Let's Build Gonave, Haiti!

The video above shows you how far the plant has come.  We are excited that we successfully grew this tropical plant from seed and will be the perfect plant for La Gonave, Haiti.  This plant not only has new growth on the existing branches, but also new growth is coming out of the soil.  This plant had been put in my garden in the planter at the early part of summer and I feel really helped our vegetables and fruit plants by attracting many bees and pollinators. Go Gonave!

Agriculture is a way of reducing dependency, improving economy, and build incomes.  It has been a common theme that I have mentioned here.  Agriculture is one of the oldest professions for a reason.  Food prices in Haiti are somewhat high, especially for things like cereal, even though there is a cereal maker in Haiti.  While I don't know the cost of the Haitian cereal makers brand, buying your typical American cereals is very expensive.  Other food items are still a bit expensive.  The only way to drive down the cost is production.  We are working on ways to lower the cost of doing business on La Gonave.  While the island is a great test market due to the size and population, there are some challenges that we have to overcome.  More specifically, logistics will be a major issue.  Outside of this, La Gonave will improve it's own economy by not having to get food from markets in Port-au-Prince.  To a degree, La Gonave has to be independent of Haiti for food and supplies.  Jus

View the company website here. Be sure to check out the company website and like them on Facebook . Go Gonave!

Part of a plan that I am excited about is setting up small business programs where residents can then sell goods and services.  Our hope is that it will lower the cost of locals expenses.  All items have to be brought over from the mainland by different vendors which then drives up the cost of doing business. We want to lower the costs by supplying many different items to vendors who will sell these items.  Our hope is to also create some night markets.  This is aimed to create small businesses a goal of Let's Build Gonave Haiti, but also to create a small economy.  It could possibly get mainlanders to come over and spend money.  This is the overall goal.  We are working on a plan to get the word out, how to setup successful stands, and how the program will work. We are working with vendors who will sell items wholesale to us.  From there, we hope to then supply the items to our vendors on La Gonave.  By us bringing the items with us, it lowers the cost of shipping directly.

While La Gonave doesn't have any power plants, the discussion of many is how to provide an island of over 100,000 people with adequate power.  Some suggest renewable energy, others say build fossil fuel plants. Renewable energy seems like a good choice due to the fuel source being free or virtually free.  Things like wind and solar rely on what La Gonave has plenty of.  Biofuel and Biomass plants will allow for plants that are grown to supply the power.  The big problem with renewable energy is that they don't harness all of the energy they product.  So in other words, solar and wind tend to not supply the full net of power.  You also face problems with mother nature.  The wind may not be at constant speed needed to make wind power viable.  There could be days or weeks where extreme cloud cover affects the effectiveness of solar.  While there are benefits of free or near free fuel, renewable energy isn't always dependable.  They, at this point, complement existing fossil

As you know by now the honeybee program is starting up.  One project that we are looking forward to within the program is building an observation hive.  This hive will be indoors and will allow visitors to see the inside of the hive, without getting stung! Our plan is to have two different observation hives in the future, but will build one at a time.  The hives will allow visitors to see how a hive works, any pests that exists in a hive, and hive development.  The biggest part of the program is for teaching new beekeepers.  The observation hive will allow students a safe way to study the hive, look at pollen and nectar storage, as well as brood management. To our understanding this will be the first observation hive in Haiti.  We know for a fact that such a hive doesn't exist on La Gonave.  The general public will be allowed to view the hive as we will offer hive tours.  The main goal is to get students to view the hive and study how the hive works. Go Gonave!

One major issue on La Gonave is water run-off.  When there is a hard rain, many areas are flooded.  Water borne illness can spread as polluted water mixes with drinking water.  Most of this is due to the lack of trees, plants and grasses to hold back the water.  These vital elements hold the soil in place and allow for the water to soak into the soil and fill under ground aquifers.  This then will be water that the population can drink. Due to erosion and deforestation, any new development that disturbs the land, will only make the situation of water run-off and erosion worse.  One plan is to build a series of pipes or small canals that will allow water to run off the roofs and walking paths.  This water will then flow to dry creeks that we will build.  These creeks will be designed to slow the force of water down, and even have different paths for water to go.  To save on costs, local stone and rock will be used to line the path of the creeks.  Specific plant matter will be added s

A partner that is helping Let's Build Gonave Haiti, and Hurko has distributed sunflower seeds on the island of La Gonave at different remote villages on the island of La Gonave. What you need to understand about Sunflowers are they love the sun, hence the name, but also can provide oil, seeds for humans and chickens, but also the plant is loaded with pollen.  Often sunflowers will have so much pollen that the green leaves are covered in pollen dust.  Also the sunflowers produce nectar as well.  The plant is really a one stop shop for honeybees. By giving seeds away to different villagers, it allows the plant to be established, and then grow into a strong plant.  As the honeybee hives expand on the island, there is already established hardy plants for which the honeybees can rely on.  Even with no hives in the immediate area of the sunflowers, honeybees will explore the island to find what is within their flight range from the hive.  These sunflowers will prompt the honeybees t

I metnioned a few blogs ago that I am creating a video sharing site that will allow users to view, share, and upload their own videos, and even upload videos from YouTube.  While the site will be the same concept as YouTube, it is designed for the Haitian viewer, yet anyone from anywhere in the world can join. Well I'm here to give an update.  While the site is mostly done, we have found an issue.  While you can upload videos from YouTube and other sites, uploading your own videos is showing a few bugs.  We have to work it out so that your video will not be so pixelated. The podcast portion of the site is perfect, and we are putting the final touches on, and the site is almost completely functional. Stay tuned! Go Gonave