Delegation Departs Tuesday!

Our small group of Tech Valley High School students and community partners are departing in 2 days to work with farmers in the Cormier, Leogane on a fruit tree reforestation intiative.

After the devastating earthquake that struck Haiti in 2010, pre-existing problems of poverty and environmental devastation were further amplified. The rural community of Cormier, Leogone was at the epicenter of this natural disaster and many of its residents continue to struggle to regain control of their lives, attain basic subsistence, and to heal the emotional wounds inflicted from so much loss.

Last year, Tech Valley High School joined with Ayiti Resurrect, a grassroots collective of healers and educators from the Caribbean and African Diaspora, to work in solidarity with the people of Cormier in rebuilding their lives. Responding to the request of farmers in the community, TVHS students designed a composting sanitation training and sent their teacher on the delegation to implement the training. This work coincided with a myriad of offerings from the intercontinental membership of Ayiti Resurrect, from a mental wellness clinic to arts as healing workshops. The compost training was so successful, that Cormier’s farming association asked us to return to collaborate on a fruit tree
reforestation initiative.

During 2012 TVHS students colalborated with our partners in Haiti to design a reforestation project that included development of the optimal planting strategies, forest mapping, and business planning to ensure that the fruit crop results in livelihood enhancement for the farmers as well as soil conservation and ecological wellness for the land. The strategies are grounded in the needs, ideas, and visions of Haitians and based on successful reforestation projects in Haiti that were sustainable over the long term and benefited all community members, including the landless.

    This week, a small volunteer delegation of students and their teacher will travel to Haiti to plant trees side by side with the farmers of Cormier and to co-facilitate the forestry training. The delegates were selected based on their commitment to be citizens of the global community and to walk with humility and respect in working with our Haitian neighbors. Student delegates will take on culture and language training to prepare to be guests abroad.