A quick update from CODEP, and why your support matters right now.
Dear friends,
There is a lot happening at CODEP right now.
Some of it is reforestation, of course. That is the heart of the work. But as anyone who has spent time in Haiti knows, planting trees is never just about the trees. People need enough stability to keep showing up for the long work.
That is what we are seeing now.
The community gardens are active, and the CODEP compound has its own vegetable garden producing peppers on a regular basis and next month cabbages will be ready to harvest. These gardens are not separate from reforestation. They help make it possible. They support the workers, strengthen the soil, and keep families connected to the land.
The CODEP store has also opened. It is selling things produced by the community, including black beans, vegetables in season, peanut butter, chickens, and other local products. It is a modest beginning, but an important one. A local store means people do not always have to travel down the mountain to shop, and it gives CODEP members another way to turn their work into income.
Then there is the chicken project.
Some of you may remember the old fishponds. They were part of a hopeful effort years ago, before the 2010 earthquake damaged them badly. For a long time, those cracked concrete ponds sat there as a reminder of something that did not get to become what we hoped.
Now they are being used for chickens.
It is not simple. The first round taught us a lot, including some hard lessons about transport, feed, care, and cost. But the idea still makes sense. Chickens can provide food for the community and eventually become a source of income as well.
We are also seeing growth in leadership. Young people coming through the Reforestation Mentorship Program are beginning to imagine how they might help start and organize new zones. That is a big deal. A new zone means a new group of people ready to work, plant, learn, and carry the CODEP way into another area.
This is the kind of progress that is easy to miss if you only look for big announcements. It happens in gardens, in meetings, in small businesses, in the careful training of young people, and in the decision to make use of what is already there.
That is why your support matters so much.
Your donations help pay for the practical things that keep this work going. If you are able, please consider making a gift today.
Your support helps CODEP keep reforesting, keep training, keep feeding families, and keep building something that can last.
Donate here:
https://www.haitireforest.org/donate
With much gratitude,
Haiti Reforestation Partnership