A time for workshops--Léogâne

All of the workshops in August, in Verettes and in Léogâne had two main objectives. One was to refresh the minds of the main technicians from each area, to help make sure they really have some of the basic information down pat. The second main objective was to include new people from each of the communities represented by the local technicians, especially individuals from the respective homes of the technicians themselves.

Before sharing the pictures, I want to share some of the basic information about where we went to hold the Léogâne workshops. I have at least two reasons for sharing some of these walking numbers. One is what among friends I would call "bragging rights." But the more important point is to share with you a sense of the enormity of what everyone we work with does every day. Wherever you go in the mountains of Léogâne, once you leave your yard, you are either going up a mountain, or down. Our friend Luccéne has one daughter who lives in Port au Prince and was visiting back home when we were there. We asked her if she walks a lot in Port. She said with a great deal of energy, "Yes! I walk a lot!" And her younger brother replied scornfully, "Flatland walking. Flatland walking." The people with whom we work in the FONDAMA Yard Garden Program are not your average person. They are Haitians who live in and love the mountains. And they do miracles on a daily basis.

After driving to Léogâne from Verettes on Friday, August 24th, Tiga, Wilner and I spent Saturday organizing and resting in Darbonne (about 5 miles east of Léogâne). Then on Sunday morning, August 26th, Tiga, Wilner and I headed up the mountains to Luccène Sommervil's home.

From the community of Jan Jan (N 18.47308º, W 72.53545), at the base of the mountain by the side of the river "Grand Rivière de Léogâne" (The Grand River of Léogâne) to Luccène's home (N 18.43483, W 72.49342)  is a 10.6 km walk, going from about 150 meters above sea level to about 980 meters (a climb of about 2,400 feet, walking around 6 miles). This time we did it in about 4 hours. This particular stretch is why I have become more serious about trying to exercise on a regular basis.

Our first Léogâne workshop was on Monday at Luccène´s house, with 8 or 9 participants.

Tuesday we walked most of the day to get to Serge Tresier's home in lower Citronier, passing by the Catholic Church and Technical School in Bosejou (N 18.42083, W 72.50700).  Serge's home is located at N 18.41245, W 72.55061.That was a walk of 13.4 km, going from 980 meters above sea level down to 252.

We held a workshop at Serge's home on Wednesday, August 27th, with twenty participants. Half of that workshop we held under a torrential downpour, half protected by tarps that Serge had wisely stretched over his yard. Did I mention that we work with miracle workers? Half-drowned by the rain, our workshop participants were laughing, joking and responding to our questions about what they had learned before the rain started.

Late Wednesday afternoon, after the river by Serge's house had subsided, we made our way down the river to the Miton crossroads ("Kafou Miton")--actually a crossroads of footpaths, not what you would normally consider roads. There Tiga, Wilner and I caught a taxi (motorcycle taxi) driven by Serge's son, Breque back to our base in the community of Darbonne.

Thursday morning we drove (!) three or four miles to the home of Gladis (N 18.47107, W 72.57529), where we held our third and final Léogâne workshop, with about sixteen participants.

Here are some of the photos from our time in Léogâne (Photos by Herve Delisma, all rights reserved):

A beautifully laid out field of yam, corn, pigeon pea and beans. As I walk through the mountains, I am continually reminded that my ministry is not to teach people how to do good agriculture. It is to help them recognize what they already do that works very well, identify practices that are destructive and bring resources to them to help develop alternatives that can effectively replace bad practices.

Workshop participants Rodrigue and Merina at Luccène's house preparing the soil mix for vegetable tires. Rodrigue came to the workshop with Esterne, the local technician who lives about four kilometers down the mountain from Luccène. Merina, a widow who is raising several children and grandchildren, lives a hundred yards or so down the mountain from Luccène and his family.

Mark preparing the manure and water mix to feed the red worms. Esterne (left), looks on.

Mark and Merina preparing the tire for the California red worms. Esterne's wife (yellow shirt) looks on.

Wilner (red hat) teaches workshop participants to prepare the organic insecticide made from sour oranges, onions, garlic, neem leaves and laundry soap. He also taught me. After seeing this insecticide prepared dozens of times, I finally decided I better learn it straight from a maestro.

Peeling, grating, crushing and pounding to make the insecticide.

Wilner shares about the value of moringa (Moringa oleifera) with workshop participants.

As we ended the workshop, we asked participants to provide an evaluation.

Luccène (front) leads Patience down the mountain to Serge's house. Herve, my multi-talented assistant, follows behind. Patience has made our walks through the mountains much much more pleasurable, carrying our clothes and materials and allowing us to walk unencumbered. Patience also helps carry tires up to the yards and will, we hope, help us get materials up for hydraulic ram pumps.

Luccène explained her name more clearly to me this last visit. He said her name is Patience because when she decides to try to go her own way and do her own thing, we have to maintain our patience until she finally decides to go where we want and do what we need her to do.

On our way down Beausejou mountain, going to Serge's house, we cam across these neighbors preparing the grave for a friend who had died the previous day. A three hour walk away from his house, Luccène recognized at least one of the men working here.

 

Off of the steepest slopes, we walked the rest of the way by and in a series of streams/rivers. This is a Mapou tree (Ceiba pentandra), an example of the original forest that once covered the mountains and valleys of Haiti.

Starting to cross the rivers.

Working on soil mixes at Serge's home.

Me, as always, preaching the good news of red worms.

Sharing the good news of God's abundance during the last workshop at Gladis's home, Thursday August 29th,  exploring the texts from Genesis 2:15 and Revelation 22: 1-3. We used these texts in all of the workshops, using the CHE system of participatory reflection.

Third Léogâne workshop, mixing up the soil.

Wilner working the insecticides. Then the moringa component and finally, the quiz game to help participants review what they had learned. Finally, after six full days of workshops over two weeks, not to mention a bit of walking, Herve, Wilner and I were done and ready to head towards our respective homes.

A time for workshops-Verettes

August was a month of workshops for Herve Delisma ("Tiga") and me. We held one three day workshop for over 30 participants in a Catholic center in the foothills outside of Verettes and three one-day workshops in the mountains and plains of Léogâne, for a total of some 40 participants. In addition to Tiga and myself, Wilner Exil, from the hills of Hinche-Papaye, worked with us, along with various local technicians from the respective farmer organizations in the two municipalities.

Here are some of the pictures from the two and a half day workshop in Verettes. Participants arrived Tuesday, August 20th and left at the end of the day Thursday, August 22nd. Photos by Herve Delisma, all rights reserved.

Every day we started with prayer and singing and sometimes dancing.

A group of participants working on an organic mixture for controlling insect attacks. During two days of  morning sessions we divided the participants into six groups of four or five each, then cycled them through six different practical trainings over those two days.

In this training, the participants learned to make this mix, using sour oranges (grate the rind, mash the seeds), onions (grated), garlic (crushed), neem (Azadirachta indica) leaves (crushed and soaked in water), vegetable oil and laundry soap.

Wilner Exil (far right) led this session for three of the groups. Fabiola (to the left of Wilner) worked with Wilner the first day and then led three practical trainings the second day.

 

After twenty-four hours of letting the various ingredients "ferment," the participants mixed everything together, passed it through a sieve to remove most of the solids and stored the liquid in clean gallon jugs. To apply to vegetables, one gallon is diluted with four gallons of water.

The second practical training we taught was making the soil mix for the tires. In soil mixing the participants learned to pass the soil, sand and animal manure through screens, then mix it in proportions that make a friable texture. Alexis Paul Louinord (far right, orange shirt) taught two sessions of soil mixing, then worked with me on red worms. Paul is one of the leaders in the Verettes farmer's movement, ODEVPRE.

Givenson Laurent (far right) taught participants the techniques for making a top-notch raised vegetable bed. Givenson does a fine job of growing vegetables in his own yard, a long narrow piece of land in the town of Desarmes, east of Verettes. Givenson is also a member of the Verettes farmer's organization ODEVPRE.

Red worms! Marimaude St. Amour (right in red shirt) led this workshop showing participants the particular techniques for working with African red worms (Eurdrilus eugeniaie) in old tires. The process Marimaude was using involved creating something like a nest, using weeds and tree leaves, then covering that with water-logged manure. To make sure that we would have enough animal manure for all of the practical trainings, we filled 18 sacks in the hills of Papay-Hinche, tied them onto the roof rack of the project's Toyota Landcruiser ("ambulance" style, versus pickup) and hauled them for two and a half hours to Verettes. People along the roads we travel are often amused by the things we haul. Marimaude came from the Road to Life Yard crew at MPP (Peasants' Movement of Papay) to help us with the workshop.

Here participants are getting experience with a new technique we have just recently invented, using pieces of 4" drainage pipe filled with mortar (rough sand and cement), instead of wood posts, to make the benches to hold the vegetable tires. Tiga worked with folks on this for three sessions, then Marimaude took over.

Here are participants learning to make "fuel from the fields charcoal." This is a technique developed by the D-lab at MIT. In this process, we use scrap bits of organic material, such as dried leaves from breadfruit trees, cornstalks, dried banana leaves, coconut husks, etc., to make lightweight charcoal pieces. These pieces are then crushed into a fine powder, mixed with a binder such as cassava starch and two or three other ingredients, then pressed into a mold to form them. Finally, they are left to dry for a couple of days before using them. Here is a link to a .pdf file explaining the process: Fuel from the Field Charcoal

In the yard garden context, we taught participants how to use fuel from the field charcoal to create biochar. To turn the charcoal dust into biochar, we mixed it with red worm manure (vermicompost) and urine.

I (far right--white guy) led this workshop twice, then Lucien Joseph (left, black cap) took over. Lucien Joseph is another member of MPP's Road to Life Yard crew who came with us to help lead the workshop. Lucien also travels with Tiga periodically when I cannot be present to help monitor the project and provide technical assistance.

Marimaude (far right) leading the cement bench post workshop.

During the afternoon sessions, we worked on more theoretical information which included studies of three different Biblical texts. These sessions were based on my training in Community Health Evangelism that I am receiving in the Dominican Republic as part of Jenny's community health work in Batey 7. Check out the Batey 7 blog: Batey 7

Our wrap up for the workshop included a game we've invented as part of this yard garden program. Participants sit in a circle and we go around, one by one, and offer them a choice of any of the different workshop themes. Then the leader for that particular workshop asks a question worth 3 points. The respondent gives their best answer and the particular leader decides if the answer was worth 0, 1, 2 or 3 points. If the first respondent doesn't get the answer quite right, the questioner opens it up to anyone in the group who thinks they can complete the answer, and that person gets whatever points remain. In the end, each person gets a special applause, like the applause of the rain, or the train applause, etc. Also something we learned from our CHE trainers in the DR, Flor and Hiran de Leon.

Saintville Home Garden and Rainwater Catchment Project

October 20th, 2010. Agronomist Alexander Placide (center, by the table) leads APS in a reflection on the value of good yard stewardship.


On October 20th, 2010, the farmer's association APS (Asosyasyon Peyizan Senvil--Farmer's Association of Saintville) met to mark the start of a new project to improve production in their home gardens. The project, which they titled Home Gardens--Cistern Construction, was put together by members of the community, with technical assistance from crew members of MPP's Road to Life and Moringa project. APS's project was approved by the Presbyterian Hunger Program (PHP) and funds came from three church communities--Second Presbyterian Church of Newark, Ohio, the 2010 Vacation Bible School of the Amesville-New England Cooperative Parish (Amesville, Ohio) and White Memorial Presbyterian Church (Raleigh, North Carolina).

The project was originally inspired by Agame Elfraïs. Agame is a member of MPP and works on the crew responsible for the Road to Life Yard and Moringa project. Agame began growing vegetables in his own yard in 2006. In 2007 and 2008, Agame began working with community members who saw what he was accomplishing, and wanted to try some of the techniques out themselves.

Most of the community members had already received training from MPP in vegetable production, and many were producing vegetables during the dry season in small plots of irrigated land located below an artificial lake. Working in their yards was a way to take what they'd learned already and apply it together with new techniques that could increase their total production. They asked for more training in March 2010, and that workshop led to them developing the current project, which they submitted in August 2010.

Walter Estelot, Chrisla Felix and Agame (left to right), three of the leaders in APS, Saintville's community group.

The project that the group designed included funds for more training, and for tools. The group purchased watering cans, one for each family. They purchased five sets of tools, one set for each of six families. Each set of six families is helping each other build their cisterns and install their gutters.


Agame and other group leaders take advantage of a work day to hand out the watering cans to a member from each of the families.

When I visited Saintville on June 11th, this year, fifteen of the cisterns had been completed and were full of water. The project is changing people's lives. People have more tires in their yards, and the tires are producing more. Several families have begun working with red worms, to produce their own high quality compost. The most impressive changes are in Chrisla Felix's yard.


Agame and Chrisla work on her cistern. One huge advantage of this type of cistern is it is very easy to learn. Home owners can learn the process from building their own rainwater catchment system, which means they can take responsibility for repairing the cistern as needed.


I remember three years ago, when I first visited Chrislat's yard with Agame, she had three or four tires with some scrawny hot pepper plants surrounded by thorns stuck in the soil to try and keep the chickens out. Now Chrisla's yard is an abundance of food growing all around. Tires in the front with vegetable beds in between, and a separate patch of eggplants behind the house, with Moringa trees scattered throughout her corn field.

Chrisla with her completed cistern and gutters, and a bench of five brand new vegetable tires that weren't there six months ago when Jenny and Keila and I left Haiti. (Photo by Agame Elfraïs)


During my visit, I purchased a handfull of peppers and parsley from Chrisla, a total of HTG 50.00 (about $1.25).Walter, who was visiting houses with Agame and me, noted that it would have taken selling 14 pounds of corn to earn the same amount of money. Walter said it was time for the farmers to focus on crops like vegetables for selling in the market, instead of depending on corn.

Agame and Altene Estelot, Agame's associate in providing technical expertise, are working hard together with the families to get the next fifteen cisterns built before the dry season starts in October or November. With some luck and a good deal of sweat, all thirty families will start out this dry season with between 2000 and 2300 gallons of water for their yard production systems.


Chrisla with her original vegetable tires, filled with sweet peppers, parsely, garlic chives and radishes.

Chrisla with tires, and egglplant growing in a vegetable bed she prepared underneath. Photo by Agame Elfraïs.

Agame (in front) and Walter (at right), checking out the cistern at Walter's son, Altene Estelot's house. Altene and Agame together are providing the technical expertise for building the cisterns, as well as providing advice on problems with the production.

Orimène Cadet, another member of the Association of Farmers of Saintville, dipping out water from her cistern to water her vegetable tires. Photo by Agame Elfraïs.

Jean Rony and me checking out his cistern behind his house. Jean Rony is also starting to work very productively with red worms. Photo by Agame Elfraïs.

If you would like to help communities like Saintville continue to improve their lives through good yard stewardship, here are some things you can do:

First, continue to read this blog and contact me if you want more information. I do eventually always read comments on the blog. If you want to leave me an e-mail address, but don't want the address published online, you can let me know that. I monitor all comments before publishing them.

Second, keep the work of MPP, and specifically the Road to Life Yard crew, in your prayers.

Finally, if you want to help financially, here is what you or your congregation can do:

1. Make out a check payable to: Presbyterian Church (USA).

2. On the subject line of the check, please write the account number: H000007 (H, five zero’s, 7).

3. Include a memo or short note that the donation is for the “MPP Road to Life/Cisterns, Tools and Training” in Haiti.

4. Address the envelope to PC(USA), Individual Remittance Processing, PO Box 643700, Pittsburgh, PA 15264-3700.

5. Send a copy of the memo to: Eileen Schuhmann at 100 Witherspoon Street,
Louisville KY 40202.

6. Leave a note on this blog to let me know about the donation so that I can help provide follow up.

Thanks for checking us out!