By David Stillman | Project Leader, PPAF Executive Director
Dear friends and supporters,
Much has happened in Haiti and in our project since April, the date of my last report!
First of all, please accept many thanks from PPAF and our collaborators for your generous response to our participation in the GlobalGiving Climate Action Campaign in April and the Bonus Day Campaign in July. In both cases your great support put PPAF high on the Leaderboard, and we obtained the full amount of matching funds that GlobalGiving could provide.
Your support is vital for PPAF’s current and planned work on solar cooking and biodigesters/biogas promotion and implementation at three locations in Haiti. As illustration of this, please see the attached copy of our presentation at a virtual seminar in July as part of the United Nations High Level Political Forum.
Haitians have had several terrible shocks in recent months – assassination of the president, an earthquake devastating parts of the southwest, and hurricane flooding on the southern coast a few days afterward. Government, economy, humanitarian situation, and criminal activities of gangs are all problematic at present. Fortunately, our collaborators are located well outside the capital city, where these problems are severe. They have mostly been able to continue their work in Hinche, Jacmel and Cotes de Fer.
At the university in Hinche the solar and bio course included frequent off-campus events during the first semester, which ended in May, and more of a focus on classroom work in the second semester, which ended in August. A new academic season is scheduled to begin in November. The campus biodigester is nourishing the tree nursery and garden.
At the training center for low-income youth in Jacmel, our support continues for weekly classes on solar cooking and on sewing. We receive photos of the progress being made, and the kids take home a solar cooker at the end of the 10-week session.
At the community center in Cotes de Fer, which is off-grid and designed for resource independence and sustainability, the biodigester we provided and the solar cookers provided by others are put to use for cooking gas, garden fertilizer, and a cooking class for persons aiming toward food service jobs.
PPAF and collaborators are happy with the progress at each of these sites. We also have exciting news to share.
«Petit à petit l'oiseau fait son nid» (Little by little the bird builds its nest) is a proverb well known in Haiti. Since July a colleague and his neighbor in Jacmel have been sending us regular reports and photos of solar cooking experiments. Together we designed a data sheet that captures the basics. The connections are all by WhatsApp. We have enough information now to begin analysis, and it is both useful and a pleasure to see photos of cooking preparations and results. In Hinche a recent graduate of the university often takes his solar cooker for demonstrations around town, and he posts the results on social media. This has sparked interest by leaders of a community organization that is devoted to local improvements. Could a university-led collaboration with this group expand the impact of the work overall? We shall see!
Again, thank you for your support. Please look at the attached document and photos and join in our enthusiasm!
Links:
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