SEA CONTAINER ARRIVES IN HAITI!
Volunteer, Dennis Buckingham and board member, Bill Elmer, preparing our first farm equipment to be loaded on a 40-foot container to be delivered to the coast and shipped to Haiti this past January. These 10 totes will provide 5 aquaponic units for the orphanage we are working with.
In December, the director from Haiti visited our headquarters to learn how our systems work, in raising crops and making fertilizer. It is our dream to make the first farm at the orphanage, then later one for teaching native Haitians how to be sustainable. Our vision is to start vocational training centers to provide not only food, but jobs through micro farming, aquaponics, and fish breeding. As most of us know, the poor of Haiti are among the most needy in the world. They are basically in a welfare state of mind. Thousands supplement eating mud cookies just to satisfy hunger pains. The need for Haiti is a chance to learn sustainability.
The sea container arrived in Haiti in April 2013. After holdups through customs our container has been released and goods are being dispersed! Many people do not get shipments into Haiti without delay, and many never make it! However, we are working with a group of faithful leaders who have sent containers into this country for 36 years and “every single one” has made it through!
THE CONTAINER WAS FULL OF: medical supplies, 14 tons of red beans, a full dental suite, pallets of food for infants to combat malnutrition, and ten of our tanks for aquaponic units. Nothing was missing, nor did we have to pay extra costs!
It was a happy day for our director as he cooked hundreds of pounds of beans and rice. Adults and children stood in line for hours in Cite de Soleil. These are kids that live in tents! Some of them have their only set of nice clothes on. Many orphanages, vocational schools, and non-profit organizations that need encouragement right now will benefit from the contents. Most of the supplies will be gone in months, but some will last for many years to come.
