Help 500 Rural Haitian Families Fight Hunger

Thank you to all of our generous donors who make the Feeding Families project possible. We are excited to highlight an important project milestone: members of the project’s target community are now training surrounding communities with the knowledge and resources they have received.

In June, July, and August, the Goat Committee in the community of Grand Boulage carried out 4 training sessions in the surrounding communities of Noyau, Plaisance, Marin, and Maroutière, training an average of 16 people per session in goat production. Such locally-available training is invaluable in Haitian communities that are often difficult to access due to mountainous terrain, poor road conditions, and muddy rainy seasons.

The new trainers have benefitted from a collaborative effort, with knowledge and resources coming from Makouti Agro Enterprise and Farmer to Farmer volunteers, who carry out this project’s activities, as well as the Friends of Haiti and Food for the Poor. In July, FTF volunteer Myriam Kaplan-Pasternak along with Makouti technical officer Anderson Pierre conducted 10 home visits to troubleshoot and diagnose problems with goats that were dying. In Grand Boulage, they checked 23 adult goats and 21 kids. Dr. Pasternak reported that the goats they saw looked better – people are now giving them water and some are giving them salt – and there are fewer deaths than there were previously.

Still, many goats do not have enough access to the water, babies are being born during storms without protection, and there have been a number of health problems. The Goat Committee believes that many animal losses in the first year were due to negligence and ignorance, highlighting the necessity and importance of the local training sessions.

As the Global Giving project page asks “Why is this project important?” you and others may continue to ask this question to yourself. One of the responses on our webpage is Potential Long Term Impact. Since long term impact is achieved through the members of the community, this milestone is an important one. Having reached this important stepping stone, there is much work that remains to be done to ensure that these communities will be able to produce a sufficient quantity and variety of food for their families. Especially as you are preparing for the feast of Thanksgiving, and since this project’s funds are being matched at 30 – 50% through December 1, please consider making a donation to help our neighbors in Haiti feed themselves in a sustainable way.