For so many non-profits, 2020 has been devastating and many have had to shut down. We have certainly suffered, but thankfully we have all successfully made it through all this wild and unexpected year has thrown at us.
We are so thankful for the support of our friends and donors, and also our incredible team in Haiti!
Here’s what we’ve been able to accomplish despite what 2020 threw our way:
Working with a school in the village of Canaan, Haiti, we created a rooftop garden. With 4 long raised garden beds, the children have successfully grown a variety of vegetables and herbs like beets, kale, oregano, eggplant, and more! In addition, the staff and children created their own compost as well as their own all-natural fertilizers and pest controls.
The school headmaster and all the children have expressed their delight in growing vegetables to supplement the diets of everyone involved.
We hope to expand this garden in 2021.
We took on a new urban farmer’s co-op of 5 women. In June, they graduated from our urban gardening program. Some of the women have a very small amount of space, yet they have worked hard to make the most of it. For now, they are able to supplement their families’ diets.
In 2021, they hope to grow enough to provide for their families and to bring an income.
As the pandemic spread to Haiti, new rules were implemented in the country for vendors requiring social distancing and masks. Because the farmers we work with did not have masks, they were temporarily unable to sell at market.
To answer this need, we teamed up with Deux Mains, a local sustainable factory, to get Haiti-made masks to all the farmers and their families.
We will continue to seek other ways to work alongside this group of amazing women in 2021.
The women’s farm co-op in the mountains of Haiti was able to increase the purchase price of their crop this year! This means, that a group of women is selling for nearly the same price as a male farmer – what a huge feat!
As the pandemic affected the price of supplies, we purchased seeds to sow for the new planting season.
We will be adding several new women to this co-op in 2021.
When our sister organization, Pfamily Mission, asked us to help teach environmental care and sustainability to parents in their programs, we jumped at the opportunity!
Over 3 weeks, we taught environmental stewardship/creation care, composting and rainwater collection, and how to grow food from scraps.
We are excited to begin offering this course to other organizations in 2021.