Economic Growth Haiti Project #20505

Creating sustainable jobs & clean burning biochar

by BonZeb, Inc

Project Report | Oct 14, 2016
Kiln arrives in Haiti

By Tom Stein | President

On October 29th our kiln arrived in Port au Prince. We are awaiting its clearance through customs and its arrival at its destination in Benico, Haiti.

Benico is the community where our office is located on a parcel of leased land about 3 miles from the farm in Boucantis. These are two communities up the gravel road from the town of Thomonde. They are two communities that are cut off from Thomonde whenever it rains, by the rising water in 7 streams and creeks. We ford this waterworks during the dry season with a 4 wheel drive vehicle. This is not possible in the rainy season. It is also impossible for the families we work with and employ to make the journey for about 5 months of the year.

One of the tenets of BonZeb is to use the profits from the manufacturing and selling of high quality biomass charcoal (at 40%-50% less than current charcoal) to fund infrastructure improvements in union with the needs of the local population. Our employees and their families have asked that the first profits be used to build foot bridges over these obstacles so that their children might attend school and that they might make it to market and medical clinics during these times.

This is another reason why our work is important to us. It not only supplies jobs to a hundred people, it supplies low cost charcoal to their families and in turn supplies them with structures that help improve their lives.

Please consider helping us help the people of Haiti with your donation.

Thank you.

Tom

BonZeb "Giving a hand up, not a hand our to the people of Haiti."

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Jul 5, 2016
Recent issues and your help

By Thomas Stein | President

BonZeb, Inc.

Good afternoon,

Blessing to everyone.

We would like to thank you all for your continued support and prayers for the success of our efforts in Haiti.

We would like to share with you some exciting but also unfortunate news from Haiti.

First the good news. The rain has come to the island and with it the fields have come alive with growth.

The Shively School of Engineering at the University of Portland, has finished its work with our original kiln and it is being prepared to ship to Haiti this month. This will cost approx. $5,000 for freight, packing, duties, transport and land preparation.

We now have the fabrication drawings and a couple local sources in Haiti who think that they can fabricate future kilns.

We also have two additional teams of Capstone students working on design improvements over the next school year. These teams will make mission trips to Haiti in the Fall of 2016 to see first hand the issues that face the successful implementation of the kiln. They will also study ways to allow for irrigation of the fields and water for the cooling system in the kiln. Cost for these trips usually amount to $15,000. The university has helped the students with grants and assistance for approximately $10,000, leaving BonZeb to cover the additional $5,000.

We are also exploring the use of wind and solar power to run our pumps and winches. This will cost approx. $5,000.

We have also been offered, at a price, one carreaux to establish our first plant. This will cost approx. $15,000.

So you can see why we are excited about the future and God's continued blessing on our work.

Now to the unfortunate news. You might not be aware of political situation and tension currently in Haiti, but for the past several months there has been no government in place as the two remaining candidates for president haven't agreed to the final election process. This means that many other governmental seats have not been filled, as they await a new president. This has caused much tension in the streets and increased attacks, including kidnapping and robberies. This past week our logistics manager, Verly, was robbed and car jacked after his monthly trip to pick up our payroll for the workers. He was left beaten but alive and the police were able to recover and return the vehicle hours later.

But the payroll, Verly's phone and his cash have all gone missing. This has put us in a difficult situation as we are not in the position to replace this payroll. We have over the past few months gathered a number of recurring monthly donations, which is a great help to planning and operating. We are now in need of the replacement payroll and this months payroll $1,750 and $2,000, respectively.

As we move forward we hope that you will continue your prayers for the people of Haiti and support for our efforts to make a difference by giving a hand up and not a hand out.

As I mentioned above we are attempting to increase the number of monthly donors and ask you to consider becoming a recurring donor.

Whatever you could offer would be greatly appreciated.

Thomas J. Stein

President

BonZeb, Inc

P.O. Box 3553

Gresham, OR 97030

www.bonzeborg.com

Giving a Hand up, not a Hand out, to the People of Haiti

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Apr 14, 2016
School year ending for U of P engineers but begins for team #2

By Thomas Stein | President

Office in Benico

Good Afternoon.

As the academic school years wraps up our team of engineers from the U of Portland are preparing for graduation on May 1st. But before they move on they will present their findings from their work with BonZeb to the Shiley School of Engineering and also present us with fabication plans for the kiln, which will allow us to build the kilns in Haiti, thus creating more jobs. Their presentation will be held of the Unversity on Friday, April 15th.

Our new team of 6 students is already in place and they are undertaking a redesign of the original kiln in hopes of making more effiecient and also enable us to shorten the processing cycle, which will increase production and lower the cost further to the end user.

We are also excited about our H.E.A.R. (Haitian Eductional Aid and Resources) program and the strides it is making in offering continuing education to Haitains. H.E.A.R. is happy to announce another full tuition scholarship has been awarded to Marie-Michelle, a young Haitian teacher who will be starting her M.A. in Teaching at Concordia University in Portland in the Fall. She comes from a poor family in the Port au Prince area of Haiti and hopes to be able to open a school for under-privileged children when she returns home. There is one more scholarship awaiting approval at this time for the MBA program. James, will hopefully start in January of 2017. These scholarships cover tuition only, so we are trying to raise the "fill the gap" fees for room and board, insurance, etc.

On the farm in Haiti we are greatful that the rainy season is back and the land is getting the needed water. The fields are coming alive and the growth is very good according to our agronomist James and Fanfan.

As always your generous donations are needed for the continued growth and support of these efforts. Share our story with friends, coworkers and family. The more people who know, the better.

Thank you again for what you have done in the past. We look forward to sharing more in the future.

Tom

Emma, Coleman, Lindsey and Kara

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