Haiti

David Moore — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 00:27:15 +0000

Two of Haiti's most common proverbs are: "Together we are strong" and "Behind the mountains, more mountains." Both come to mind in Grassroots International's work with our Haitian partners. Indicators point to dire poverty: 10 percent of Haitian children die before their fifth birthday, and 81 percent of the rural population lives in absolute poverty.

Haitians Deserve Nutritious Rice

Salena Tramel — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 22:05:10 +0000

Last August, just before Hurricane Fay smashed into Haiti, I spent the day with MOREPLA (Mouvman Revandikatif Peyizan Latibonit-Peasant Movement for Justice in the Artibonite), a local movement of rice producers that works with the coalition of Grassroots International's partner PAPDA (The Haitian Platform to Advocate Alternative Development). Leaders from MOREPLA explained to me that rice producers in the Artibonite potentially could have the capacity to provide livelihoods for more than 200,000 people in a department (state) that suffers a 78% unemployment rate.

Haiti: Nutritional value of World Food Program rice in question

Mon, 15 Dec 2008 22:01:53 +0000

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Haiti Support Group challenges UN World Food Program

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Haiti is going from Catastrophe to Catastrophe

Salena Tramel — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 20:42:58 +0000

As Haitian waters recede - at least for now - aid and relief efforts are also diminishing for the nearly one million people who are in desperate need of emergency food. The wounds of this reality are particularly raw in the countryside where the majority is struggling to survive.

Movement Groups in Haiti Unite for Action Post-Hurricanes

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 02:18:50 +0000

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Haiti's Deadliest Hurricane Season

Lindsay Shade — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 15:47:57 +0000

Haiti is once again confronting an emergency as Hurricanes Fay, Gustav, Hanna, and Ike have ripped through the island one after the other over the past weeks. Grassroots International's partners on the ground expect the damage to far exceed past natural disasters. We need to act now to help our Haitian partners and their communities rebuild.

Dispatch from Haiti: War on Rice

Salena Tramel — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 02:29:36 +0000

The Artibonite region is Haiti's rice bowl, and it could not be clearer as I traverse this lush valley. The rice fields rival those of Southeast Asia, spanning a breathtaking distance and then finally dissolving into a steep ring of mountains. A peasant working the fields is an understandably common sight around here. The more disturbing (and even more common) sight, however, is the rice imported from the US ("Miami rice") that is sold to Haitians in local marketplaces. It is unthinkable that Haitians would be forced to buy rice from the North at prices that they cannot afford in the very place they grow it.

Dispatch from Haiti: "We are Forming Ourselves"

Salena Tramel — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 02:03:53 +0000

"N'ap forme" are the first words that I hear after stepping into an open-air training center high in Haiti's Central Plateau after a nail-biting plane ride across the mountains in a four-seater Cessna. The training center is run by the Peasant Movement of Papay (MPP), a Grassroots International partner. N'ap forme is the Kreyol way of saying we are training, literally, we are forming ourselves.

Rocks in the Sun

Salena Tramel — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 00:00:52 +0000

Haiti's fight for basic human rights often finds its way into the Kreyol language's vivid and plentiful proverbs. Sak vid pa kanpe means that a hungry person cannot do anything – literally, an empty sack cannot stand up. Of the many root causes of the current food crisis that is rendering the poor majority of Haitians unable to feed them themselves, the lack of water rights is of utmost significance.

A focus group of Haitian woman in Port-de-Paix concluded that the water problem is what often causes massive hunger. They reported that the water problem is causing "people to die in its hands."

Life, Hope and Development: the Final Installment of Grassroots International's Journey to Haiti

Nikhil Aziz — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 14:02:23 +0000

From Jacmel on the tropical blue Caribbean coast we drove up into the southern mountains to Cap Rouge. The main road had been washed away by floods and the route we took was a deeply potholed mix of dirt and gravel making for a very bumpy ride. We were in a rented SUV but saw scores of mopeds (mini motorcycles) carrying anywhere from 3 to 5 people along with their goods navigating the steep climb up the mountains with far more dexterity and speed than us.