Let's Build Gonave, Haiti!

Coeur de Soula via www.skyscrapercity.com The Focus city is more than just housing.  When you look at the overall idea, it is to place residents close to jobs, and key infrastructure, building nodes along a roadway, or rail line. One of the central themes has been that La Gonave should focus on mid-rise to high-rise buildings.  The lack of heavy equipment on the island to build high-rises will be a reason for the initial focus city to have mid-rise buildings.  Within a housing area, central parts of the project will have parks, laundry facilities, small retail stores, schools, small health clinics, and even police substations. The core theme is to have very little streets and mostly use pathways.  These pathways will allow for regular pedestrian use, and keep vehicle traffic away.  By having key infrastructure like parks and schools central to the neighborhood, it makes the areas more efficient and financially attractive.  Having the core designed ...

When we setup our hives on La Gonave, most of the honeybees will be in the form of brood.  Brood are the honeybee larva that are put into the cells from the queen.  Within the frame will be some drone, worker, and queen comb.  This is the best way for the island to develop it's initial honeybees. Some may question why not put full active hives on the island.  When you look at 80,000 honeybees foraging for food, it can potentially tax out the food system we are developing on the island.  That would then mean death to the honeybee hive.  So by starting with mostly brood and a few thousand honeybees say, 8,000, you have enough that can take care of the hive, and build up the hives food stores.  Logistically transporting full hives can be difficult due to getting from the mainland to La Gonave is done by boat.  So transporting a heavy hive will be very difficult.  Having a few frames of honey, brood, and bees will be easier and safer to move...

We have ordered a special variety of blackberry that could survive Haiti's relenting heat.  While the island has favorable conditions, heat could prevent the plant from surviving or produce fruit. Blackberries are a fruit that is not only known for pies and jams, but also known for it's high vitamin properties.  In places like Seattle, wild blackberries are everywhere and as a result millions of blackberry flowers produce several tons of fruit that is rarely harvested by the general public.  In fact all of the states in the lower 48 can grow blackberries. Given that there are many different types of blackberries, many will not survive in Haiti.  We are hoping to create the correct soil chemistry, as well as reducing heat to grow blackberries.  If correctly modified we could possibly make a variety that has no problem surviving in Haiti.  While this plant will produce a tremendous amount of fruit for locals it also is a wonderful addition for honeybee...

Once of the main things that I am asked and challenged on is, if the people of La Gonave decide to govern themselves, how will this new government survive? First there are several things that I think should be in place before taking such action as creating a Special Administrative Region.  Not in any order, security, food, basic infrastructure, training, universal identification, chosen currency. Now there are many more things that go into it, but I will start off with these basic things briefly, and then get on to the top of financing the SAR. As mentioned in the previous post, security has to be created.  This is something that the local people on La Gonave support, and that leaders on the island organize.  Food is something that is needed over everything else.  Having the ability to supply some food, lowers the cost of food, keeps more money on the island, and helps prevent famine and food crisis.  Basic infrastructure is something that has to be done....

La Gonave is a pretty safe island, and the isolation from Port-au-Prince is good.  Not saying that no crime happens on La Gonave, or that Gonave is immune from crime, but overall the island is very safe.  The rural character of the island has much to do with this, as well as in the larger cities of Anse-a-Galets and Pointe-a-Raquette.  These cities, while having larger population, are still pretty safe.  This is great for tourist, foreign investment, and job creators. While safe, La Gonave should have more security on the island.  A personal security team that is dedicated to the island is the best bet.  This would be a small team that would more than likely be in the two larger cities, but eventually a security team that could expand throughout the island. Why is this needed when Anse-a-Galets has a police department?  While there is a very small police presence on the island, it isn't enough.  La Gonave, while safe, should feel safe for a...

Additional honeybee equipment has been purchased.  We are getting hive tools, and several queen cages shipped in all the way from Hong Kong.  The purchase of the actual hive boxes will be this month in Seattle.  Shipping is usually more than the hives themselves so these larger items will be picked up in person. We e many different types of plants and fruit plants that will make it's way to Haiti.  We have done some research to see how to best grow these crops and how to best make soil amendments.  Not only will diverse food be available for local Haitians, but also honeybees will make it possible for these crops to exist. Our orders are now 3 months behind due to the volume of items we are purchasing, and the distance they are coming from.  Our Seattle office is the perfect place to get these shipments in due to our location to Asia.  This drives down the cost of doing business in Haiti, which will set our cooperative apart from most of the ones ...

I mentioned in previous posts about how La Gonave could use Alcohol and/or Kerosene stoves.  The idea is to prevent additional destruction of the trees on the island, and to find ways for people to cook food and boil water. I mentioned a campaign as well to get started.  The idea behind that was to fund a specific amount of stoves, and then make those stoves available to the public, with a set goal of the number of families to have kerosene stoves.  Eventually all islanders would have either alcohol or kerosene stoves.  Both types of stoves can easily be made. After doing some research, I found an organization that works in Haiti, but based in Canada.  They have a very small operation where they build these kerosene stoves.  Now the stoves are not wide spread, but they are built by locals.  I got in touch with that organization to inquire about purchasing the stoves, however it seems like they are willing to give me ideas on how these stoves are b...

This is what the Bidens Pilosa look like today.  The other two buds came out, and the original bud, had lost the flowers.  So now it has just a yellow center.  These plants bloom pretty fast once they start, and then loose the white pedals after about 2 weeks. The next stage is for the original bud to go to seed.  One of the interesting things about the Bidens Pilosa is that it is actually two flowers in one. Stay tuned! Go Gonave

If La Gonave became a Special Administrative Region, one major way to bring in need revenue is to build outside of Haiti.  Building apartment buildings could bring in monthly revenue that could then be used to develop the region.  For example, the average house purchase in Seattle, is $500,000 US.  That is usually a 3 bdrm 1 bath house that is under 1,200 sq ft.  The average rent in Seattle for a 1 bdrm, 1 bath apartment of 6-700 sq ft is about $1,700 US per month! So by simply building a small container apartment building in say, Tacoma, which is just outside of Seattle, you can still have high rent, but on cheaper land.  Land in Tacoma is a little cheaper than Seattle, and you can find land that is literally a few blocks from Downtown Tacoma.  Tacoma even is expanding their light rail line, as well as their rail terminal, port, and University of Washington Tacoma campus.  All of which are downtown.  Tacoma is booming because Seattle is boomin...

Many folks are saying that Haiti is starting to move in a backwards position economically.  That in the first part of the year, the country was moving in the right direction and now it is the opposite.  Folks are saying invest in Haiti. Here are a problem with that.  For one, I will speak specifically about La Gonave, but it applies to all of Haiti. Cost - Cost too much money to invest in Haiti.  When you can open a business cheaper in America, and get more money, then why invest in Haiti?  From port fees to buying materials, Haiti is very costly.  Lack of skills - Skills are a major problem.  From lack of customer service skills, data entry, mechanical, etc.  Haiti doesn't have large groups of people to fill skill sets companies need. Security - Too many guns and violence on the street, will keep foreign investors away. Government -Too many people are not in the position for upward mobility.  The government should focus on building ...

So a couple of blogs ago I talked about a campaign of purchasing Alcohol or Butane stoves and giving them to some families on La Gonave.  Well after more research, Butane is near, non-existent on the island.  So that leaves propane, however propane is expensive and it also is deadly in closed areas with no venting. So that leads me to kerosene.  This is a product Haiti has lots of, and it more affordable.  Also there are stoves that work on kerosene and work rather well. Kerosene can be burned indoors with poor venting.  So I will do more research on this product and will post more about it.  My family use to keep warm in the winder by a floor kerosene tower heater.  It kept us warm and was a great way to provide heat on the cheap.  Also kerosene doesn't explode like some liquids.  The stoves are maybe $20 more than the butane stoves and kerosene last much longer than the butane. So currently Alcohol stoves and Kerosene stoves appear t...

Part of our goal is to build up the economy of La Gonave so that locals will have jobs, and money is spent on the island.  Having tourists are the things that can happen to any region.  Given that Cuba may eventually be a tourist stop for American cruise ships, could be a bonus for La Gonave. La Gonave needs to work on building up it's attractions slowly, effectively, and with costs in mind.  La Gonave has many natural resources that make tourism a sure bet for the island. Future attractions can immediately be available for locals, and late be attractions for tourist.  One idea that we will propose for 2017 is an artificial reef.  Many tourists like to explore above and below water.   Many have complained that when snorkeling and scuba diving that it is often pricy and many times they don't see anything except for some starfish.  It is key that you have a strong reef, even if artificial to ensure that you have several different types of marin...

I am thinking about launching a campaign of supplying some families on La Gonave with Butane and Alcohol stoves.  This is of course to cut down on the dependence of using trees for cooking and heating on the island.  Both stoves offer different advantages over the other.  I am in contact with a fuel provider in Haiti to inquire about supplying Butane. I imagine a small campaign of a few families and then moving from there.  The Butane stoves are the cheapest to purchase, but butane can be more costly and doesn't last as long per burn time.  Alcohol stoves are very price, sometimes 6 times more expensive than butane stoves, but the fuel for alcohol stoves is easier to obtain and much cheaper. Possibly a combination of the two stoves would be offered to some 50 families.  Once we get more details on the fuel provider in Haiti, I will have more on this. Go Gonave!

The honeybee program on La Gonave is getting bigger.  We now have another supplier of honeybees on La Gonave.  This will help the industry on the island to diversify.  By having different hives, meaning that the queen bee didn't have a hive and then it split for some reason and the hive then went on and formed another.  The bees in both of those hives are genetically related.  While not a problem, over time, this can be an issue.  To have a strong hive, you need to have a diverse group of honeybees to prevent weakness. As a queen gets older she produces less eggs, and eventually she is killed off by the hive.  As a result hives will try to make another queen, if the hive have enough bees and honey to do so.  That queen is genetically the same as her mother.  Within the hive drone cells are always produced.  These males are only designed to mate with the queen.  As the queen flies out of the hive to mate (brand new queen), she wil...

The honeybee fodder program relies heavily on the newly formed La Gonave Wildflower Association.  This association will grow and plant the various wildflowers and trees needed to support a large scale honeybee operation on the island of La Gonave. Currently in Haiti hives don't produce a large supply of honey.  The hives produce enough for them to survive and then a little extra honey, but not large extra stores of honey.  The problem is due to the lack of flowers and trees that honeybees rely on.  The use of trees to support the charcoal cooking industry has a massive effect on the environment.  Many plants can't exist in full sun, but love the climate of Haiti.  With the clearance of big trees, it affects these plants.  So with our cooperative, we have a responsibility to get off on the right foot.  The second phase of the honeybee fodder program is now starting.  The idea is that we will now supply plants that will aid in the health o...

It has been a while since I last made a blog, but trust me, I am pretty busy these days.  I wanted to share an update on the Bidens Pilosa which I planted many many months ago.  Finally the other day as I headed to my garden, I saw a bloom on the plant.  It happened over the course of a day.  I remembered going to the garden and watering.  That day there was no bloom.  I skipped a day and when I went back the next day there was a bright white flower with a yellow center.  The photo doesn't do the plant justice.  The flowers are a strong bright white, with a line running down the flower.  Then you have this yellow center that is also a very strong yellow.  I know that this plant will thrive in Haiti and it wouldn't take several months to achieve this same bloom. This plant should produce several hundred seeds just by itself.  Imagine hundreds of these plants on La Gonave?  If you notice how the plant provides great ground...