Hunger is a Solvable Problem
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Category Archives: Poverty
Can We Wait Until 2030 to See Poverty Reduced?
I saw an Associated Press blurb on Monday that piqued my interest. Amidst the varying news reports (mentioned by Brooke here) that climate change and drought are raising the world’s food prices, and the others pointing to rising poverty and hunger rates in the United States, the National Intelligence Council says that world poverty rates could be reduced by half by 2030.
The AP article was interesting to me on a couple of levels. First, the NIC pointed to a rising middle class in the growing economies in India, Vietnam and Indonesia as the driving force behind the poverty reduction; and, second because 2030 is less than two decades from now, which doesn’t really seem all that far off.
Photo taken from the Nations Online Project
But can we, or better, should we, wait until 2030 to see those numbers drop that dramatically? I don’t think so. Sure the article is great news, and, yes, Heifer already works in both India and Vietnam, helping turn small farmers into small businessmen and women. Plus the article says that poverty reduction in these economies will continue despite economic upheaval, too. Even better!
So if what Christopher Kojm said on Saturday is right, that, “several hundred million people, armed with the resources and education will produce new technology to meet demands for food, water and energy,” don’t you think we can help them along?
I do. Heifer is already working to help create this burgeoning population of people. And we’re working harder and faster than ever before in areas that need it most—including the United States. Why don’t you help us?
Heifer CEO in Nepal: First Steps into Sustainability
On his first day in Nepal, Heifer International President and CEO Pierre Ferrari found himself among a group of withdrawn yet excited women in an unused classroom in the village of Kabilash in Chitwan district, a jostling 45-minute drive uphill on a dirt track that was patched up from recent landslides especially for his visit. The ethnic tribal women spoke of the challenges of and their aspirations for Heifer’s signature project, of which they were going to be a part. This was a first for Ferrari. Having traveled through Nepal in February 2011 and having heard about the country’s achievements in implementing transformational projects ever since he joined Heifer, Ferrari was more accustomed to strong women displaying confidence. “It validated the time and money we put into trainings to build the social capital to strengthen and transform women,” said Ferrari.
The women in Kabilash are part of a groundbreaking effort in Nepal that will scale up Heifer’s work to end poverty and hunger by increasing goat and milk production by helping women farmers increase production and enabling them to take part in the value chain through cooperatives formed and led by women. The overarching goal of the project, reducing importation of live goats and milk, will increase income for smallholder farmers through increased production and participation in the value chain, which will ensure that they get a fair share of the profits.
Heifer’s plan in this beautiful but resource-poor community is to establish sustainable partnerships with the local government, which is a co-funder of the project. “Our five-year plan consists of improving livestock and agriculture to help the people of this village escape poverty,” said Village Development Committee Secretary Pradhumna Khadka. “So when Heifer came to me with an opportunity to partner, I accepted it without any reservations.”
This is a partnership that works for all. Because after Heifer completes its work in Kabilash, it can be assured that the impacts will be exponential. “By this time, Heifer will have strengthened the farmers, the cooperative they form, and the agents of development, the government organizations, who are there to stay,” said Parbati Rawal, executive director of SRAM, a Heifer local partner NGO that will implement the project in Kabilash.
Heifer Nepal is geared up to implement similar projects in 28 districts of Nepal in the next five—an ambitious plan that has already been able to seek support in forms of resource leverage and collaborative partnerships from the national and local government and other development agencies.
Heifer India Leads Rukkhi to a Better Life
Rukkhi Devi with her goats.
Rukkhi Devi stands in front of her new concrete house.
“In the last six months, the biggest change has been that from a thatched house. I have been able to build a concrete house.” —Rukkhi Devi
Life is getting better for Rukkhi Devi. She looks at the two goats she received from Heifer India. These now have four kids. The two to be passed on are ready for the big ceremony. The goats changed her life. She got three liters of milk every day: she kept one for her family’s consumption and sold the rest at about $1 per liter to the local merchant. The family has sold two bucks for 5,000 Rupees (about US $ 100) this month. About 10 months ago, they sold a male kid male for $40. The family has earned a total of $140 that has increased their family income.
But in order to get this result, Rukkhi had to learn how to keep her livestock. She learned the benefits of keeping the goats in a shed so the hot summer sun would not burn their skin. She learned how to stall-feed them too. The fodder seeds Heifer provided also helped.
Rukkhi is also seeing the benefits of the vegetable seeds she received. Now the family has eaten green vegetables every day for the last three months. These positive results encouraged them to plant eight more trees this year.
The highlight of the project were the three import trainings Rukkhi received:
- The nutrition & hygiene training has been very informative. Rukkhi says it has helped her learn and understand how to maintain personal hygiene and to keep the house and its surroundings clean. She understands the importance of a toilet in the house. She also understands the strong emphasis on good nutrition for good health.
- The training on smokeless stoves has helped her understand the hazardous implications of smoke on health, especially on the health of women in the house. She says she understood how the smoke would affect her vision, her eyes and her respiratory tract. She is glad that these problems, which were deemed to be eventualities, will not affect her or her family now. She also understands that it will save on fuel and fuel costs, and also reduce the ill effects caused to the environment. She is happy that she will be able to cook twice as quickly, the utensils and dishes will not turn black from charcoal and the kitchen will not be covered with soot.
- The training on rain water harvesting systems helped Rukkhi realize the importance of water management. She says her family would save a total of about $57 annually on water because of collecting rainwater. Given the scarcity of water and negligible amount of rain in the region, the rainwater harvesting system would help them maintain an unrestricted supply of water throughout the year. This would impact the lives of the women positively because they are the ones who travel long distances to fetch water, she adds.
Editor’s note: This post is part of a series that follows the progress of specific families, starting at the beginning of their work with Heifer. In Asia/South Pacific, our colleagues have chosen one family in each region in the countries where we work and will bring us quarterly updates. You can read the first story about Rukkhi Devi and her family here.
Clinton: Value Women the Same as Men
While her days as the U.S. Secretary of State are drawing to a close, Hillary Clinton used an opportunity last week to again call attention to the plight women around the world.
Clinton made similar remarks in an interview with World Ark magazine, which we published in our Holiday issue. Long a champion for women, Clinton acknowledged both in her speech last Thursday and in the interview with Heifer, that there are still great strides to be made before women and girls are seen as equals to men.
“As the mother of a daughter, and as someone who believes strongly in the right of every person, male and female, to have the opportunity to live up to his or her God-given potential,” Clinton said, “it pains me so greatly when I travel to places around the world and am received almost as an exception to the rule, where the male leaders meet with me because I am the secretary of state of the United States, overlooking the fact that I also happen to be a woman.”
“We are on the right side of history in this struggle, but there will be many sacrifices and losses until we finally reach a point where daughters are valued as sons, where girls as educated as boys, where women are encouraged and permitted to make their contributions to their families, to their societies just as the men are,” she said.
The speech followed Clinton’s acceptance of a humanitarian award given by Concern Worldwide, an anti-poverty organization.
Clinton’s interview also appears in the first World Ark tablet edition, as well, which you can download from the App Store on your iPad or from the Google Marketplace for your Android tablet.
Ryan Bell Gives Gift of Transformation
Ryan surpassed his $25,000 goal on December 14. He's currently at $27,705. Let's help him get to $30,000.
I have to admit, I was skeptical. When I wrote and blogged about the second of the two stories on Ryan Bell, I fully expected it to take much longer before he reached his goal of raising enough money for a $25,000 Gift of Transformation.
But this remarkable young man proved me wrong. Again. Ryan reached his goal lofty goal late last week, and his Team Heifer page continues to bring in money. I’m truly grateful to have been able to tell his story; to have gotten to know Ryan and his family.
But the best part of all of this? Ryan isn’t done. He’s not satisfied with reaching his goal years before he expected to. When I contacted Ryan’s mom, Laura, last week, she was going to text him at school to tell him the news. He was thrilled, she said. Their conversation went a little like this:
Laura: “It made his day! So, that afternoon we looked up the new total and I said, ‘You know, at this rate you might be able to add a camel to your goal.’ You know my son by now… He said, ‘Mom, I think we should add an Ark!’”
Right now he’s more than half-way to reaching his NEW goal of adding $5,000 more to his remarkable total. If you want to help Ryan, you can go to his Team Heifer page and donate.
The Cost of Inequality in India
The horrifying story of a young woman who died after being brutally gang raped in New Delhi is putting inequality in India in the international spotlight. The murder of 23-year-old Jyoti Singh Pandey is spawning widespread protests and a push for major change to the chauvinism and oppression Indian women face.
The need for change became even clearer this week, as political and spiritual leaders continued to openly blame women for inviting assault by being out in public after dark or wearing skirts. And on Wednesday, a lawyer for three of the five men accused of raping and torturing Jyoti Pandey said Pandey and her companion were solely responsible because they were out together after dark, but were not married. Wow.
The moral argument for addressing gender inequality in India is clear. And surprisingly, the economic argument is clear, as well. A survey of 2,500 women in several Indian cities revealed that nearly 82 percent of the women are leaving work earlier since the infamous Dec. 16 attack to avoid being away from home after sunset. The survey indicates that one in three women in Delhi reduced their work hours or quit their jobs altogether to avoid making themselves vulnerable to attacks. This drop in productivity will only add to India’s poverty.
India is one of the world’s poorest countries when measured by per-capita income, and the country’s failure to invite women into the workplace and support them there is a major factor. Only 35 percent of Indian women work. Just think of the potential forfeited when millions of women opt out of the workplace.
Malaria=Poverty=Malaria
Today is World Malaria Day, which might have slipped your mind. That’s understandable. The United States eradicated malaria in 1951, and unless you’ve done much traveling it’s probably never topped your list of things to worry about. But for half the world’s population, the 3.3 billion people threatened by the deadly mosquito-borne illness every day, malaria isn’t so easy to forget.
Malaria symptoms include fever, headache, chills, vomiting, anemia and respiratory distress. Children infected with the disease are extremely vulnerable because they haven’t had time to develop any level of immunity.
Malaria is a mean disease that preys on the poor and the innocent. In 2010, 90 percent of all malaria deaths occurred in sub-Saharan Africa, the region of our planet that’s home to the highest proportion of undernourished people. Poor people with limited resources and limited access to health care often can’t afford housing with screened windows and doors to protect them from infected mosquitoes. And once infected, people suffering from malaria lose work days and the paychecks that go along with them, deepening their poverty. This is a handicap faced by countless Heifer project participants who can find themselves incapacitated by malaria multiple times each year.
Most deaths from malaria claim children under the age of 5. That means that every single minute of the day, a child dies of malaria. Pregnant women also face heightened risk.These numbers will knock the breath out of you, but luckily they’re better than they used to be. Malaria mortality rates have fallen by more than 25 percent since 2000. And with continued use of mosquito nets and insecticides, the hope is that the disease will continue to loosen its grasp.
The theme for World Malaria Day 2013 is “Invest in the future. Defeat malaria.” The disease still kills 660,000 people each year, according to the World Health Organization. But not everyone agrees on the numbers, and in fact, the Seattle-based Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation puts the death toll at 1.2 million per year. I know that number will be stuck in my head for a while.
Happily, we know that bed nets, insecticides and improved housing can slow or stop the spread of malaria. We also know how to treat it. It’s just a question of resources. If, after reading this, you’re having a hard time getting malaria off your mind, visit the WHO’s World Malaria Day 2013 website to learn more.
Happy International Day of Families
Teghenik, Armenia — Heifer beneficiary Tsovinar Davtyan prepares cheese, the sale of which supports her children and grandchildren. Photo by Geoff Oliver Bugbee
“Families hold societies together, and intergenerational relationships extend this legacy over time. This year’s International Day of Families is an occasion to celebrate connections among all members of the constellation that makes up a family. It is also an opportunity to reflect on how they are affected by social and economic trends – and what we can do to strengthen families in response.”
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message for 2013
When Heifer International measures the impact of its projects and programs, it doesn’t just count individuals. Gender and Family Focus is one of Heifer’s Cornerstones for Just and Sustainable Development, and the family unit is central to our work. In fact, we count on strong family bonds and the cooperation that comes with them. Family members are invested in each others’ success, even when they know the fruits of that success won’t be reaped until they’re gone.
“I have seen whatever I would like to see in my life, I don’t need anything more for me. Everything is for my grandchildren,” explained Tsovinar Davtyan, 67, a grandmother of four in the Armenian village of Tekhenik. She cares for her family’s cows because she knows the benefits will last for generations.
May 15 is the United Nations International Day of Families, and this year’s focus is on fostering inter-generational solidarity. That’s a challenge for families in the Philippines, Bolivia and other places where job opportunities are few so young people set off to find opportunities elsewhere. This is where Heifer steps in, helping to build agricultural opportunities locally to keep families intact.
Click here to support a family in need through Heifer International.
Some Yogurt But Not Nearly Enough
Children in Pata Rat, Romania, receive a gift of yogurt from Heifer farmers.
Story by Katya Cengel; photos by Geoff Oliver Bugbee. Katya and Geoff are visiting Heifer projects in Romania and Armenia this week for Heifer’s World Ark magazine.
PATA RAT, Romania—In the valley below a landfill, on the edge of the Transylvanian city of Cluj-Napoca, sits a small slab structure. Chickens peck at the muddy yard out front and dogs play amid old tires and an even older scooter. In the corner of Marian Tomita’s yard are stacked nine trays filled with 20 yogurts each. Tomita lives just outside the settlement of Pata Rat, the largest Roma community in the Cluj region.
Pata Rat, Romania
Founded after the 1989 revolution which saw the overthrow and execution of communist dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu, the settlement is home to around 700 Roma, or gypsies. They live in wood shacks on the trash-strewn hills that surround a landfill. For the last five years, Heifer Romania field assistant George Abrudan has brought milk and yogurt to the children every month. The dairy products are donated through Farmers Feed the Children, a Heifer program which provides cows to impoverished farmers who then donate a portion of their milk to orphans and others in need, like this Roma community.
Usually Abrudan shows up in a truck loaded with yogurts and milk, but on this gray February morning he has only 180 yogurts. He hasn’t visited since before Christmas and Tomita greets him with a warm smile. Unemployment is high in the village, says Tomita.
“When they see we are Roma they say they don’t have places for us,” he says.
Illiteracy also makes it difficult for many members of the community to find employment, with the majority having completed only four years of grade school, says Tomita. He cares for a church built by a charitable organization out of the Netherlands and provides the children with a warm meal every Thursday.
It is mid-morning, but still early in the community, and news of the yogurts spreads slowly. The children arrive in ones and twos and then threes and fours, the older ones holding the younger ones’ hands. Tomita lines them up against the wall and hands them each a yogurt. They remain where they are, hoping he will hand them another. One little boy of about 10 years old zips several into the chest of his well worn snowsuit; a girl maybe 9 years old wants to know when Abrudan will bring milk. She is thin, like all the others, and suffers from an upset stomach.
Cassandra doesn’t ask for anything, just waits patiently with one little brother balanced on her hip and another at her side. She is 10 years old and does not attend school. At Christmas someone gave the family of 10 several oranges and bananas, but usually they survive on potato or noodle soup.
Yogurts cradled gingerly in their small hands, the children head back down the road toward a hill dotted with one-room wood and plastic shacks. Crows and dogs scavenge amongst plastic bottles. Garbage trucks barrel toward the landfill over the hill where the children’s parents search for scrap metal to sell. In Tomita’s yard only the cardboard cartons that carried the yogurts remain.
“One hundred yogurts are not enough,” says Tomita. “You have to come with 500 or 600.”
He is inside his home now, looking out the window where he can see two small boys headed toward his door. The children will keep coming, asking for yogurts that are not there, and won’t be there until next month, when Abrudan returns.
Food Tank: A Think Tank for Food
Have you heard about Food Tank yet? Co-founded by Ellen Gustafson and Danielle Nierenberg, Food Tank: The Food Think Tank offers “solutions and environmentally sustainable ways of alleviating hunger, obesity and poverty by creating a network of connections and information for us to consume and share.”
They launched less than a month ago, and they’ve already put out a lot of interesting material. Like 10 Ways to Cut Your Grocery Bill While Eating Healthier and Are Earth Markets the New Farmers’ Markets? My favorite so far is this video they shared by the American Society of Landscape Architects: The Edible City.
They’ve also got an active Facebook page, so be sure to check them out as well.
Know of any other new organizations we’d be interested in? Share them in the comments section below.
An Ode to Bolivia
This monkey named Boris chased chickens and stole sun-dried beef in the village of San Jose del Cavitu, so the locals now keep him as a pet. Boris is well cared for, but will happily pickpocket strangers given the chance. Photo by Jason Woods
I’ll hedge and say that it could have something to do with jet lag, or changes in altitude, or even something in the water, but anytime I visit a new country where Heifer works, auspices of magic immediately distract and I spend much of my trip wondering if, perhaps, I’m hallucinating. It’s never anything ghostly or alarming, just sights so surreal that I’m bewitched, amazed, delighted. Is there such thing as a traveler’s high?
My first surprise, upon landing in Santa Cruz, was the flurry of kisses that didn’t let up the entire 9-day trip. The customary Bolivian greeting between two women or a man and a woman is a kiss on the cheek. It’s a bit awkward at first, but who can quibble with such a charming welcome? Far superior to a handshake, in my book.
Clusters of butterflies gather on roadsides and on trails in the Amazon region of Bolivia. Photo by Jason Woods
And then, consider the capybara. These squee-worthy creatures populate the roadsides and riverbanks of the Bolivian Amazon. The world’s largest rodent, capybaras look like sleek, super-sized guinea pigs and can grow up to 100 pounds. When startled, capybaras emit kazoo-like sounds and immediately belly flop into the nearest body of water. Seriously! Neither I nor my travel companions managed to snap any capybara photos, leaving me to question, in retrospect, whether such an adorable creature actually exists.
We were further enchanted by the pink dolphins splashing in the rivers and the parrots and toucans flying overhead. “Is that an emu?” I asked our driver as we zipped down a muddy road. Turns out it was a rhea, a giant bird native to South America that can reach up to 90 pounds and nearly six feet tall.
Monkeys whooped at us from the trees as we sped by on motorbikes, headed to the shadowy chocolate forest where giant blue butterflies looped through the trees. Did you know that the juicy white fruits inside chocolate pods turn a bright purple when you chew them? I must report, however, that the charm of the chocolate forest ebbed under attack from the clouds of mosquitoes that nibbled our faces and left bloody specks on our clothes. We were also under siege from chiggers, although we didn’t realize that until hours later when we peeled off our socks.
But back to the kisses. The best part of the trip, of course, was the people we met. The purpose of our visit was to chronicle the work and progress of Heifer project participants who are amping up chocolate harvests, protecting the forests and working together to process cocoa at high quality and large quantities to secure good prices. They’re doing a pretty phenomenal job of it. This success story will appear in World Ark magazine later this year, although I may give a few glimpses of their work on this blog before then.
Hilaria Moye of San Jose Del Cavitu displays the skull of a jaguar her husband killed while out hunting. Photo by Jason Woods
Pastel dolphins and snuggly rodents aside, Bolivia is a real place with real challenges. Our visit was limited to the lowlands of Bolivia, where wild fruit is abundant and starchy crops like corn, yucca and rice grow easily, but malnutrition is still a problem because protein and nutrient-rich vegetables are harder to secure. Jobs outside the agriculture sector are rare, so incomes are low to non-existent. Some of the project participants are prosperous enough to live in houses made of bricks, but others live under palm thatch roofs held up by sticks.
The tools Bolivians have to overcome these hardships are a culture built on community and a fruitful ecosystem that can provide ample food and incomes if it’s well protected.
Elizabeth Franco Rodriguez, the president of the chocolate gatherer’s group in northeastern Bolivia’s Jasiaquiri village, is well aware of both her country’s charms and challenges. The hot, hard work of chocolate harvesting isn’t so great when you come home covered in ticks, or when the mosquitoes infect you with dengue fever, she said. But it’s a family event, and she usually brings children, nieces and nephews along. At her home, shared with extended family, everyone stays busy. Chocolate seeds ferment in the sun, children grind yucca to make starch, and Rodriguez’s sister-in-law makes cheese in the breezeway. But that evening, when the work is done, the whole family will go into the nearby town of Baures to spend a couple of hours mingling and resting in the plaza, along with hundreds of others. It’s back to the forest to harvest chocolate again the next day, and the mosquitoes would no doubt be waiting. Rodriguez never complained.
“I just find it so exotic and beautiful,” I told her as we tromped through vines and underbrush. The translator conferred with Rodriguez, and she nodded. “She says yes, it’s that way for us, too.”
Check out this tree trunk covered in thorns. Amazing! Photo by Jason Woods
NGO Aid Map Helps Members Work Together
Heifer International is one of InterAction‘s more than 190 member organizations working in developing countries around the world. We’ve referenced their NGO Aid Map, which has been operational since 2010, before, but it’s worth revisiting. The site details more than 3,600 projects in 80-plus countries.
A post this week announces work on three new sub-sites on China, India and Mexico as well as further development work on the main site to help all members find ways to work together and learn from each other. The purpose of providing this open data is not “transparency for transparency’s sake,” but “ultimately, the goal is use – individuals and organizations acting on that data in ways that actually lead to improvements in people’s lives.”
Heifer International is pleased to be included and applauds efforts to continue to refine and develop the already extensive and innovative map. If you have not seen it yet, check it out by going here. To view Heifer projects alone, go under organizations pull-down menu until you find us listed. Happy exploring!
How is Poverty Measured?
Having traveled to the field for my work with Heifer, I’ve seen true poverty firsthand. Heck, I can find poverty within my own neighborhood. So I know what it looks like. But just how is it measured?
Photo by Brooke Edwards, courtesy of Heifer International.
The World Bank, which measures a lot of data points in more than 200 countries and has a very thorough website specifically for sharing their data, has a video that explains how they measure poverty.
It’s important to measure things that you’d like to end. If we’re going to end poverty, we have to know where we’re starting from. But I feel like this video really leaves some major considerations out. It appears income and consumption are the primary measures of wellbeing. So, once a family earns enough income and consumes enough goods, they’re considered “above” the poverty line. But are they really out of poverty? Just how easily can they fall right back “below” the poverty line?
At Heifer, we work hard to ensure our participants – individuals, families and communities – truly move out of poverty so they aren’t likely to fall back into poverty. We do this by helping them build assets, grow savings and develop real security. These accomplishments allow them to be more resilient to things like natural disasters or an illness in the family.
Freedom from poverty in Malawi. Photo by Jake Lyell, courtesy of Heifer International.
What do you think about how poverty is measured? What else seems to be missing? Tell us in the comments section below.
Haiti Earthquake: Heifer’s Work Continues
It’s not news: the world’s poor are the most vulnerable to natural disasters. The 2010 Haiti earthquake highlighted this truth to a shocking degree. There are many factors that contribute to the dire poverty that exists in places like Haiti. Heifer International’s work is to help farming families build resilient livelihoods, making them less vulnerable to natural disasters, economic changes (like rising commodity food prices) and political shocks.
What does a farm family with a sustainable and resilient livelihood look like? They:
Jean Pierre jumped out of a third-story apartment just before the building collapsed into rubble, one of many destroyed during the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that rocked Haiti on Jan. 12, 2010. She is photographed here, sitting in a field in Cance, in rural western Haiti, a year and a half later. Photo by Geoff Oliver Bugbee, courtesy of Heifer International.
- Have stable and diverse sources of income
- Own secure and productive land
- Have savings and can access formal financing (banks, loans, etc.)
- Can meet their food needs all year, both through their own production and by affording supplemental food from other sources
- Have access to health, education, water, energy, transportation and communication services
- Have a strong voice, especially the women, through cooperatives and associations
Heifer’s Rural Entrepreneurs for Agricultural Cooperation in Haiti Project (REACH) is making the above a reality for more than 100,000 Haitians. It’s our largest project in Haiti to date, and it will help participating families and communities far less vulnerable to events like the Haiti earthquake of 2010, because they will have the resiliency to bounce back with minimal assistance.
We need help fulfilling our fundraising goals, and you can give directly to REACH today. What will your gift do? This:
- Start family-run breeding centers that will improve the local economy by creating jobs and training participants to provide for improved livestock breeds– something that has never been done before in Haiti.
- Improve Haiti’s soil so it will produce better crops, increasing crop production and quality, and ultimately growing enough food that farmers can use to sell for income and build businesses.
- Train Haitian farmers in disaster preparedness and teaching them how to protect their biggest assets–their livestock.
- Protect the environment by placing animals where they are complementary to the crops, and train participants techniques such as zero-grazing, which protects ground cover and makes collecting manure for organic fertilizer easy. Our goal is to leave the environment better than we found it.
A Haiti REACH goat breeding center. Photo by Jason Woods, courtesy of Heifer International.
We cannot predict the next time a major natural disaster like the 2010 Haiti earthquake will strike. Through REACH, however, we can help ensure at least 100,000 Haitians will be less vulnerable.
Give to REACH now to become part of this important work.
Haiti: Three Years After the Earthquake
Today is the third anniversary of the earthquake that devastated Haiti.
Photo by Bryan Clifton, courtesy of Heifer International.
Photo by Jason Woods, courtesy of Heifer International.
This week we have highlighted the work Heifer has been doing in Haiti both before and since the earthquake. Here’s a quick roundup:
- Heifer Haiti’s REACH Project Builds a Foundation for Development
- A New Beginning With Heifer in Milot, Haiti
- Heifer International Marks 3rd Anniversary of Haiti Earthquake
Our current major effort in Haiti is our extensive project called Rural Entrepreneurs for Agricultural Cooperation in Haiti (REACH). The project aims to help 20,250 families with gifts of livestock and by strengthening communities through the construction and management of goat and swine breeding centers, many of which will be owned and operated by women.
You can learn more and donate to REACH by visiting heifer.org/reachout now.
Photo by Jason Woods, courtesy of Heifer International.
Of course, Heifer’s work alone is not nearly all the help Haiti needs as it continues to recover from the 7.0 magnitude earthquake. The good news is that we’re certainly not alone. Here’s a list of recent posts from other great organizations applying their work in what has long been the most impoverished and vulnerable country in the Western Hemisphere:
- Handicap International
- HelpAge International
- Partners in Health
- SOS Children’s Villages
- UNICEF
- Water.org
Heifer International Marks 3rd Anniversary of Haiti Earthquake
On the third anniversary of the devastating January 2010 Haiti earthquake, Heifer International remembers the quake’s victims – those killed and those dislocated – and affirms our commitment to help Haitians emerge from the tragedy stronger than before.
Port-au-Prince tent camp almost 8 months after Haiti earthquake in 2010. Photo by Bryan Clifton, courtesy of Heifer International.
The magnitude-7 earthquake affected nearly 3,000 Heifer project families. Since the Haiti earthquake, Heifer has built and repaired dozens of homes; provided water filters and hygiene kits to prevent cholera; and helped rejuvenate rural agricultural activities with training and resources such as animals, equipment and seeds.
Today, Heifer International is implementing an extensive project called REACH (Rural Entrepreneurs for Agricultural Cooperation in Haiti), which is helping Haiti build its agricultural sector and improve the lives of rural Haitians.
Goat breeding center, part of Heifer's Haiti REACH project, in Tet Kole. Photo by Jason Woods, courtesy of Heifer International.
The five-year project will assist 20,250 rural households in Haiti through not only the distribution of livestock but also through improved market linkages and construction and management of goat and swine breeding centers.
Heifer will build 97 goat and 50 swine breeding centers that will provide quality livestock for Haitians, and project participants will own the centers. Twenty-five breeding center owners have been selected already, and 19 breeding centers are under construction.
Photo by Jason Woods, courtesy of Heifer International.
Heifer International worked in Haiti for 10 years before the earthquake and is committed to working with families for many years to come. Recently, Heifer provided help to families and communities affected by Hurricane Sandy, which, before striking the northeastern United States as Superstorm Sandy, inundated the struggling island nation.
As the world remembers the catastrophe that occurred on January 12, 2010, and considers how far Haiti has yet to come, Heifer International vows to open a new era of hope in the lives of thousands of Haitian people.
Be a part of our Haiti earthquake rehabilitation work by donating to our Haiti REACH project today.
A New Beginning With Heifer in Milot, Haiti
Editor’s note: As we approach the third anniversary of the earthquake that devastated the lives of so many Haitians, we are asking for your help in raising funds to continue the important work of rebuilding livelihoods in post-earthquake Haiti. Visit www.heifer.org/reachout to learn more and give.
Author’s note: In 2012, I traveled to Haiti to spend a couple of weeks visiting projects with Heifer Haiti staff. For previous posts on my trip, see my page.
Toussaint Christophe lives just off the road that takes travelers to nearby Milot, Haiti. There, he earns money by breaking limestone and selling it as construction material.
Toussaint Christophe and his goats in Milot, Haiti. Photo by Jason Woods, courtesy of Heifer International.
But not too far from his house, Toussaint also cultivates yams, bananas and beans and takes care of four goats and a cow–all of which came from Heifer through the From the Ground Up project. The crops and livestock will supplement both his diet and income.
“Since I was a young man, I’ve seen people with cows,” Toussaint said. “This is the first time I’ve had one.”
Goats are a more familiar sight to Toussaint. His parents raised and bred goats, and he began helping the effort as soon as he was able. At age 14, he received his first goat. Shortly after, Toussaint’s family was robbed of all 15 of their goats, and he, his parents and six siblings had to rely solely upon selling bananas and yams to the market.
Compounding the situation, the family’s house burned down a few years later. The fire killed one of his brothers and left another paralyzed. Toussaint’s family never found out how the house burned down, but they suspect it was arson. Around the same time, four of his siblings became ill with asthma problems.
After the fire, Toussaint dropped out of school to help support his family.
“The first time I went to school, I was 17 because my parents were not supportive of that kind of thing,” he said. “When the house burned, we lost everything. (My parents) wanted me to work.”
Toussaint Christophe near his home in Milot, Haiti. Photo by Jason Woods, courtesy of Heifer International.
Toussaint’s children, however, are getting the opportunity he never had. Both of his sons, who are in their mid-20s, are in secondary school in Cap Haitien, about 12 miles away.
And Toussaint’s informal education has continued through Heifer trainings.
“I have had many trainings… (including) techniques for dividing yam roots and goat production,” he said. “I can now treat some of the kinds of diseases that goats have. In the past, I (would have) to pay a veterinarian for everything the goats needed. Now, I can give a first examination or first aid to the goats.”
The project with Heifer marks the first time Toussaint has owned goats since his teenage years, and this is not something he takes lightly.
“I take care of (the goats) as well as I would a person,” he said. “I like to see them right.”
Toussaint Christophe smiles near his home in Milot, Haiti. Photo by Jason Woods, courtesy of Heifer International.
