By Tom Stein | President
The news out of Haiti has not been encouraging for a while. The gang violence and political situation has been very challenging. Bur BonZeb continues to strive to improve the lives of those we serve.
Even with the temporary stoppage at the Help4Haiti BonZeb farm in Leveque we have been able to add jobs to our efforts in Bernaco and Boucanitste.
We have a small team working on our kiln and converting our feedstock into charcoal. This has been a long process, and the learning curve is hindered a bit by the lack of a few parts to our kiln. The last shipment of donations, tools and school supplies is stranded in Port au Prince due to roadblocks and gang activity that makes it too risky to have our team move them. The workers are doing their best in our absence to learn how to gauge the heat and baking time for the conversion, but they are making excellent progress. We are looking forward to the next dry season to do more batches. We are also in need of a mixer and briquetter to complete the process of turning the charcoal into briquettes that will be used for cooking and boiling water.
Our scholarship students are in school in Hinche, Cap Haitien, Gonaives and Les Cayes. They attend their classes and are progressing in their studies.
We have over 50 local farmers in Bernaco using our oxen team and plow on their own farms and the result of this effort is the need now for a second plow for our neighbors in Boucantiste.
We have also introduced new crops to the area in an effort to help teach farming techniques to the locals. These crops include congo beans, peanuts, pistachios, and sweet potatoes.
Recently we have been exploring using a portion of our land in Bernaco to start a tree nursery. The plan is to start with 1,000 seedlings this year and plant the samplings early next year. We plan to grow 500 forest trees and 500 fruit trees. The fruit trees are necessary to help with the nutritional needs of hundreds of families and also a way for them to make more income at the local markets. We hope that next year with help from donors like you to plant an additional 4,000 trees.
All our efforts in job creation, community development, education, reforestation, clean energy and agriculture are made possible by your generous support. Thank you.
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