Back from port Au Prince

Hi Everyone,

We are back from Port Au Prince! We had a great trip along side Kimball and Donna and the VT Haiti Project gang. It was wonderful to connect and see our friends in the city but also a very challenging time as the situation there is still a mess. One of the biggest problems right now is that so many people are still living in tent camps and underneath tarps. These tent camps are all over and people are living like refugees in their own city. Some camps get water dropped off and some get food too, but there are still many that get little to no aid. Some do not have toilet facilities at all which creates a huge long term health concern. We got to team up with one of the Vermont Haiti Relief teams and work in a community hospital. As we entered the hospital there were people crowding around the doors to get in, but the hospital limited only 100 visits inside and 100 visits at the outside tent clinic. This hospital still had Haitian staff but was also being supported by a lot of groups coming from over seas. The biggest issue we see now in Port Au Prince is planning and action for the future. We got to start a small roof top garden and some urban composting as well. We are hoping to continue some urban agriculture efforts there and make it back to Port Au Prince later this year.

It was nice to get back to Terrier Rouge and see our friends here. These last few weeks we are trying to get of our projects organized before we head out. Meredith continues to work with her midwife friend, Madame William Pierre, they have been busy with laboring patients and post-partum check ups. We have many exciting updates about the Rabbit Project. Before going to Port Au Prince we carried our rabbits down to Jaden Florence, the youth collective garden which we are working with in Terrier Rouge which will be raising rabbit to complement their vegetable production. The Nativity Village finished their rabbit house last Wednesday and Makouti came with 5 rabbits to give the initial training. In addition to the five families who are starting the project, many other interested people attended, including our friend Onel, a monitor at Jaden Florence, and one of his most interested students, Stephanie aka Agronom LaLa. The training covered rabbit biology, management, and slaughter. We are very excited to have these projects up and running. We want to thank everyone who has donated so far, we truly appreciate your support and involvement, this work would not be possible without you!!!

We only have a few weeks left in Terrier Rouge and the computer we were using is now in Port Au Prince so we have limited internet access. We are not sure but perhaps our next post may be coming from the United States... This is an exciting yet sad thought, we have had such an incredible experience here it is challenging to put into words. We will be sad to leave but we know we will be back, we are already planning a return trip, so Haiti will always be apart of us. But with that said family and whole wheat bread with raw vegetables awaits us!