Dear Folks,
It has been quite a summer. There have been many disruptions that have curtailed my steady stream of notes to you. I apologize for being out of touch. The interruptions have included first-world problems (we are adjusting to a new system that tracks our contacts and communications) and the Haiti-world problems that I am sure you have followed in the news.
Yes, I am one of the few remaining Americans here. You can tell how dire it is because it now costs multiples of a normal airline ticket to fly from Port-Au-Prince to Florida. Some people pay the high cost of visas to slip into the DR and leave from there. The arguments to stay or to leave are great. My American family and friends hound me. My Haitian friends remark on my staying: “You are here, Michael. You are not like the others who left.”
Why do I stay at this particular time? The answer is complicated but at the core it is because my work isn’t done. Yes, planting trees will continue long after my presence here. But our more immediate goal is that this extraordinary reforestation project will be carried on under the full leadership and management of Haitians. It is THAT transition that I want so much to complete.
In the coming months you will hear about a number of things in that regard. We are grooming leaders. Some are emerging from the Mentoring program and they are taking off like rockets. We are planting trees with GPS support so as to manage the forests with more data and better tell our story to the larger environmental community. We are expanding the nursery base. We are improving the grounds of the Depot to make it a demonstration area and a teaching base. And much much more.
We greatly appreciate the larger community that connects to and supports Haiti Reforest. Please share each email with five friends and help us tell the story that there is much more to Haiti than the headlines. There are also very special people who steward their beloved trees.
Michael Anello
Executive Director