This was a month of connections, both new and renewed. With Rosedanie in the U.S., teleconferencing has enabled her to stay current with the activities of the Haiti Committee. There have been some shifting alliances, with Tambour Creole Artist’s Collective moving out from under our umbrella. We wish them the very best as their group grows and changes. We are happy to have had the benefit of their creativity at the HHN Center.
Meanwhile, a connection with one of Bio-char’s (www.carbon-roots.org) founders, Ryan Delaney has been renewed. He will be at the HHN Limbe’ Center next month and will assess the suitability of adding a bio-char system to our growing resource recovery efforts in the garden area.
Dr. Richemond Jean Baptiste has been in touch with us regarding progress on our plan to begin a public health education initiative in the Limbé area. Dr. Tiffany Keenan of Haiti Village Health, headquartered in Bas Limbé will be joining with us on this project.
We mentioned in an earlier post that local supporter Gwen Stamm was making and canning preserves to be sold in support of HHN at an Artisan’s Faire in December. Rosedanie’s original vision for HHN was to build a food processing facility which would employ local people, preserve fruit that often goes to waste, provide nourishment to an under-nourished population, and help sustain programs in health, nutrition, and literacy at the center. We have held onto this vision and continue to move closer to it in a variety of ways including establishing permaculture gardens, exploring various low tech ways of drying fruit, and looking to other organizations in Haiti for successful food processing models. We are learning patience as we take one step at a time.
Board News: It was with great reluctance and regret that on September 11th we accepted the resignation of board member Nathan Yoffa. Nathan brought to us clear thinking, straight forward problem solving, a remarkable level of organization and efficiency, and a very big heart. We thank him for a year of committed, active service and wish him the very best. He is missed.