Rebuilding After Hurricane Jeanne

Many of you responded to last year’s pleas to help re-build communities destroyed by Hurricane Jeanne. Thanks to your support, thousands of Haitians are on the road to recovery! Here’s how you helped:

Collaborative Rebuilding.

First, the Lambi Fund staff met with the impacted organizations to determine together what was in most need of repair or replacement. Working collectively, peasant groups prioritized what needed to be done.

Jump started the bean planting season.

Several organizations decided to focus their efforts on an Emergency Bean Planting project to jump start the planting season. Beans grow quickly in the area and it was the upcoming season for beans. It was critical that the fields were sowed and planted immediately. The Lambi Fund helped organizations purchase seeds, tools and materials to push the process forward. Eight peasant organizations planted black, red and white beans and got a viable crop started immediately. The organizations successfully harvested and sold the bean crops at the local markets. During a recent meeting with the Lambi Fund staff, the farmers stressed the importance of this effort and gave credit to the Lambi Fund for saving their lives following the hurricane. With your help, hundreds of farmers reclaimed their hope for the future and support for their families.

Provided Working Capital to Market Women. Your support helped the market women from ten peasant organizations purchase anew their market goods lost in the floods. They were quickly able to resume their market activities. These small investments made huge impacts. At an organizational meeting, the women expressed their gratitude, “You helped us get back on our feet.”

Replaced Farm Animals.

Lambi Fund gave seven peasant organizations small grants to buy 50 female goats for those families that lost goats in the floods. Lambi also provided grants to buy two billy goats to improve breeding quality. Lambi Fund staff met with representatives of each of the organizations to strategically plan how to best purchase and distribute goats to the community members without problems. Three committees have formed in each area to supervise the operation.

Repaired Irrigation Canals.

Your support enabled the Lambi Fund to repair irrigation systems for three organizations, permitting groups to continue essential farming activities. One peasant organization encountered difficulties when a large international aid organization began repairing the irrigation canal that Lambi Fund had helped construct without consulting either the local peasant organization or the Lambi Fund. As a result, they began work on the irrigation canal with improper specifications. Community members’ concerns prompted a meeting between the Lambi Fund engineer and the aid a recent meeting with the Lambi Fund staff, the farmers stressed the importance of this effort and gave credit to the Lambi Fund for saving their lives following the hurricane. With your help, hundreds of farmers reclaimed their hope for the future and support for their families. Collaborative meeting Harvesting beans A small market in Haiti organization to develop the proper approach to the canal repairs. Working in tandem with the aid organization, the Lambi Fund staff negotiated an estimate using the proper specifications and work recently began under Lambi Fund supervision to repair the canal in the correct manner. This story makes a great case for the grassroots collaborative approach that the Lambi Fund uses in everything it does Repairs and rebuilding are still underway in ravaged parts of the Artibonite Valley. We will give you progress reports as time goes on.

Thank you Lambi Fund donors for making a difference for the Hurricane Jeanne victims in the Artibonite Valley! Special thanks go to Public Welfare Foundation, Share Our Strength, American Jewish World Service, Christ Church, Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, First Data Western Union, Beyond Borders, Tides Foundation, Share Foundation, St Robert of Newminster Church, and Dougherty Foundation.