I’m home from my trip to Haiti, safe and, also, somewhat shattered. Everything about Haiti right now is unprecedented, confusing, and very hard.
I spent a good amount of time with the CODEP folks. Despite everything, they are caring for seedlings in the nurseries, preparing the land for planting vegetables, and putting one foot in front of the other.
They told me they thought I was crazy for coming to Haiti. They must be in a cabal with my family. Ha ha!
I think they are sort of crazy, too. How can people keep doing reforestation, something that only their children will really appreciate, when their country is a failed state and their lives are so hard?
It is in that spirit that I am writing to you today. I am asking you to join “the crazy.”
If CODEP folks can stick with their work in this situation, what can we do to truly help them?
The answer is: tools.
Seven years ago, one of our donors gave a generous grant to buy picks and shovels for CODEP. I felt like Father Christmas when I handed them out. People were over the moon with gratitude.
However, those tools have long since worn out. People have been attaching sticks to the shovel heads because the handles broke. The heads are chipped, the points worn way down. The picks have literally broken apart, the result of the heavy work of breaking rock and very hard soil on the mountainsides.
When tools are useless, people have to resort to sticks or using their hands to claw at the soil. Truly crazy stuff.
Tools are precious to CODEP. In fact, the chef-a-kips, the people who organize the work crews, routinely gather up the tools after each day of work just to safeguard them. It’s not that they don’t trust folks, but tools are that valuable, and they are particular about securing them.
With all that in mind, we are launching a fundraiser to buy a new round of tools for CODEP.
$15,000 would cover the cost of giving every worker a shovel and axe.
What a message of support it would be to supply people with the tools to do their work!
Please go to our website and make a donation.
We will treat any donations in the next six weeks as money TAGGED FOR TOOLS.
It’s a crazy world.
Thank you for your constancy and support.
It is what we can do at times like these.
Michael Anello
Executive Director
