Earthquake Sends People Back to Northeast Haiti

January 23, 2010 1:21 PM

Hundreds of thousands of people who were lucky enough to survive the earthquake, now find themselves in a crushed and dysfunctional Port au Prince. Its not surprising to see thousands of them fleeing the city and returning to family and friends in the countryside. There they will find the reassuring comfort of an aunt or a mother, but they won't find a future because they won't find a way to earn a decent livelihood. Already in Terrier Rouge, where Jatrofa Pepinye(JP) is located, taptaps loaded with refugees have begun to arrive. Northeast Haiti felt but was not harmed by the earthquake. Our farmers are busy planting and harvesting after a late rainy season. 

What we are now so very aware of is the need for our effort to grow so that we can provide much-needed jobs to demonstrate a hopeful future for the swelling population of our communities. We know we can do this because we have done our homework. For the past two years our farmers have demonstrated that the ecology of our arid land can grow a productive crop that yields value-added products that are in demand in Haiti - fuel for cooking stoves, fuel for lamps, biodiesel for generators, and soap for clinics and for personal use. We are creating jobs in agriculture growing Jatropha and we're creating cottage industries in small towns to make products that local people need. Instead of importing that bar of soap that everyone needs, we are making it right here in rural Haiti, so the money that people spend to buy it stays right here in the community, instead of heading overseas. We've demonstrated a tight demand-production-consumption loop right here in Haiti- not one that requires import from China, the US or Europe. Around northeast Haiti money talks, but it talks in Haitian creole! 

When I think about the disaster of last week, I know that the sustainable rebuilding of Port au Prince involves the restoration of the countryside. The Jatropha farmers of northeast Haiti, don't see themselves as part of the earthquake recovery effort, but they are. With the outpouring of help from around the world the disaster is being triaged, but that must be soon followed by step two, which is to increase the capacity of the countryside to support the needs of more people. 

Thirty years ago in Haiti a massive population shift started from the countryside to the city, because there was no promise in Haiti's rural areas. Young people moved to Port au Prince looking for a better life. Most did not find it but they stayed and the Capital bloated with people and poverty. Now, the earthquake has reversed the flow and people are returning from whence they came. Now is the time for rural Haiti to live up to its potential to sustainably support them. Jatrofa Pepinye is leading the way by showing how it can be done. 

With 2 years under our belt we've got a jumpstart on developing the rural economy and I'm headed down on Monday to hire more people. We're pushing out to the limits of our financial resources, but if there was ever a time to do it, this is it. If Haiti's rural communities can't deliver decent livelihoods for people, the migration to an unsustainble city will happen again. 

To do more of what we are already doing successfully, we need more money. We want to plant 200 more hectares (500 acre) of Jatropha in 2010 and to double our biodiesel, soap, lamps and stove fuel production. It is physically feasible, we have the land and there are lots of hard-working farming families that want to jump in, we just need the funds to help them get started. Please go to our PayPal if you can spare some dollars to the effort.