Dear Supporters,
February has come and gone full speed. While
continuing the ongoing and demanding work of filial plot control, we have also
begun organizing food distribution among our communities for our soil
conservation konbits and we have started our annual outreach to new
potential HTRIP communities. Our
new nursery is up and fully operational, and the array of daily activity under
the oversight of Gerard Alvarez foreshadows just how busy we will be in the
coming months as we deliver our expected 60,000 tree seedlings when the rains
starts around May.
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| Technicians Alexandre Albertini (left) and Julson Pharélus (right) record GPS coordinates at one of our filial plots. |
Before we can plant the trees
however, our communities are to engage in soil conservation konbits. Konbits are already a
part of a Haitian tradition of community members coming together to work on a
project followed by a shared meal.
We supply the food for the day while the community does the labor
installing soil conservation techniques of rock walls and small canals to
combat erosion and allow for maximum retention of rainwater when the dry season
comes to an end.
With the New Year well underway, we are making
good headway in adding new HTRIP communities. Now that the work of HTRIP is
common knowledge in the HAS service area, it is not unusual for communities to
make contact with us requesting to join the program. Such was the case with our
first new community for 2012, Rondo, near the 2007 community of Titon. We have several meetings already
planned for March with other potential new communities.
When
it rains it pours, and February has brought not one, but two interns to the
HTRIP team. Ruth Portnoff is joining us for two months on her THIRD visit to
HTRIP. She recently completed a yearlong internship with Florida’s ECHO
learning about tropical ecology and agriculture – she was an asset to HTRIP in
the past, and her value is now increased many fold. The second intern, Jack Devine, is here in Haiti for the
first time. He is taking a gap year before university with Carnegie Mellon
University awaiting him in the fall. Both Ruth and Jack have been participating
in HTRIPs day-to-day operations - working with staff members on filial plot
control, research, and daily nursery activities.
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| Driver Fenel Plaisil, interns Ruth Portnoff and Jack Devine, and technician Mathurin Dorcéus after the long hike to and from Barbes. |
Ruth is taking on a few side
projects, including helping the technicians organize all the necessary
information for implementing our second year trial of shade tolerant crops.
Jack has been particularly useful in helping the staff improve their skills on
the computer. Having never used a
computer in her life, Marielle Pharèlus is already able to create basic spread
sheets using Excel and basic contracts using Word. Shellon Mondèsir is using
his newly learned skills with Excel to create spreadsheets that are helping him
manage all the tools and food in our new depot. Although they are incredibly
quick learners, the process has required a lot of patience because repetition
is the key to success of this new skill – and Jack has already proven he is up
to the task.
All of
this, with the help of our excellent staff and always cheerful interns, has
made this a very productive February. We would like to express our sincere
gratitude for your help in making this excellent work possible.
The HTRIP
Staff,
Including
Starry Sprenkle, Ross Bernet, Ruth Portnoff, and Jack Devine
