional difficulties in obtaining goods that they need and in transporting and selling crops and other products outside their local area. There are many unknowns. Hopefully the good of the country will prevail in decisions made by those in power.
Our friends in Les Anglais are very happy that the recent hurricane mostly missed them. Their biggest worry now is not the assassination but COVID, which is spreading fast in the country. We are starting to put together a mask drive so we can send 500 face masks to Les Anglais. More information will be provided here when we have a plan.
Etienne and his family are well. He and his team are moving forward with planting
boatloadsthousands of coffee and cocoa and shade trees in and around the Sud Department. He has five salaried agents and hundreds of college interns working for him this summer to help farm families produce more crops and livestock, earn more money, eat more nourishing food, and reforest the land. He gets up every day determined to make the world a better place. - Photos from Key Programs
This slide show of short photo stories illustrates current activities in a few of our main initiatives: Goats, Coffee & Cocoa, Hurricane Matthew Recovery (new roofing in Colse village), and Clean Water. The Bonus “People” section includes a beautiful photo of three generations in Etienne’s family and pictures of team members and Haitian friends during the 2020 Haiti trip.
Use the Back/Forward arrow buttons in the lower left corner of the viewer to step through the slides. Use your browser’s Refresh button to go back to Slide 1; it is usually a circular arrow in the address bar.
Unfortunately the slide viewer isn’t visible on the Home page. To see it, either tap on the “Photos from Key Programs” title above or use this link: “Photos from Key Programs”.
- Notes from Etienne’s Report at the Haiti Club Meeting – 5/24/2021
At our first-ever virtual meeting of the Haiti Club, Etienne called in through WhatsApp to update us on his activities and plans. It was wonderful to see and hear him. This post is a summary of the news he shared. (Tap here to read his Speaker’s Notes.)
Wells
With the money that Haiti Ap Grandi (thanks to our generous donors) sent for well repair, 8 wells have been fixed and the communities now have safe drinking water. The well near the beach village not only had a worn-out and broken head, but repeated floods washing past it carried tons of soil away, leaving the concrete pad and well inaccessible. Loads of rock and gravel were used to build up the area around this well and a larger concrete pad was built around and under the existing pad, so the well should be fine for a long time.
Lagoon Well Before 
Lagoon Well After Goats
Funds raised largely through Community of Faith’s Advent goat sale provided 101 goat kids for 51 happy human kids. Kids for Kidz has been a very successful program over many years, providing families with milk and meat for their table and income from selling the milk and offspring of the goats. One of the earlier program participants has grown his herd to 25 goats: very impressive for an adolescent! When a child’s goat has its first kid, that baby goat is given back to the program. This year, several of these “return goats” were sold by Etienne to cover medical costs for various community members who had serious illnesses and required hospitalization and medications.
Women’s Entrepreneur Loans
The $2000 that Haiti Ap Grandi provided to start the Women’s Entrepreneur Loans program in late 2020 has grown to $3000 from the women’s returns on their investments. The women have purchased goods such as black beans or bottled soda (and a cooler) to sell at local markets and provide the main support for their children and families. This initial group of five women participate in a group together for support, education, and advice.
The Mighty Toyota
Etienne expressed his continuing thanks for the sturdy Toyota pickup we bought for him and the continuing supply of tires and other maintenance items. Previously he had an old, beat-up truck that broke down a lot. This new truck provides transportation for his crew, carries materials all around the country (like metal roofing and goats and trees), and takes sick people to the hospital. “It is a blessing to have such a good truck.”
Home Rehabs and Roofs
After Hurricane Matthew, Etienne’s teams, in partnership with another group, rehabilitated 800 homes in the Bwa Pikan community. They are currently preparing for a summer project to fix 120 more homes there, including new roof tins.
So Many Coffee Trees in the Nursery Trees
Another of Etienne’s projects for this coming summer is to manage 60 college students, 40 from the public university of Jacmel and 20 from the American University, in the transport and transplanting of 200,000 coffee and cacao trees on farms. These trees, funded in part by Haiti Ap Grandi, planted and cared for by his agents and other employees, will not only provide income for the farm families but are key to reforesting the mountain slopes to reduce erosion, flooding, and other problems.
10,000 cacao trees, planted in prior years, will be ready for harvest next year and 20,000 coffee trees are already growing on farms. There are 4500 pineapples to harvest this summer.
Spreading the Model
Etienne reported that universities and NGOs from all parts of Haiti are adopting Passion for Haiti’s methods as the model for their own programs. Empowering educated and passionate Haitian leaders to originate, develop, and run projects to address local priorities, with external non-profits providing funding and other support as requested by these local managers, is a new way to operate international aid programs, and it works.
