We start our journey in media res so to speak, having already arrived in Haiti but having been preparing for this journey and travelling here from Florida to talk with tropical fruiit growers, and then to the Dominican Republic to look for sources of varieties suited to the tropical climate on the beautiful Island of Hispaniola. I left my bittersweet farming season in Foster, Rhode Island in late October to begin this adventure of helping a small community in the little village of Hatte Cottin (Ganthier region of Haiti) to acheive a sustainable agriculture program for food, income and possibly export as a group cooperative. I have to say, I dont think that I chose this journey, as much as found myself drawn like a magnet to it. After feeling the need to be more productive, and less selfish; after emailing many groups at work in Haiti; this project with Ecoworks International seemed like the best fit of my talents and Haiti's needs. I freely admit that the amount of chance encounters and a peculiar sychonicity of events that leads me here can only be called fate! So what follows will be as accurate a description of my impressions and thoughts as this thrre months of tropical farming begins
I had arrived in Santo Domingo almost two weeks ago and slept comfortably in an incredibly quaint and antique Hotel Dona Elvira, (once in your life dear reader you have to stay in a traditional old hotel not only because it is cheap but because it is so beautiful!) I awaken to find my second floor courtyard faces onto a towering mango tree of possibly a hundred years of age! Mangos and avocado cutting sources for transplantation to Haiti are the reason for my stopover here in the Dominican Republic. Chattering chartreuse parrots are feeding on the highest mangos thirty feet over my head, noisily complaining of their unripe status as they drop pieces of skin onto the parapet surrounding the tiny courtyard swimming pool. This ancient variety seems to both flower and fruit at the same time. I am quite certain that this is something unique, and worth discussing with the researchers of the Fairchild Botanic Garden. Possibly an everbearing variety lost to cultivatioin decades ago as the burgeoning population centers of the world demanded larger crops of uniformity and predictable harvests. These modern traits are possibly less desirable in world like Haiti where food is necessary year round and seasonality creates cycles of feast and famine they cannot afford. I make a note to ask the owners permission to take cuttings with me for the first of the grafting projects we will indertake.
Just before arriving here, my time in south florida was spent careening around Miami Beach in a rented Kia wagon and flying between Homestead and (love that Florida turnpike - .50 cents to $1.25 max. - Mass Pike more like $5.00 each way!) Miami to interview researchers in Tropical Fruits, Growers of commercial production and specialists in agriculture connected to Botanic Gardens and University Research Centers. And everyone, without exception opened the entire breadth of their knowledge and experience for me upon learning of the project I am working on. Where normally hard won information is kept guarded and secret, these people went out of their way to share their best and wish for our success.
This work, to establish a small farm cooperative and tree nursery in the rural area of Ganthier west of Port Au Prince, has begun to take on a life of its own. Things are falling into place in ways that seem both haphazard and preplanned at the same time. Months ago a chance encounter at a street fair in Boston, introduced me to a miami based logistics expert for a large health concern working in PAP. His advice and experience, completely changed my thought about how to source and gather materials for this in Haiti. The director of the project, Henryka, has been both supportive and exacting in making this work in a very prescribed budget. And in a few days I will meet with the town, test the soils in the donated farmland and meet the displaced Haitian refugees who will earn income as this project progresses.
People have been falling out of the woodwork to recommend everything from personal security, to brands of mouthwash, and of course everyone is very concerned about the Cholera epidemic. I have to say I have a very simple attitude about bacteria, and it doesnt really allow for much in the way of exposure. I know too many health care professionals to be allowed to forget that sanitation and clean drinking water are critical., Reports in the Domincan Listin Diario newpaper suggest that the epidemic was introduced from some UN workers whose conditions in their own camp were deplorable. But its not completely certain who may be at fault. After the fact the work to eradicate the sources has been very thorough, but it may still be months before it is under control. Meanwhile others who have sought to volunteer are being told not to come without reason or because things are under control'.
