Aquaculture workshop in Leogane, Haiti
There are eight inter-related community projects currently underway:
- Aquaculture: Development of an aquaculture farm for growing tilapia to help remedy the protein-deficient diet.
- Clean Water/Sanitation: Cholera is a fact of life in a country where clean water and adequate sanitation are a luxury. At the height of the 2010/2011 epidemic Team Noramise recruited volunteers to go door-to-door in Limbe’ teaching simple methods for preventive sanitation, providing individual water filters, and a method for making a simple rehydration solution and chlorine. This effort continues with approximately 60 home visits per week with some neighbors participating by contributing salt, a key element in purification of water.
- Education: Ongoing support for the students and staff at the Bethesda free Elementary School, including the initiation of an ‘English as a Second Language’ (ESL) program.
- Food Preservation: For the past two years an Eastsound woman has picked local fruit, made and canned jam, and sold it in support of our organization. Now we have twenty woman at our center in Limbe’ who are working to create a sustainable local industry that will help support their families. The fruit for jams and jellies is plentiful and often rots on the ground. The market for these products is reliable.
- Permaculture: Development of farm and garden sites (some commercial) with the emphasis on Permaculture. The garden at the HHN Center is a show piece for both visitors and the neighborhood. It incorporates all the dictates of permaculture and is providing food and inspiration for the community.
- Micro-Lending: Loosely based on the program of the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, loans averaging $50 will be made to local cooperative groups who demonstrate the ability to conceptualize and initiate projects that will improve their quality of life and that of the community. Interest on these loans will be collected in the form of requiring community service which is consistent with our projects and mission.
- Facility Construction: Our interest in building schools and food preserving facilities is strong and will grow from current efforts taking place at our center.
- Waste Management: Helping Hands Noramise is committed to generating no waste. Each of our projects will be ‘closed circle’ projects with everything recycled or reused.
You can also read a detailed, chronological account of the progress here.
