Heifer - Haiti

8/8/2019 Heifer - Haiti

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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



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



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.



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



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."

Heifer - Haiti

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