December visit part 1 - the hurricane's aftermath

This is the first of several posts describing our recent trip to Haiti.

We visited Haiti in December to see the effects of the hurricane and to see what we could do to help the people with the project.  We helped repair homes, survey the damage and formulate a plan for the future.

Many homes were badly damaged from the storm.  We helped those who've helped the project by providing cement for them to patch and repair their houses.

 

A damaged house.

A damaged house.

Repairs were underway.

There was a great deal of erosion to the river banks.  In some places many feet of the banks were just washed away.   Much of this erosion is caused because of the lack of trees along the edge of the river.

New York Times article.

Who Will Speak for Haiti's Trees? is a must read article about reforestation in Haiti. The article describes the problem, but at the same time, offers encouragement.  

The conclusion stands out..

"But this is the moment to build on the knowledge already present in many communities about how to reforest the country."

We couldn't agree more!  This is what we do at The Haiti Tree Project - we work with the communities to help them find solutions that work for them!  And we've been successful, but the recent Hurricane has set back our project so we're doubling our resolve!