Let's Build Gonave, Haiti!

The island of La Gonave doesn't have any outside presence that is on a large national scale. Many of the non-profits have a limited budget and are focused on programs that are not for the entire island population. While La Gonave lies many miles from the coast of the mainland, it doesn't have any organization that can bring focus to the island when a national disaster happens. Given that Hurricane Irma missed La Gonave (barely), is proof that in times of extreme weather, we need an organization like The Red Cross. It does exist on the mainland, and is well established. We need to get the organization onto the island and setup a small office presence there. Given the size of Anse-a-Galets, a small 5,400 sq. ft. space would be a great starting point. Having this presence will be a lifeline for the island residence when they get cut off from services from the mainland during a natural disaster. Go Gonave!

For those who read this blog, they may ask what is wrong with using charcoal to cook your food? Actually in Haiti it has lead to devastating issues that compound. For one making charcoal requires the cutting down of trees. Once a lush forest is now a desert. Only 1-3% of the original forest cover still exists in Haiti. Cutting down trees, and not replacing them leads to soil erosion, weathering of the soil from the sun, wind, and rain, and even make an area arid. Haiti lacks food and water security, most of which traces back to the lack of good soil, which traces itself back to deforestation. Is deforestation the only cause of the lack of food and water security, no. It is a major problem that must be addressed and locals must adopt a different way of preparing meals and heating of water. Haiti, like many poor countries has access to kerosene. Kerosene was once widely used and lost favor over propane and electricity. Not only can kerosene power a refrigerator but also sto...

No doubt companies like Amazon, Google, and Microsoft make major impacts on their local, state, and Federal economies.  These companies hire and train specialist that command a strong economy which trickles down to other services and businesses in their areas. Haiti is behind the fence on many advancements including IT (information technology).  While there are tablet makers and wireless companies that are in the area as well as internet connections, the country is still not active online. In fact to get a domain that ends in ht which is for Haiti, it costs about $99 US, while you can get a .com, or eve a .kr (Korea) for less than $20 US.  This barrier to entry prevents the country from being online in one instance, and puts the country into obscurity.  While there are mild internet connects in the country, mainly due to wireless telephone companies and large internet towers, Haiti must improve it's IT infrastructure. Imagine the IT infrastructure on La Gonave....

La Gonave lacks water, much like many parts of Haiti, there is no water.  Ironically there is a tremendous amount of water surrounding the country.  For the most part, the sea water doesn't help the country solve the dire water conditions. One major way to fighting hunger and chronic drought is to put desalination plants on La Gonave that can be powered by solar power. Systems like the one above can produce 12,000 gallons of water per day.  These systems can serve the citizens drinking water needs.  Given that many parts of the land on La Gonave has some pollution issues from raw sewage, or bad terrain, building a small system that can pull water in from the ocean, and then pump that fresh water into a holding system is one of the best ways to have long term water solutions. Building large reservoirs in the city of Anse-a-Galets would be critical in addressing the water issue for citizens.  In fact many American cities, such as Seattle used water reservo...

Most can agree that the lack of electricity on the island of La Gonave is a major problem.  While there is a public utility company in Anse-a-Galets, the power is only on for a few hours each day.  While that can be sufficient for some, if they have solar panels and batteries, it doesn't benefit most.  At night street vendors are illuminated by the passing motorbike lights. So many issues plague the electric issue on the island.  The geography makes connecting remote places tricky, and urban areas are often too difficult to provide power due to the lack of physical dwellings. So creativity is needed to help solve the issue on the island of La Gonave with respect to electricity.  Obviously solar power is going to be the best bet going.  Solar is getting more affordable daily, it is quick to implement, typically less maintenance, and Haiti has a large volume of sun.  The typical solar setup is using large batteries used in golf carts or tow motors. ...

There is rumor that the island has been sold to a foreign development group.  The claim is that the now former President Martially sold the island on the final days of his presidency.  Is this true? From the sounds of it, it seems as if the President signed a contract with a foreign development company.  Now the president doesn't own Haiti so selling the land isn't something that he would be able to do.  Also keep in mind that the Haitian Parliament has to vote on the issue.  Given that there is currently no president in the country, the chances of movement on this issue this year is slim.  Also a new president can possible back out of the deal. Here is my stance.  As I have been advocating for many years now, the island should develop as a Special Administrative Region that is RULED by the HAITIANS on the island!  Period!  If folks would ban together, push for a special region, then the locals can avoid potential issues such as this. ...

We found existing hives on the island of La Gonave, which was great news.  These hives however are kept in logs and rocks by the beekeeper.  This "Old World" style of beekeeping isn't effective in honey production, hive maintenance, and brood production.  We will be working with this beekeeper to supply our stock of bees, since the deal in Arcahaie fell through. While on the island I successfully trained 6 people in beekeeping with 4 becoming beekeepers.  This is a major success as I had originally planned for only 4 people to be training.  With the help of a translator and using Greater Good's Campus, we were able to build a beginning honeybee project and officially launch the La Gonave Honeybee Association. Also I was there and put up the observation hive for Greater Good Haiti.  I assisted in applying for a grant that launched made this observation hive possible.  This hive will be great in teaching young students, new beekeepers, and the commun...

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 ot...

 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 ...

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 pollut...

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 pollinatio...

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 trainin...

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 h...

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 cons...

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 i...

With the grant that we are hoping to secure we are going to improve the existing park (Public Plaza) with some landscaping as well as adding a few trees to the property.  While a small amount of the grant money will go towards the Public Plaza (some 10-15%), the vast majority of funds will go towards the new pollinator park. With that said, the parks have to be protected and cared for.  While the newly formed La Gonave Wildflower Association will plant and maintain many of the plants and trees, it leaves a very critical element.  That is having someone that will make sure that goats and other farm animals, as well as theft and vandalism doesn't occur.  Also emptying out trash bins and keeping the parks clean would be required.  Having a parks department would not only keep both parks clean and maintained, but any new parks that are added, will have the staff needed to properly take care of them. These parks are public assets and will help the local economy ...

As we are developing the pollinator Garden, we understand that the project will have to be done in phases.  The park itself will be rather large as the first of four section will be some 25 ft. wide by 50 ft. long.  The park will be designed, planned, and built by Hurko Co.  We are look at the company as it will make its introduction to Haiti for the first time in 2016. The funding for the pollinator garden will be determined by Jan. 2016.  The project is being looked at from a few different perspectives.  The project would be drastically cut down in size if the grant is denied.  Part of the pollination/honeybee highway, the pollinator garden will introduce many new types of plants to La Gonave such as the kiwano and Date Palm Tree.  Existing plants and trees such as the Flamboyant Tree would also be grown.  From a conservation view, this park will educate the public on what each plant and tree does for the environment.  Also it will stres...

The pollinator garden/park is now in the design phase.  We are looking at what features the park will have, the dimensions of the park, and just the general layout.  As you know we applied for a grant to build the park in Anse-a-Galets on La Gonave island.  The pollinator garden will serve as a hub of activity for insects and birds, but also will be a year round park.  Below is a general idea of what we wanted our pollinator garden to look like. We want to also have art features throughout the park which will add to the overall appeal to the garden.  So not only do you see insects and birds but also art along the way.  We intend on having a main path through the park, and some secondary paths as well.  We will have an onsite tool storage facility that will also act as a water catchment.  There will be an area for composting as well as education about the importance of composting.  Any vegetables or spices grown on the property could b...