From the mountaintop continued

Posted

From the mountaintop continued

Posted by Ed

From the mountaintop

Posted by Ed

In the valley continued

Posted by Ed

In the valley continued

Posted by Ed

In the valley continued

In the valley continued

Posted by Ed

In the valley continued

In the valley

Haiti Trip

I expected devastation, unending poverty and desolation. Instead, I saw progress and hope. Haiti is still the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Most people still don't have running water and electricity. Many people are still living in tents in Port-au-Prince after the earthquake. But - as we drove down the paved highway (which was only a bumpy gravel road before), I saw people working and building homes. I saw trucks hauling away the rubble of the earthquake. I saw communities of people coming together to grow trees to plant on the side of a mountain. I saw a community come together to dig a hole 53 feet into the ground - with only rope, a shovel and a bucket - because they were being given a pump and a filtration system with the money raised by Ed and with the help of Food for the Poor. Where once I thought that the only help for Haiti was in giving them food and access to water to simply survive, I now saw a society that has a future that can be self-sustaining. I saw communities of people who have taken the helping hand and have lifted themselves up. I saw people who were craving to work, to help themselves and to grow. What I learned is that we are making a difference. That the people who reached out after the earthquake and gave of themselves and their money - have changed Haiti for the better. And that the people of Haiti are not only grateful, but are taking themselves to a higher place because of it.

Self-Assessment

What's your charitable-personality type? This profile tool was developed based on data shared among several of us, that was verified by others of us, and validated by all of us, over several beers.

Are you...
1. The primary guilt ridden type (aka the weight of the world carrier)? - This charitable personality type feels guilty about most things. The guilt may have originated from multiple sources, but based on self-reports the most effective of the sources is mothers.

2. The pure of heart, selfless, lover of humankind? If you have self-identified as this type, well, nothing else to say.

3. The endorphine seeker? People who do kind acts tend to be happier. If you self-identify as the endorphine seeker, use the red "donate" button at the side in the same way you would use a morphine pump after surgery. The more you press it, the better you'll feel.
[Interesting aside: industrialized countries have higher rates of depression than non-industrialized countries, and Haiti has a far lower rate of suicide than most countries]
4. The secondary guilt ridden type? - Unlike type 1s, type 4s don't feel guilty about everything, just about indulging in American excess. If you self-identify as a #4, seek out a #2 for assistance.

5. The penance doer? - For type 5s the "give back" has to be a bit painful or it doesn't count. This should not be confused with a general type A personality. To distinguish, identify which of the following you find yourself thinking: (a) "pressing a button is too easy, it should be harder and more uncomfortable" or, (b) "pressing a donate button is not independent, innovative or impressive enough." If your thoughts tend toward (a) you most likely are a penance doer; if (b) you're likely a general type A (possibly AA) personality.

Please report your results ... or not.

On a serious note, if you are moved to give to this project, I really appreciate your support. If not, I really appreciate your support. Ultimately, if following our project energizes you to do something for someone or some cause that you are drawn to, I'm glad. Ed, that's what you did for me. Thank you.

Haiti

In a fishing village in Haiti, Haitians travel out to the lake twice a day to feed the fish they have in these cages.  The fish are raised and then sold at market, creating a self-sustaining village.

Although happy, the disparity between the girls and the boys in this village still remains.  Haitian kids can only go to school if they have shoes and uniforms.  The boys can go to school because they have been donated shoes, but the girls still need shoes to go to school.

These villagers were told that if they dug until they found water, that they would get a filtration system and a pump for the well to have running water.  These villagers dug this 53 foot hole with a shovel , a bucket and a rope.  One person would climb into the hole and hang on a rope held by others, and use a shovel to dig the dirt, which was sent up bucket by bucket.  With the money raised by our group and through Food for the Poor's assistance, these villagers will have the pump and system next week.  I was impressed by the dedication that this village showed to helping themselves, with just a little assistance from others.

At the Food for the Poor feeding center in Port-au-Prince, people can now come and fill up their buckets with water.

Our group -me (Amanda Farahany), Sheryl McCalla and Ed Buckley fill a bucket of water at an artesian well.  Kids are sent here daily to get water to take to their homes and families.

In Vialet, the community works together to raise the children and create a better life for them.

In this village, led by a strong woman leader, the villagers are raising trees to plant on the side of the mountain to stop the erosion.  In the past, Haitians have deforested the countryside, and with 100,000 trees (seeds donated by Food for the Poor), the mountainside will once again have trees covering and stop the flooding into the village.

Sheryl McCalla

The children of Vialet.  The boys have shoes, and can go to school.  This teenage girl has only flip flops.  Yet, their childlike happiness still radiates from their faces.

Ed Buckley

This villagers visit their fish in the cages to feed them.

The children at this school have running water and a well because of the work done by Water Life Hope and Food for the Poor.  Food for the Poor also built this school, allowing this happy kids to spend their day educating themselves.

This well was contributed by Water Life Hope to Haiti.

This child was across from the school, watching the kids in school getting educated.  Without shoes or a uniform, he can't attend the school that is across the street.  

These villagers met to thank us for bringing water, homes and the fish to their village.  They asked us for a community center, which would allow their kids to have a place to go to school; to have a vocational center to educate the adults; to allow the women to have a place to learn to sew so that they could have a trade and earn money, and to allow them to have a health clinic to help with their personal health.  This is the same group that dug the 53 foot hole.  I want to help them with this.  Seeing a group that takes a little bit of help and empowers themselves motivates me to do more for them.

Wednesday in Haiti

Posted by Ed

Today we visited a school in Petite Goave in southern Haiti where we have a well. The well serves the school. I met the headmaster at the well. He had brought a 5 gallon bucket. After we filled his bucket he was nice enough to let us go into each of the classrooms and meet the students. They were very well mannered and when I asked "Comment ca va?" they all replied in unison. They were neatly dressed in uniforms and very well behaved.

From there we went on to Vialet where we have a project under way. The community is digging a well. Our project is furnishing a water filtration unit. The villagers greeted us with a big party, complete with long speeches, song and coconut milk. They also showed us the well.

We then were led to the nearby lake where we were taken out in a boat so we could see a micro finance project they have breeding talapia in the lake. The Talapia, once they mature, are sold and the money from the sales has been plowed back into the village, particularly into the construction of the well. We returned to shore to more music and celebration before we left. The Haitians sure know how to party!

We went down the road to the farming community of Olivier where Food for the Poor has furnished fruit tree seedlings which will not only provide fruit but will anchor the soil and prevent erosion. There were thousands of seedlings under makeshift greenhouses. We also saw machinery for shelling various grains. Most of these initiatives were spearheaded by a single woman leader in the village.

We headed back to Port au Prince after a long and fulfilling day. We saw a lot of progress in three different quarters.

Ed

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Why Haiti?

Posted by Sheryl. Why Haiti? ·         They are our neighbor.  Haiti is a 2 hour plane ride away for many of us.  For those of us on the east coast it is easier to get to Haiti than California.  And, Haiti, being the poorest country in the western hemisphere, is the poorest of our neighbors. ·         Symbolism.  Haiti's 18th century history as the richest colony on earth and then its unimaginable triumph of freedom and independence in 1804, make it a symbol of magnificence.  If We can succeed in undoing some of the chronic impoverishment, it will also be a tremendous symbol of restoration.  ·         The disturbing history. The notion that former slaves were required to pay restitution to their former enslavers is beyond unsettling to me; and it makes Haiti deserving of special attention.  For more info on this start with these: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2010/01/14/why-haitis-earthquake-is-frances-problem.html; http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/22/opinion/22danner.html?pagewanted=all; http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=17130; ·         Need.  I've traveled in Europe, Africa, South America and North America and I've never seen anything like the poverty I've seen in Haiti.  I'm not saying it doesn't exist elsewhere, I just haven't personally seen it. ·         Why not?

Sent from my iPhone

This child walks up hill daily to carry water to his family.  We went down the hill to the stream, and back up.  The incline was incredibly steep and rocky.  On the way down, I was sure I wouldn't be able to make it back up to the top on my own.  I did - but my legs are still aching days later because of it.  When I got to the bottom, I saw an old lady filling up her buckets of water and realized that she does this every day - just to survive.

This picture shows a part of the steep incline and rocky path down to the small stream.  This young child should be in school, not having to carry water up this hill for his family.

Water Reservoir Project Gran Boulage

Here is the project we are down her to start. It is a 25,000 gallon reservoir at the top of a mountain - 2000 foot elevation. It will be fed by a stream far in a valley below. Photos are posted below. Down at the stream level, a 20,000 gallon reservoir will be built. Three pumping stations will send it up the hill to the 25,000 gallon reservoir at the top.It in turn will push the water to kiosks below, ultimately distributing the water through out the region. The cost of the project is between $130,000 and $150,000 . We have funded just over $25,000 at this time. Estimated number of people served, 15,000 to 30,000. An astounding number of woman and child hours per day, per week, per month and per year will be saved. The physical health of those who carry 5 gallon water buckets on their heads uphill (40 lbs) will be preserved. There will be fewer cervical compression fractures. Fewer falls and injuries on the perilous path down to the ravine. Children will spend many hours more per week in school. Women can turn their time to more productive work. Everyone gets clean water. Everyone is healthier. Kids get sick less. People live longer and Kids get a better chance to grow up. And because they can spend more time in school and less time tearing their feet up on a trail down to a stream polluted by animal excrement, they grow up smarter. Everybody wins. If you contribute to this effort, you win too because you have made the world you live in a much better place.

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Haiti

Today, we vistited the Food for the Poor headquarters. Each day, FTP feeds thousands of Haitians. Now, with the new water project, these same people can carry water home with them.

Delane, Sheryl and Amanda at the Mountaintop

Top of the Mountain

This is where the big reservoir will be

Amanda, Sheryl and Roosevelt, a community leader

Boy with 5 gallon jug

Site of future ravine reservoir

Ed

Cow in stream where people get their drinking water

Ed

Small child carrying 5 gallon bucket of water

Ed

Cheryl at the bottom of the ravine

In the background are women washing their clothes

Steep ravine where women and children carry water

Small Hatian boy carrying water up steep ravine

He wore a bandanna and used it as a sling on his head to carry gallons of water.
Ed

Good morning (from Sheryl), We spent the night in Ft. Lauderdale and had a wonderfully uneventful flight to Haiti early this morning. now on a bumpy ride to Grand Boulage.  Why water? ·         We can csucceed with water.   One artesian well at the cost of just over $5000 can serve a community of 5000.  In Grand Boulage we intend to build a more robust water source, a cistern.  At the price of approximately $150,000 it will serve 30,000 people.   Tremendous bang for the buck for something so important to life. ·         Water is important to life. Try going a day without clean water. Just one. On Grand Boulage the  closest water source is 5 miles away.   According to the UN the impact of diarrhoeal disease on children is greater than the combined impact of human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS), tuberculosis and malaria. The provision of improved sanitation and drinking-water could reduce diarrhoeal diseases by nearly 90%.  -The ripple effect (pun intended). Providing clean water goes a long way to solving other problems -- savings in healthcare costs; increased school attendance - esp for elementary aged girls who otherwise would be carting water during the day; increased work days.  Moreover, water sources become centers of commerce and gathering. ·       Measureable results.    With water we can monitor and measure access and results in a concrete way.  ·         We can succeed with this!

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Mountain where our reservoir will go

Ed

Water filtration unit

This unit filters 10,000 gallons a day and can provide clean water for up to 3000 per day. Waterlifehope has funded two. One will got to Vialet, Haiti where we are traveling tomorrow.

Today, Ed Buckley, Sheryl McCalla and I are heading to Haiti. I haven't been since the earthquake, and can only imagine the devastation it must have caused. The needs of the Haitian people are greater than ever. I hope that we can help, and am looking forward to seeing the impact the wells have had to those people fortunate enough to have running water.

December 2011 Haiti trip

Hi everyone! This trip I am honored to travel with two great humanitarians, Amanda Farahany and Sheryl McCalla. We leave tomorrow from Atlanta. We will be in Haiti Tuesday through Thursday, scoping out a new reservoir we will finance with your help in Gran Boulage Haiti. This cistern will cost between $130,000 and $140,000 and will provide potable water for approximately 30,000 people. We will also travel to Vialet in south Haiti to look at artesian wells we have installed there. It will be a short but intense trip and we will provide photos, video and text about our journey. We hope you will join us in our travels.
Ed

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