Herve Delisma and Team--Leading Home Visits in Léogâne and Workshops in Bayonnais, Gonaïves

Bayonnais, Gonaïves. Herve, far right, sharing some of the technical information related to yard gardens before beginning practical experiences. Herve led a team to the mountains of Léogâne to do home visits in July, and then in August, organized and led four on-site workshops in Bayonnais where the farmer organization, MPB (Farmer Movement of Bayonnais) is working with local families. Givenson Laurent, from Desarmes, is writing.

This past July and August Herve Delisma was busy. Herve, more commonly known as "Tiga," is my associate in the MPP-FONDAMA yard garden program. After getting home at the end of June from working for around two weeks with me, Herve hopped in the project truck on July 6th  and the driver took him and two assistants to Léogâne, to begin an eight day intensive visit to the homes of yard garden participants in the mountains of Léogâne, helping the families plan the work in their yards, and doing mid-year evaluations of their work. The team, made up of Lucien Joseph (Papay, MPP) and Mathurin Sainté (from Verettes) finished on Monday, July 14th and headed back to their respective homes.

The last week of July, Herve began preparing for a series of on-site workshops in the mountains of Bayonnais, Gonaïves. On Sunday, August 3rd, he headed out again with the project truck, this time with three additional team members, Marimaud St Amour, Givenson Laurent and Lucien Joseph. The workshops that this team presented were partly to reinforce the capacities of  members of MPB (Farmer Organization of Bayonnais) already working with yard gardens, but their main focus was to introduce neighbors and family members of the current practitioners to the yard gardening ideas in a formal context--reinforcing the work current practitioners are doing as they reach out to share their new knowledge.

Tiga and his crew taught the participants how to build vegetable beds, create soil mix for the vegetable tires, care for African red worms and make organic insecticide from sour oranges, onion, garlic, neem leaves (Azadirachta indica), vegetable oil and laundry soap. The team traveled from site to site, carrying red worms and some of the insecticide ingredients as they went. The local MPB team members had to provide tools, manure, tires and space for the workshop, as well as coordinate food preparation. Each of the local team members was also responsible for choosing the family members and neighbors who participated in the respective workshops.

The fourth and final workshop was on Friday, August 8th. When I arrived early morning on Saturday, August 9th to meet with Herve's team and MPB's yard garden team, I was astounded by how positive each and every one of MPB's team members were as they evaluated the workshop facilitators. I had had every confidence that Tiga would do the best job he could and I also had a great deal of confidence in all of the team members he chose. But, being an odd sort of pessimist, I assumed that nearly everything would go badly anyway. Instead, nearly everything went exceptionally well. Viljean Louis, the coordinator for MPB, was pleased as well and that was the final and the best result. Our work with this yard garden program only makes sense if what we do helps the farmer organizations with which we work become stronger. Because these are the groups through which our Creator is winding and weaving, working to lead Haiti into a new future.

Photos by Herve Delisma and Givenson Laurent. Used by permission.

Visiting yard gardens in Léogâne. Herve (white shirt) talking with Esterne Joseph (middle, green shirt) and Libren (far left, striped shirt) about the excellent work that Libren and his family are doing. Libren is one of the second generation yard gardeners, introduced to the ideas by Esterne. Libren has a patch of medicinal herbs to his right. He also has the area planted to flowers. In the tires there are hot peppers and eggplant. The community is Kabwach in the Léogâne municipal sector of Orange. N 18.43998, W 72.51151

A new patch of yard garden at Enite Greffin's house. Enite's mother, Madanm Jean, received Herve and his team. Enite is now studying in Port au Prince, but her mother and father and keeping the garden she started going, and expanding it. This patch has basil, amaranth, eggplant and hot peppers. Enite and her family live in the community of Demye in the municipal sector of Sitronier. N 18.40741, W 72.54566.

SALT hedgerows coming up in Luxène Sommervil's field behind his house in Bwa Nèf Matye (municipal sector Orange).  18.43483, -72.48634

Workshop at Rosemarie Joseph's home in Jn Charles. Teaching participants to turn tires inside-out. Marimaude St Amour, from MPP in Papay is in red shirt on the right.

Lucien Joseph (far right) from MPP in Papay, teaching how to prepare a topnotch soil mix.

Givenson Laurent (far left, red shirt) from the yard garden team in Verettes, teaching how to build a raised bed for vegetables.

Marimaude showing how to put together materials for African red worms.

Herve (white shirt, far left) leading the group in putting together an organic insect control.

Givenson (front, center) leading the MPB Yard Garden team in part of the evaluation of the week of workshops. One of the MPB team members responded to my inquiries, "Mark, you thought we couldn't do it without you, but now you know that we can."

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.