Tag Archives: Haiti

What is Thanksgiving without Giving?

Posted on by
0

It’s been 391 years since the harvest festival celebrated by the Pilgrims, which would become the Thanksgiving holiday we now know, took place. Community and gratitude have taken on additional meanings since that time. In preparation for this week, I’d like you to consider this question: What is Thanksgiving without giving?

Families often go around the Thanksgiving dinner table, telling what they are thankful for that day. We give thanks. But how can we give back?

What is Thanksgiving: Cangas Simeon, beneficiary in Pestel

Cangas Simeon of Haiti. Photo courtesy of Heifer International.

Here’s a brief testimony from one of our Heifer International participants in Haiti:

My name is Cangas Simeon, and I am 29 years old and live in Ferrier, a section of Pestel. I am a member of the Youth Organization for the Development of Pestel.

Today I want to express my happiness and gratitude toward Heifer staff. I am a poor person, and I am not ashamed to let you know that. Since I was a little boy, I never had the possibility to buy four goats. When I get some produce from my garden, I sell some of it and eat the rest with my family. Time to time I will buy one or two goats or sheep, but I have never been able to buy four.

Today I have more than that, and soon I will have more. I plan to follow the principles that Heifer taught us so I can Pass on the Gift to someone else. I plan to have more than 20 goats in order to improve my living conditions. I know I will be successful one day and I will be able to take care of my entire family. I plan to not only pay the tuition fees for my children, but we will also have the opportunity to eat more meat and get more protein.

Cangas is a man who is truly grateful. He doesn’t celebrate Thanksgiving, but he certainly has the answer to what is thanksgiving. He finally has the opportunity to provide consistent nutrition for his children, and he looks forward to giving back to his community what he has received through Heifer’s Pass on the Gift model.

What is Thanksgiving?

Photo credit: Wendi Gratz, used under Creative Commons license.

Because most of us have never had to know what it’s like to be newly grateful for the gift of nutrition, it can be hard to relate. But I think what we can relate to is being so grateful for what we have that we want to give some of our abundance to others in need.

And that’s my challenge to you this Thanksgiving: When you’re going around the dinner table, listing what you’re grateful for, ask your family to also say how they plan to give back this year. Ask them: What is Thanksgiving without giving?

Heifer International’s way of giving plans for the long term. We give hungry families the power to feed themselves every day, through training in sustainable agriculture and living gifts of livestock. Our Boost of Nutrition package in the Heifer Gift Catalog has everything a family needs to be healthy and happy: seeds to grow fruits and vegetables will provide vitamins and minerals, chickens provide daily protein from eggs. The training that’s part of every Heifer project ensures that these are not hand-outs. These are gifts that will last indefinitely.

Providing a Boost of Nutrition to a family in need is a great way to give back on Thanksgiving, or anytime at all.

What is Thanksgiving without giving? Give now.

This post is part of our What to Give series, where we’re helping you choose the best Heifer gift for your loved ones. Read previous What to Give posts here, and subscribe to the What to Give series here.

Still don’t know what to give? Check out our entire online Gift Catalog.

WATCH: Heifer Haiti Hurricane Sandy Relief

Posted on by
0

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 Emergency Efforts Begin

Posted on by
0

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 by
2

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

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

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.

Sunrise in Haiti

Photography by Dave Anderson, courtesy of Heifer International.

Hurricane Sandy to Cause Food Shortages and Cholera in Haiti

Posted on by
0

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.

Hurricane Sandy Heifer Haiti

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.

Hurricane Sandy Heifer Haiti

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 by
2
Heifer Haiti Hurricane Sandy

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 by
0

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.

Hurricane Sandy in Haiti

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.

Click here to give to Heifer’s Disaster Rehabilitation Fund

 

Hurricane Sandy Update from Heifer Haiti

Posted on by
0

Heifer International’s Haiti country office remains closed on Friday as the country recovers from the rains and flooding caused by Hurricane Sandy. Country Director Hervil Cherubin reports that the situation near Heifer’s office in Les Cayes remains fragile, and rain continues.

Hurricane Sandy Haiti

Image courtesy of NASA

Heifer’s office was minimally affected by the storm. The sign in front of the building was blown away and neighborhood trees were downed, but no Heifer employees were injured. Assessment of Haiti projects remains difficult due to the water still covering some roads. Heifer International will continue to provide updates as more information becomes available.

Click here to give to Heifer’s Disaster Rehabilitation Fund

Hurricane Sandy Causes Flooding in Haiti

Posted on by
0
Hurricane Sandy

Photo by mdpNY, used under Creative Commons license.

Heifer International’s Haiti country office remains closed today after Hurricane Sandy passed near the island country, dumping several inches of rain. The storm, which has been upgraded to a Category 2 hurricane, is expected to produce a total of 6 to 12 inches of rain across Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Earlier in the year, a number of Heifer International project participants’ livestock were killed and a breeding center was damaged when Tropical Storm Isaac struck Haiti in August.

Hervil Cherubin, the country director of Heifer Haiti, relates reports that many crops have been destroyed in the area near Heifer’s office in Les Cayes, and rivers are overflowing. Transportation is very difficult and project activities this week are not possible.

No harm to Heifer project participants has currently been reported, but Heifer Haiti staff is evaluating the situation and will share more information as it becomes available.

Click here to give to Heifer’s Disaster Rehabilitation Fund

Get Crafty With a Haitian Beaded Flag Pin

Posted on by
0

Every week we feature a fun and/or educational activity you can try at home or in the classroom. Last week, Heifer CEO Pierre Ferrari attended the Clinton Global Initiative and reaffirmed our commitment to strengthen social capital, support community building and develop rural enterprises in Haiti. This week, our activity centers on an activity that not only displays the country’s personality, it is a livelihood for many Haitians.

Haitian flags

Photo credit: Bay State Banner

Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the world, but that doesn’t mean it is without personal expression through arts and crafts. The country has been influenced by African, French vodou, Catholic, tribal cultures, and it shows. Not only are the arts and crafts unique and colorful, they provide a livelihood for many Haitians who rely on money made from selling them to live.

Here is a perfect activity to get you started on the road to creating Haitian crafts:

http://www.makingfriends.com/safepin/haiti_flag_pin.htm

Photo credit: www.makingfriends.com

Haitian Beaded Flag Pin

  • 6 size 4 safety pins
  • 1 safety pin without coil, 2 1/4″
  • Red, white and blue pony beads
  • Letter beads to spell out Haiti (or any other 5-letter word)

Put six beads on each size 4 pin following the pattern in the picture (4 pins with 3 red and 3 blue beads; 2 pins with 2 red, 2 white and 2 blue beads). Close the pins. Thread the base of the beaded pins onto the pin with no coil, in the same order shown on the pattern. In between each pin you thread, place the lettered pin starting with “H” and ending with “I” to spell Haiti. Close the pin.

Google Haitian bead art under images to see all the intricate and beautiful designs possible. You can also find patterns online if you are interested in creating more adventurous designs.

For more information on this and other craft activities, go to www.makingfriends.com. For a simpler activity for those who like to color, we found this page in our search with some fun coloring pages.

To read about Heifer’s work in Haiti, see these recent blog posts by Jason Woods, Regional Program Assistant for Heifer, who traveled to Haiti this past summer to visit several projects. Or, you can learn how to help Heifer in our work with Haiti.