Typhoon Bopha’s Aftermath

Posted on March 14, 2013 by Annie Bergman

The last time I posted here I was on my way to the Philippines to interview project participants who had lived through Typhoon Bopha. I told you that I’d be posting about my experiences. But we had no Internet, much less reliable electricity. Since I’ve been back I’ve thought a lot about my trip. It was one of the hardest trips I’ve taken. Below is a short reflection piece on my time there.

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I’ve seen real poverty before; heard the most heart-wrenching stories from war widows in Kosovo and survivors of the Khmer Rouge. I’ve witnessed the excitement that a gift of a goat brings and the incredible act of Passing on the Gift. But what I saw and heard in the Philippines was a level of devastation I’ve never encountered.

I was in Mindanao just six weeks after Typhoon Bopha tore through the island. As we made our way to the project sites it was as if we were inching our way closer and closer to a war zone. Palm fronds, bent permanently in the direction the winds were blowing, gave way to decimated villages.

Not only are the physical scars obvious—homes in pieces, partially rebuilt or gone completely; people living under tarps; men cutting away rotten portions of wood in an effort to save any materials from damaged houses; layers of silt and mud deposited in rice and corn fields; crops dead where they were planted, trees down—there are now psychological and emotional scars.

: Ester Talledo talks about life after Typhoon Bopha.

I spoke to parents who say their children are afraid of the slightest winds, with mothers who have nothing to feed their families, and with fathers who are out of work because of factory closings or farm damage.

The typhoon ripped away hopes along with homes and livelihoods. All the Heifer beneficiaries here wanted was to provide their children with a life better than the one they had known. But with no food, no income and no job opportunities, it’s only a matter of time before kids will have to drop out of school.

What I learned in my 10 days there was the meaning of urgency. Typhoon Bopha was a minor blip on the Western world’s radar. But these people need help and they need it now. They have no food and won’t until the rice is harvested in the next few weeks.

In my five years with Heifer I’ve learned that each trip to the field leaves an indelible mark, and that each also comes with its own perils of the heart. I’ve been home from the Philippines for three weeks now, and though the images of crippled palms and makeshift homes are as clear as the day I was there, it’s the words of Ester Talledo that will remain with me forever: “While we’re alive there’s still hope. We will stay strong.”

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Heifer’s Disaster Rehabilitation Fund is reserved for to help Heifer participants who are victimes of events like Typhoon Bopha. Please give if you can.

WATCH: Heifer Haiti Hurricane Sandy Relief

Posted on November 6, 2012 by Brooke Edwards

As Annie reported yesterday, Heifer Haiti provided more than 400 relief packages to families affected by Hurricane Sandy.

Help Heifer provide emergency relief in times of great need by donating to our Disaster Rehabilitation Fund.

Heifer Haiti Distributes Food to Hurricane Sandy Victims

Posted on November 5, 2012 by Annie Bergman

Last Friday we posted about emergency efforts that were underway to help the people of Haiti affected by Hurricane Sandy.

Yesterday, Heifer Haiti’s Country Director, Hervil Cherubin, let us know that the food distribution was a success. More than 400 food packages were given out to families who needed help in the wake of the storm. Cherubin said Heifer Haiti also helped provide food to Haitians who are physically challenged.

The distribution took place in Solon (a community in Saint Louis du Sud) where Heifer Haiti has a rabbit project and various communities in Les Cayes where the office is located.

It was the first of Heifer Haiti’s planned efforts to provide emergency aid. While Heifer does not specialize in short-term relief but rather in long-term sustainable solutions, our Heifer Haiti colleagues and participants need your continued help. Please consider donating to our Disaster Rehabilitation Fund so we can provide the best assistance possible and help equip families with the means to help deal with future disasters.

Heifer Haiti Emergency Efforts Begin

Posted on November 2, 2012 by Brooke Edwards

Editor’s note: The following update on Heifer Haiti’s Hurricane Sandy recovery efforts comes from Heifer Haiti Country Director Hervil Cherubin.

Today Heifer International’s Haiti country office team will be distributing emergency help to 400 families affected by Huricane Sandy. Each one will receive a kit (bag), containing rice, corn, sugar, milk, beans, flour and cooking oil. The distribution will be in Solon (a community in Saint Louis du Sud) where Heifer Haiti has a rabbit project and various communities in Les Cayes where the office is located.

Some of the kits will be distributed to a group of people with handicaps (many as consequences of the 2010 quake) in collaboration with the Haiti office for the Integration of the Handicap in Society. It is worth mentioning that being handicapped here in Haiti is very complicated and stigmatized. We will be helping 100 families.

Photo by Jason Woods, Heifer International

At 2:30 p.m. we will go to a very poor community named Sous Roche, which is close to the ocean and a river, to help 150 families. These people were hit hard by the storm because of their location. Their houses were flooded. Later we will go to small communities (Pelerin and Fond Fred) to distribute kits to 50 families each.

Tomorrow morning we will go to Solon to distribute kits to 100 families. This community was devastated by the storm. Many houses were flooded and crops destroyed. It is very sad to see all these plantain and pigeon bean plantations completely wiped out by the water.

All these activities are in coordination with the local emergency committee, Centre d’Operation d’Urgence (COU), on which Heifer is a sitting member. They work with partners to assist different communities. The communities Heifer Haiti is helping today and tomorrow have not yet received any help.

We started the process yesterday morning after receiving emergency funds from Heifer International headquarters. Yesterday afternoon we bought the goods, and with the help of some volunteers we put together the kits. We stopped at midnight, and this morning we started again to get them ready by noon.

These are the first of our emergency assistance plans. We will also assist many of our beneficiaries who lost their animals and crops with replacements and seed for the next planting season. These activities will happen in the coming days as things get back to some kind of normalcy.

Our Heifer Haiti colleagues and participants need your continued help. Please consider donating to our Disaster Rehabilitation Fund so we can provide the best assistance possible.

Heifer’s Long-term Approach to Natural Disasters

Posted on November 2, 2012 by Pierre Ferrari

Earlier this week, Hurricane Sandy barreled through the Caribbean Sea and up the eastern seaboard leaving a path of destruction. In roughly 10 days she caused damage to countries in the Caribbean, including Haiti, most of the eastern United States and finally dissipating up the Canadian coast.

Haiti project participants participating in community meeting. Photography by Dave Anderson, courtesy of Heifer International

But for us at Heifer, Hurricane Sandy’s destruction hit close to home. Haiti was one of the hardest hit countries in the Caribbean with large losses, including homes, livestock and agriculture. Project participants working with Heifer Haiti have a new set of challenges before them. In addition, Heifer’s Washington, D.C. office, and Overlook Farm learning center, in Massachusetts, were closed.

And while Haiti is dealing with the aftermath from the storm, Heifer Haiti staff gave us a silver lining when they informed us that homes we help to build as part of a previous project had withstood the storm.

The good news didn’t surprise me; it confirmed that Heifer’s work addresses the needs of project participants. Heifer is not a relief organization, but rather we work with families and individuals through long-term development to support their efforts of building sustainability for themselves and in their communities. We cannot predict disasters but we can prepare people for the aftermath. When individuals have the tools and the capacity, they can—and will—overcome the challenges from Mother Nature.

This is Heifer’s sustainable approach to ending hunger and poverty—one family, one animal at a time. It’s not temporary relief. It’s not a handout. It’s securing a future with generations of people who have hope, health and dignity.

Project participants in Haiti. Photograph by Dave Anderson, courtesy of Heifer International.

Earlier this year I visited Haiti and experienced the vibrancy, passion, and drive of the communities involved in Heifer Haiti’s Rural Entrepreneurs for Agricultural Cooperation in Haiti (REACH) project. The effects of Hurricane Sandy will not deter them. Their desire to bring change to their communities motivates them. You can encourage their efforts by providing support to Heifer’s Disaster Rehabilitation Fund.

Photography by Dave Anderson, courtesy of Heifer International.

Hurricane Sandy to Cause Food Shortages and Cholera in Haiti

Posted on October 31, 2012 by Brooke Edwards

With the immediate aftermath from Hurricane Sandy passing for Haiti, the longterm effects on the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere begin to sink in.

Photo by Bryan Clifton, courtesy of Heifer International.

The two greatest concerns now: food shortages and cholera.

Hurricane Sandy Destroyed Crops

According to this BBC story, more than 70 percent of crops, including staples like bananas, plantains and maize, were destroyed in southern Haiti.

In a country with 80 percent of the population below the poverty line, a 40.6 percent unemployment rate and 18.9 percent of children under 5 years underweight, this is extraordinarily bad news.

Heifer Haiti project families were not exempt from the storm’s path. Hundreds of animals were killed or remain unaccounted for, including 361 goats, 183 fowl and 91 sheep. There was significant crop damage, one fishing boat was lost and nearly 300 homes in project communities were damaged and another 42 destroyed.

Hurricane Sandy will Likely Increase Cholera

Floods and unsanitary conditions will probably worsen the cholera epidemic that has already claimed the lives of more than 7,500 people since 2010. Haiti has the second-lowest life expectancy (62.51 years) outside the African continent, so an increase in cholera cases will only further devastate this island nation.

Haiti’s Hurricane Sandy Survivors Need Our Help

Unlike the United States, where Sandy’s victims can look to government, through the Federal Emergency Management Agency, state and local officials for help, as well as churches, community organizations and aid groups, Heifer’s Haitian project families depend on the generosity of Heifer donors to help them rebuild and recover.

Photo by Bryan Clifton, courtesy of Heifer International.

More assessments are needed to fully understand Sandy’s impact on Haiti and on Heifer project families, but the need is already apparent—families need help getting back on their feet, restocking livestock and replanting fields. Only through a dependable diet, income and assets can they begin to rebuild their and their family’s future—ensuring medical care against cholera, that their kids remain in school and they build back better and stronger against the next storm threat.

Heifer International has a Disaster Management Fund to provide life-supporting aid in the wake of a natural disaster or event. Families in Haiti need this help now.

You can contribute to Heifer’s Disaster Management Fund here. Our friends and neighbors in the Northeast need and are getting help. Let’s be sure that families in Haiti have the same chance for a better future.

Heifer Haiti Homes Stand Up Against Sandy

Posted on October 30, 2012 by Brooke Edwards

Photo by NASA Goddard Photo and Video, used under Creative Commons.

We have another update regarding the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy from Heifer Haiti Field Technician Ludger Badette:

Heifer Haiti staff examined the damage in the Saut Mathurine area where houses were built/rebuilt in the wake of the 2010 earthquake. People in that area said the houses that resisted the damage from Hurricane Sandy were those built by Heifer International. During the hurricane, those who lived in houses that were destroyed or damaged took refuge in the houses built by Heifer. People there remain grateful for this project.

The building and repair of homes in Haiti were part of Heifer Haiti’s From the Ground Up umbrella project that set out to rehabilitate the rural livelihoods of 12,000 families.

Click here to give to Heifer’s Disaster Rehabilitation Fund

Hurricane Sandy Caused Death and Destruction in Haiti

Posted on October 29, 2012 by Brooke Edwards

Photos courtesy of Heifer International.

Hundreds of animals and thousands of dollars in crops are among the losses to suffered by Heifer International project participants in Haiti after Tropical Storm Sandy passed near the island nation late last week. Hurricane Sandy, which is now a Category 1 hurricane slamming into the East Coast of the United States, has caused 51 deaths in Haiti, mainly due to flooding after heavy rains.

Heifer International’s Haiti country staff continue to assess damage to projects after several days of steady rain. Heifer Haiti Country Director Hervil Cherubin reports that 611 animals have been killed or are unaccounted for following the storm, including 361 goats, 183 fowl, and 91 sheep. In addition, project participants suffered $435,972 in crop damage and the loss of one fishing boat. Some 289 homes in project communities have been damaged, and 42 houses destroyed. “It has been four or five days since we saw the sun,” said Cherubin. “Better days are in front of us.”

Rivers in Haiti remain out of their banks, and many roads are still impassable, with the southern part of the country most severely affected. Heifer Haiti staff will continue to provide updated assessments and recommendations for response. Go here to get a general overview of Tropical Storm Sandy’s effects on Haiti.