wfn.org | FEATURE: LWF-WS agro-ecological project in Haiti

[FRANK_IMHOFF.parti@ecunet.org (FRANK IMHOFF)]

"Now we will find our own solutions..."

GENEVA, 30 July 1998 (lwi) - The journey to Thiotte passes through valleys,
over mountaintops and along dried-out riverbeds. It's a stunningly
beautiful mountain region where hilltop after hilltop, like petrified
waves, flow along the horizon. Here, in southeastern Haiti, the Lutheran
World Federation Department for World Service (LWF-WS) runs an
agro-ecological project. The roads going up to Thiotte are in dangerously
poor condition but the spectacular view takes the mind off any risk,
leading one's thoughts into a land of myths and fairy-tales.

On the way to Thiotte is a small pine forest, a remnant of a 1960s'
state-run tree-planting project. The forest is one of the few left in
Haiti. Ninety-five percent of the tropical forest which covered 98 percent
of Haiti at the beginning of this century has been cut down and destroyed.
When the trees are felled, because of the tropical climate and mountainous
landscape, the thin layer of top-soil washes away with the first rain. As a
result, Haiti has one of the worst cases of erosion in the world. Some
scientists say it will take nature between 100,000 and 200,000 years to
repair.

Natalie Verly Raphael, a young Haitian and agronomist, works in Thiotte for
the LWF-WS project as its agro-ecological development program coordinator.
A big sign she has painted says: The Lutheran World Federation Pig Project.
A visiting donor wanted to have his photograph taken under it. Natalie
stays with the peasants involved in the project in Thiotte three weeks out
of four. Life in the Haitian countryside demands resourcefulness.

Natalie's job includes the coordination and supervision of all aspects of
the LWF project. She maintains close cooperation with the peasant's
organization that invited the LWF to work in the region. Her duties include
training of the peasants in new techniques, supervision of a husbandry
project for the women in the area, terracing, composting, grafting, giving
legal advice concerning disputes between landowners and peasants, and a
multitude of other responsibilities.

The Thiotte region is extremely poor and was hit hard by repression during
the regimes of both the Duvaliers (Papa Doc and Baby Doc, 1957-1986) and
the military regime of 1991-1994. Some 17,000 people, many suffering from
extreme poverty, live in the area covered by the project. "It's very hard
to restrict one's work in such difficult situations as this," Natalie says.
"But it isn't the LWF which has to do all the project's work. It's the
peasants themselves. The project was developed together with FENATAPA, a
national peasants organization, and the grass-roots groups representing the
people in Thiotte. They will carry out all the work. To do that, they have
organized two development committees, one in Thiotte and one in the nearby
village of Savanne Zombie, which will direct and co-ordinate the work
locally. The LWF contributes expertise in agro-ecological farming methods,
regular evaluation, and training of the local population, as well as
providing economic resources."

Natalie's work is made more difficult by the existing land distribution.
The peasants lease the land and pay up to 50 percent of the yield to the
landowners. This results in exploited land and poor-quality produce.
Peasants who don't know whether they will continue farming a plot of land
from one year to the next are not likely to spend the time, nor the
resources needed, to keep the land in good condition. Consequently every
year, the quality of the soil deteriorates and the peasants earn less and
less for their produce.

How can the vicious cycle be broken and new methods introduced? Natalie
willingly admits it's not easy: "Most people here fight for their daily
survival. Each day, it's a struggle to provide a family with enough food to
survive until the next. The poor people's worry is not what will happen
next year or in 10 years, it's what will happen next week or tomorrow! When
the poor are asked to discuss plans for the next four years, it must be
realized just how much is being asked of them. But they've done exactly
that, which is why there is hope that change and positive developments will
take place in Thiotte."

The power of example is strong

Changing old habits is difficult. Natalie says she can often see scepticism
in the peasants' eyes when they are told of new techniques. But the power
of example is strong. As soon as a peasant realizes a new method has given
their neighbor a better harvest or better product, they want to learn the
new method immediately. Local instructors have been known to have been
awakened in the middle of the night to show someone how to use a new
technique!

Natalie also tries to involve as many young people as possible because they
are more open to new methods.

Natalie talks about some of the difficulties she meets. Inspiring people
with hope and new initiative when they have seen their living conditions
only worsen over the years is hard: "The hungry have no future to plan for!
Some peasants cut down their mango trees to make charcoal from the wood to
sell at the market. The charcoal brings in about USD 18-20 but the mango
tree would have produced mangoes for 40 years, and it takes 12 to 15 years
for a new tree to give fruit." The deforestation of Haiti is the result of
just such desperate acts as this, carried out by desperately poor people.
Tree after tree becomes sack after sack of charcoal. This is how Haiti lost
the tropical forest that used to harbor a multitude of parrots and other
tropical animals.

Natalie says she thinks the worst mistake that can be made in a project
like the LWF's is to walk in telling everyone what to do. When the planning
of the Thiotte project started the peasants and LWF/FENATAPA had very
different ideas on the project's goals and methods. "The peasants wanted a
big truck. They wanted a lot of things - all of which they most definitely
needed - while we wanted a process-oriented help-toward-self-help-project
without huge investments in infrastructure. The LWF and FENATAPA
representatives knew that the project could never succeed if they started
out with the buying of big trucks and machines. Fifty years of experience
in emergency and development work around the world has taught the LWF that
it's necessary to try another approach, the peasants must find their own
ways of cooperating, making their own common investments. The peasants were
on the other side of the table, their families were hungry and their fields
shrinking with every rainfall. Maybe the discussions we had from the start
will decide whether we succeed or fail in this project. We discussed and
reasoned with each other until a common understanding was reached. It was a
slow but absolutely crucial process that took over two years," Natalie
related.

"Now we all know where we are going and everyone is willing to work to
reach our goal. Haitians are not afraid of hard work," Natalie stressed.
"The people have survived everything you can think of, from dictatorships
to hurricanes. Too often, foreigners have come here with all the answers,
only to find they were wrong. Now we will find our own solutions because we
have to!"

"Deye mon, gen mon," says a Haitian proverb. "Behind the mountain, there is
a new mountain." That's certainly true in Haiti. But Natalie has shown how
mountains are there to be climbed!

(This article was written by Erika Brundin Jonsson who works for the
National Coalition
of Haitian Rights.)

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Lutheran World Information
Editorial Assistant: Janet Bond-Nash
E-mail: jbn@lutheranworld.org
http://www.lutheranworld.org/