Let's Build Gonave, Haiti!

The idea of building a 5,000 sq. ft pollinator garden with a large community garden surrounding it took a major blow on Wednesday.  The first phase of the park would have been 1,250 sq. ft.  The second phase would have funded the rest of the park.  Phase 1 would have started construction in early 2017. The park was up against many different projects from around the world, and many dealt with projects that could help save lives or create jobs.  While the pollinator project will create jobs, the organization felt that while the project was worthy, other projects outweighed ours.  The encouraged us to apply again in the future. The project is not dead, and still very much alive.  The project was going to continue regardless of the grant outcome.  While the size and plans of the park have changed, the overall project will still move forward.  The idea is to have the project start in early 2017, and still contain many of the same elements of the other park design.  The size of the park

 Large development projects usually include large buildings, however that isn't always the case.  Some of the first developments on La Gonave will be built to serve the population size, test the market with little expenses, and projects that can be built cheaply. Having small buildings that serve as small bars and shops will be the way to go.  Many ideas that will go into the Focus City such as building bikeways, and pedestrian only paths make having small village style buildings the way to go.  We are currently looking at affordable ways of construction, and below is an example of an open-air style pub that we have been looking at for La Gonave. The idea with all of the development structures is that they have a radius around the structure where there has to be a foot path incorporated into the plan.  This builds up infrastructure while not utilizing public funds, but also allows the business to have their own style. Such a structure like the one below is being considered

Remember late last year when we mentioned how bike paths could be a major step forward for La Gonave?  Well we haven't forgotten how this simple path could be a way for the rural parts of the island to reach major areas such as Anse-a-Galets. While these paths can be made from concrete, asphalt, to even gravel, the costs of such a system is much cheaper and faster to build than say a road.  These paths will allow for greater access to economic development and access to services.  Even tourist can use these paths as a way to go from place to place. It makes sense to build bikeways that can be part of the urban and rural landscape.  Incorporating these bikeways with new development is one way to go about this.  Planning where these bikeways could be will be key where future housing could even be placed. Purchasing a bike is much cheaper for island residents as there are less maintenance cost and no fuel expenses.  Also having a bike lessens the pollution that motorbikes gener

We are currently putting together the beekeeping test for our first students.  We are extremely happy to be at this position.  As I mentioned in a previous blog, our partner has received the observation hive grant.  This is critical in the future teaching of beekeeping.  This observation hive is also critical in conservation efforts on the island as it will teach locals about why it is important to protect the environment. The beekeeping test will be a brief written test that will cover everything from the anatomy of the honeybee, to the type of jobs the worker bees will have.  Students will then have to pass a field test of manipulating a hive.  While this is a crash course in beekeeping we feel that these students will be very successful.  These students will do hive inspections for a complete year, and inspecting the hives 2 times a week.  With the observation hive, the students will do inspections each week.  The students are to keep detailed notes of bee behavior, hive conditi

An Observation Hive WILL be heading to La Gonave island in Haiti.  The observation hive is part of a $1,650 investment to the island where the hive will serve to teach children and even locals in the city of Anse-a-Galets about honeybees. This is especially important to me as I wrote parts of the grant.  To get the grant is beyond words.  Our not-for-profit partner Greater Good Haiti will be getting this observation hive.  The hive will be installed this year with honeybees being purchased next month. On top of the honeybees for the observation hive, we will also purchase about two additional hives for honey production which will also be located at Greater Good Haiti.  This location will be our Anse-a-Galets hub for the honeybee network.  Coupled with the observation hive as well as production hives, it will allow La Gonave to have a working and teaching center for honeybees. We still await news on the pollination grant which will build the pollination garden.  Once we get inform

We have been getting a few donated tools that we will bring to La Gonave that will help in the various projects for the island.  These tools will be used for various projects and will lower the overall costs of building.  Things like drills are very important as they can be used for the many applications we will use on the island.  From building benches, greenhouses, storage sheds, etc, having something as simple as a portable drill makes a major difference.  While it may seems like a small thing, it has a massive value. La Gonave and Haiti must have cooperation from leaders and community members in-order for the region to be successful.  The country is tackling many issues from infrastructure issues to ending malaria.  We have to have NGO's and other not-for-profits working with the business community in Haiti to make major strides. Teaching folks workshop and working with tools will go further than buying a meal for the village.  Skills training is what Haiti needs.  La Gon

We have finished the design of the first phase of the pollinator garden.  This is a very rough draft of the plan, but gives an idea of the flow of the park.  The number of plants listed is incorrect but were placed on the page to identify where exactly they will go. See the plans here: http://gardenplanner.almanac.com/garden-plan.aspx?p=694060 If we are able to get approval of the grant we applied for, this would be the first phase of the project.  As you can see, most of the infrastructure such as compost bin, greenhouse, storage shed, and water features are built in this phase.  This is due to the chance that we wouldn't get approved for additional phases.  Also if we had to build the next phases over a longer term due to financing, we would have all of the required facilities to move forward. Let's hope we get the grant!  Go Gonave!

I mentioned in a previous blog that the island of La Gonave needs some sort of fire and rescue department.  Also the need of a coordinator that would be responsible of keeping the island departments in shape.  The first part of starting a fire and rescue department is to start a rescue squad. The island of La Gonave could be potentially fatal with respect to ravine falls, children and adults being lost, collapsed buildings, fire, flooding, and individuals being trapped in crashed vehicles. A search and rescue squad would be a volunteer group that could help handle these potential issues.  While they would not be able to stop large fires, they would be able to handle small fires that start.  The startup cost of a rescue squad would be by far cheaper than a fire department.  The advantage of getting the rescue department up first is that these individuals would be trained to handle on-call response calls and train in the above mentioned issues. We all know how deadly an earthquake

While we are still just a few weeks away from knowing if we will get the grant for the pollinator garden, we are very excited to tell you about the progress we are making. The garden will be modeled off of the diagram that I am attaching below. We are ironing out details as it this will be a more oval, circle, or square shaped garden.  While it will not be exactly what you see above, it will have a very similar feel.  There will be a center path that will have vine type of plants such as the coral vine that will hang above.  The creates a natural shade canopy which is needed from the hot sun of Haiti.  Off from the center path will be smaller paths that allow visitors to see other areas and sections of plants that they would not be able to see otherwise. We are looking at creating bamboo arches that will help create the canopy.  Above you see swings and playground equipment.  Currently there is no budget for this portion, however we would later consider having something very si

We felt that the start of the New Year would be best if we go back to publishing under the Let's Build Haiti publishing title.  This is done for a couple of reasons.  One, Hurko is a company that I am working for, however not all of their projects are associated with Haiti ala La Gonave.  For two the original publishing was this title, and this is where many of our earlier supporters found us.  Since changing the name, many could no longer find us. With that said, the name of the blog will still be Let's Build Gonave, Haiti.  That name will not change in the future.  We want to make sure that we keep the title that directly relates to our mission, which is La Gonave, Haiti. Hope we haven't confused you on the change.  Go Gonave!

Well the new year is starting and one of the things that was recommended to me was that the island of La Gonave doesn't have a fire department or a Emergency Medical Service.  This isn't a surprise, and something that we have somewhat looked into.  We contacted a international a not-for-profit group to help in this process.  The group has helped Haiti before with setting up a fire program.  While all of this was on the mainland, I felt that we can possibly see if this group would be interested in helping the island of La Gonave. Our concern is how can the program be successful.  Will the program last?  One cause for concern is that the departments in Haiti fell apart.  So how can we make the fire department on La Gonave work overall.  The agency that has worked in Haiti before trained the firefighters and even assisted in getting gear and equipment.  There could even be a way to help pay the firefighter salaries.  One important step is to have someone who can be the responsi

This is the year that the first hives will be put on the island of La Gonave.  In fact we have added a counter on the side of this blog that will give you an update as to when the hives will be on the island. We will be sure to record the event as well as take photos.  Many more news to come such as the outcome of the pollinator project grant as well as the observation hive grant. We took the liberty to put the counter also inside of this blog post. Go Gonave!