Baking with Breadfruit in Haiti

CTI volunteers Camille and Natalie George

CTI volunteer Natalie George is blogging from Haiti, where she’s joined her mother Dr. Camille George, CTI Board Member, Program Manager and Professor at the University of Saint Thomas. 

The George’s are in Haiti helping locals take advantage of an underutilized food source: Breadfruit. Breadfruit grows in abundance in Haiti, but spoils just days after ripening. CTI has developed a set of tools that villagers can use to preserve breadfruit as affordable flour.

Natalie and Camille are in Port-au-Prince, helping Haitians open a breadfruit bakery and showing “field to fork” proof that breadfruit can be harvested, transformed into flour, and processed into delicious and nutritious food products.

Baking sans Power 

What I take advantage of in my everyday life is the sheer luxury of electricity. It seems so normal to have a fridge that works all the time, and a light switch that turns on no matter what, however in Haiti things do not work the same way as they do in wealthier countries.

In Haiti, the government rations the use of electricity, and though every day varies, on average it will turn off around 9 AM and back on again around 7 PM. Some people have personal generators that they use to keep it on, and bigger companies, like our hotel, have some sort of deal with the government that allows them to use a small amount during the power outages. But overall, the average Haitian does not get any electric power within those hours.

So when we lost power the first day we began experimenting with recipe's in the bakery, we had to think on our feet. Not content to sit around twiddling my thumbs, I put on my leadership pants and rallied up the few of people left in the bakery (which quickly grew into a group spectacle) and we figured out how to get the propane working in the stove and oven, so we embarked our next quest.

Haitian Rum Cake

After some time of fiddling around with the propane stove, it was time to bake, and we decide on baking the Haitian cake, which includes rum and raisins. The recipe and baking turned out to be a GREAT success! They mini cakes were SUPER delicious and we all felt like we were some official top chef bakers (or maybe just me…). I didn’t want to stop there, especially since we had a few hours to kill AND a working stove. So, I decide that we should make another pizzelle batter and then try making cookies out of it.

Haitian Rum cake made
with breadfruit flour

With my new found baking confidence, I start mixing away and completely get ahead of myself and put in ¼ cup of salt instead of ¼ tsp of salt… needless to say the Haitian women helping me thought it was hilarious and they started scooping it out. Those magic makers were able to save the batter and we continued on our cookie quest. The cookies were too hot to taste right away, so we decided to let those cool while we made another batch of the Haitian rum cake.  This time, we added molasses to see if it would taste sweeter since the first batch some people commented that it still contained the “breadfruit taste” which is a strange bitterness. Again, a great success!

Volunteers help Haitians find a local solution to hunger: Breadfruit flour

Volunteers Arrive in Haiti

CTI volunteer Natalie George is blogging from Haiti, where she’s joined her mother Dr. Camille George, CTI Board Member, Program Manager and Professor at the University of Saint Thomas.

The George’s are in Haiti helping locals take advantage of an underutilized food source: Breadfruit. Breadfruit grows in abundance in Haiti, but spoils just days after ripening. CTI has developed a set of tools that villagers can use to preserve breadfruit as affordable flour.

Natalie and Camille are in Port au Prince, helping Haitians open a breadfruit bakery and showing “field to fork” proof that breadfruit can be harvested, transformed into flour, and processed into delicious and nutritious food products.

First Impressions

After departing the airport, we start driving to our hotel and I get my first glimpse of Haiti’s capital city. It reminded me a lot of Mali in West Africa, but with its own twist. The roads are half-paved, half-broken rubble and, the further you get into the city, the more broken and choppy the roads get. There are people EVERYWHERE and like in Africa, many of them transport their goods on their heads. However, their clothing surprisingly resembles that of Americans.

The poverty level is extremely noticeable, more than I have ever seen in my life. I didn't think that the earthquake’s destruction would still be evident, but it definitely still is. There are severely broken buildings with giant boulders of concrete all about, but there are also buildings right next door which are completely fine.

I notice that there isn't a road sign in sight. Instead, there’s spray paint on the concrete walls with a name and some numbers. The roads are so twisted I have absolutely no clue how people know where to go!

Each building is surrounded by a giant concrete wall and then a huge metal door. To get inside people just beep a few times and then someone comes and opens this massive metal gate door. The concrete walls all either have barbed wire or cleverly have broken glass bottles along the top of the wall to discourage people from scaling them.

Day 1

Breadfruit Bakery

On our first day, we wake up at 6:30am and it’s already 90 outside. Our friend Brulan navigates us through the twisty rocky roads, and we approach a random concrete wall and he beeps ever so lightly and someone opens the door.

The bakery itself is a lot larger than I expected it to be. We walk in and meet the staff and start working away. We decide to try the chocolate pizzelle recipe and it does not work as planned. We didn’t have any oil spray so the batter kept sticking to the iron which resulted in some ugly chocolate bits. We try a variety of things such as putting butter on it, putting oil on a rag and then rubbing it on but nothing seemed to work. So we decide to try a new approach and then… the power runs out.

How will we run a bakery without electricity? Stay tuned for an update!

Tackling Hunger with Breadfruit Tools

Breadfruit is a high-carbohydrate fruit that grows in abundance in tropical nations that struggle with hunger and poverty. Breadfruit has been long recognized for its potential to alleviate hunger in countries like Haiti, but there's just one problem: fresh breadfruit rots in 48 hours.

But if poor communities were able to make flour out of breadfruit, locally produced breadfruit flour could replace expensive imported cereals and increase food security.

Compatible Technology International (CTI), with help from a team of engineers, researchers and breadfruit experts, is developing a set of tools that will allow villagers to process breadfruit into shelf-stable flour.

Shredder
CTI has designed a manually-operated shredder that shreds breadfruit into small strips that are optimally shaped for quick drying. Engineers at CTI and the University of Saint Thomas (UST) reached the current shredder design after testing other concepts with communities in Haiti.

Drier
After they are shredded, the breadfruit strips must be dried quickly to prevent spoiling. To source the best technologies for this crucial step, UST recently organized and judged a contest challenging teams to develop a simple, effective and affordable breadfruit drying structure.

The first place winner of the contest is a team of long-time CTI volunteers, and second place is a team from the University of California, Davis. In March, both teams will travel to Hawaii to present their designs at the Breadfruit Institute, a division of the National Tropical Botanical Garden.

Grinder
Once dried, breadfruit strips can easily be ground into flour by villagers using CTI's grinder. The breadfruit processing system will go through rigorous tests at the Breadfruit Institute before being deployed in the Caribbean.

Breadfruit flour could be an important microenterprise opportunity and an untapped source of nutrition for food insecure communities. With your help, we can get these and other innovations into the hands of the communities who need them.

Making a "profound difference" in Haiti

In the months following the tragic earthquake in January 2010, CTI began collaborating with organizations working in rural Haiti. Though the earthquake was devastating to Port-au-Prince, communities outside of the capital city were struggling to find food and employment for their current residents, let alone the influx of refugees displaced from the earthquake. Using donations from several organizations, the Haitian Health Foundation (HHF) began purchasing grinders to help families near Jeremie, Haiti support themselves. The grinders, in the words of Bette Gebrian, HHF Director of Public Health: “are making such a profound difference…”

Funds for grinders were donated by many supporters, including the
Help for Haiti Consortium of Canadian Rotary District 505 in British Colombia.
This grinder is being used by a youth group to make peanut butter.

With help from members of the Jeremie Rotary,
Mme Josie Charles has built a business using a CTI grinder
to make and sell peanut butter and a warm corn-based drink called Akasan.

Mme Charles cooks the Akasan by 6am and sells it all by 8am,
so children can drink it on their way to school.
The small enterprise has been very successful!

The Haitian Health Foundation has distributed more than 20 grinders which are being used to create microenterprises. 17 more grinders will be shipped to HHF in late January, 2012.

CTI team in Haiti finds extensive E. coli contamination in water samples

By Sam Usem, CTI Volunteer, Haiti

Over the last three days here in Cap-Haitien we have been testing the “Water Aqualyser”, a prototype water treatment device that CTI volunteers from the University of St. Thomas have spent the last year creating. After finding positive results of E. coli in 10 of 15 samples of well water, we decided to test the worst cases using our device. The town of Cap-Haitien, located in North Haiti, is facing high E.coli contamination, making it an ideal location for conducting proof-of-concept tests. 

We gathered contaminated water into a 5 gallon bucket and added 5 grams of salt. The Water Aqualyser uses electrolyzed metal plates to convert the salt into chlorine, which kills bacteria and harmful pathogens commonly present in untreated drinking water water. Today, we tested 4 different plate set-ups and tomorrow we will test the salt concentration. The goal is identify a design which will be low cost and require minimal operation time. The samples that have been run through the Water Aqualyser prototype will go into an incubator and be analyzed by the team. Field testing has allowed the team to ask locals about the device and how they believe it may be received.

The CTI team uses pedal power to run the Water Aqualyser Prototype

One of the most important pieces of the project is to gain user feedback from Haitian communities. In the North of Haiti most people drink ground water accessed by hand pumps. The hand pumps are plentiful, and at first look the water appears clean, so the communities have no qualms drinking the water. Here it is evident that the Aqualyser unit will have to be retrofit to the pump itself. In other places in the world we will have to design the unit around local lifestyles on order to ensure that the technology is truly compatible.

Today, the team is testing a hand pump that is used within a school community in Limonade. Of all of the samples we took, this pump produced the most badly contaminated water. It contained the over 100 colonies of E. coli as well as over 100 colonies of other bacteria. The ground water around the pump was also highly contaminated. Small children were drinking this water not knowing what harmful bacteria they were putting into their bodies.

Throughout our time here, the team will continue to test sites that were highly contaminated and gain user feedback. Look back to the blog next and soon for a final report.

CTI tests Water Aqualyser prototype in Haiti

By Sam Usem, CTI Volunteer, Haiti

Over 1 billion people on the planet lack access to clean water. Furthermore, they lack access to the means to create clean water systems. CTI and senior engineering students at the University of St. Thomas have created a new prototype device that can hopefully purify 5 gallons of water in less than 20 minutes. The device, or "Water Aqualyser" as it is known, sends an electrical current through salted water, converting the salt into chlorine that kills bacteria. The device has worked in Minnesota flawlessly but now it is time for testing in the field.

CTI volunteers test well water for bacteria in Haiti

Two volunteers from CTI, Dr. Murali and Sam Usem, have accompanied 3 students from the University of St. Thomas to Cap-Haitian in the North of Haiti to test the Water Aqualyser in local communities. They are being helped by the Haitian nonprofit Sonje Ayiti and the Texas-based nonprofit Living Waters International to identify contaminated wells that are being used on a daily basis. The group arrived to Haiti on June 5th and is already hard at work testing and identifying contaminated wells that they can test the new equipment on.

The team has tested 24 well sites, and already found signs of that bacteria and E coli are present. In the next few days the team will start to test the Water Aqualyser equipment under different parameters to try to cut down the time needed to purify the water. The end goal is a system that costs less than $50 dollars and takes less than 20 minutes to purify 5 gallons of water. More importantly, we are trying to development technologies that are appropriate and thus will be used by the local populations, so the team has been taking extensive notes with the local population on what has and has not worked in the past. As the unit is tested they will have local Haitians try the unit out themselves and give user feedback.

Now that the wells have been found, testing of the equipment itself begins tomorrow, so check back soon for more updates from the field.

By Sam Usem, CTI Volunteer, Haiti

It's hard to believe that over a week has passed since we first arrived in Haiti. An important piece of the core of CTI is how much of our budget (more than 85%!) we devote towards projects which directly affect people. We are able to do this because of our network of partners around the world. Here in Haiti we've been meeting with current and potential partners every day--an essential part of expanding our network and ultimately the number of individuals that we are able to reach. 

In order for us to help our end users obtain our devices we have forged a working relationship with HOPE International, a group that builds micro-lending and savings/credit associations around the world. We met this week with Esperanza, a micro-credit group in the north of Haiti that is being counseled by HOPE. Our partner Sonje Ayiti is also providing micro-credit projects in a nearby area so it was great that CTI would facilitate a meeting between the two groups. We discussed similarities between projects and geographic areas of overlap so that the two institutions can more effective deliver financial opportunities. It is our goal that by establishing good micro-finance partners we will be able to provide more ways to get CTI equipment into the hands of the people that need it most.

From up here in Cap-Haitien we are about to travel west to meet with some very cool groups. Outside the Bowl is an organization that feeds thousands of people out of a super kitchen in Port de Paix. We hope to help them increase their food supply by purchasing crops from local farmers. After that we will be heading to the rural Northwest to meet with the Northwest Haiti Christian Mission (NWHCM). Over the last year NWHCM’s Neighbors Project has been placing CTI grinders with rural co-ops.

CTI’s devices can not only increase the available food supply by reducing waste, they can be excellent engines of small business growth as well. However, we recognize that for many of our end users, purchasing our equipment at full price in cash is out of reach. At the same time, many of our partner organizations recognize that they cannot provide relief assistance forever. It was with this in mind that we’ve spent the last year partnering with organizations in Haiti to inspire sustainable solutions to hunger and poverty. 

Growing Haiti's future one partnership at a time

By Sam Usem, CTI Volunteer, Haiti

Judging from the temperatures back in Minnesota we picked a great time to head down to Haiti. Of course the need for quality professional volunteers in the aid field in Haiti is never truly fulfilled, so our timing seems apt no matter the temperature. 

It has been a very busy few days for us in the area around Cap-Haitien. You probably wouldn't guess is it, but much of our work down here is spent going from meeting to meeting. It's not something that sounds very glamorous at first, but let me explain.

Volunteer Sam Usem meets with the RAFAVAL women's co-op in Limonade, Haiti

Our morning yesterday started with a meeting at the offices of USAID (United States Association for International Development). For the 13 months since the earthquake struck Port Au Prince there has been something called the HRI (Haiti Recovery Initiative). Much of the money that the U.S. Gov't donated at the time of the quake is still being handed out, and we along with some of our partners have applied for some of the funds to start projects that will get people back to work quickly.

It is with this backdrop that we spent 3 hours with Ragine, a development officer from USAID, to put together proposals for 4 different grants that all revolve around Sonje Ayiti's agricultural activities. These activities range from cocoa processing using CTI’s Ewing Grinders to exporting sorghum flour--which will also utilize CTI equipment.

From there we headed out to the town of Limonade where Sonje Ayiti works to visit one of our most successful projects in Haiti. Sonje Ayiti has been supporting a women’s co-op called RAFAVAL that has over 400 members in and around the community. Immediately following the quake, CTI donated two Ewing grinders to the co-op so that their cocoa factory could jump-start production. With the added income the women were able to pay for much needed food to support survivors of the quake staying with them.

A year later, the start-up business that CTI equipment enabled has provided close to full-time jobs for many of the women. They now boast of being able to send their children to school and being able to pay for it without the help of others. Simple things that many of us take for granted, like being able to pay for the funeral of a loved one, was out of reach for many members of the co-op before the cocoa project. With two Ewing grinders helping to make the co-op business idea a reality, they now have the credibility to apply for and receive a grant worth $100,000 from USAID. The funds will be put toward building a small factory, upgrading their current CTI equipment, and purchasing new equipment. Without the first donation of CTI equipment, this project wouldn't have happened.

We spent most of the afternoon talking with the RAFAVAL members about what has worked and what hasn't as their business moves along. Only by taking the time to listen to our end users can we further innovate and develop our technologies so that we may reach more people and reach them faster.

From there we headed back towards Cap-Haitian and met with MFK, (Meds and Food for Kids), the partner we have been with the longest in Haiti. MFK is a St. Louis based NGO that works in the field of child malnutrition and produces Medika Mamba, or RUTF (Ready to Use Therapeutic Food), a peanut paste that is fed to malnourished children to bring them back to weight. Over the years CTI has helped to build the original equipment used in the RUTF factory, and as the years have gone on and MFK has grown, we have continued to consult on equipment scale-ups. Recently, CTI has provided MFK with customized equipment and consulting services, which has allowed them to dramatically increase the production of their life-saving peanut paste medicine.

Both of these projects in Haiti showcase one very important theme and that is the importance of staying with partners as they grow. CTI technologies can be implemented quickly but also allow for a great business idea to take root and grow.

Thanks for sticking with us as we work in Haiti. Each day we are meeting with more partners to develop projects that put CTI equipment into the hands of those that need it most.

Remember Haiti

Americas committee Vice chair Sam Usem and photography/marketing volunteer Craig Condon are in Haiti for the next two weeks. They are starting up in Cap-Haitien in the north meeting with multiple CTI partners for the week. During the second week they will be traveling west to St. Louis de Nord and then down to Port au Prince before heading back to snowy Minnesota. Along the way Sam will be focused on collecting information and expanding CTI's operations in the country and Craig will be shooting photo and video so that they can share CTI's success stories with all of our supporters. 

Greetings from Cap-Haitien in the north of Haiti. Craig and I arrived here on Sunday minus all of our luggage from states. Our checked bags were lost in the states and once we got to Haiti, the small puddle jumper that we took up to the north was too small to carry our carry ons (kind of ironic). But such is life. We figure that the worst of our luck is behind us and we are looking forward to a very fruitful trip.

We are staying with one of our partner organizations in the country, Sonje Ayiti which means “Remember Haiti” in creole. Sonje Ayiti works in and around Limonade on economic development projects that range from goat farming to horticultural farming and cocoa/fruit processing. Their projects touch all of the citizens in Limonade in some way either through creating jobs, providing goods to sell/buy in the community or through their micro-lending program which jump starts small business enterprise that both create jobs and food.

CTI is involved with two major projects through Sonje Ayiti. The first is consulting on future farm plans. CTI's extensive knowledge about which crops are both profitable financially and nutritionally has helped to guide Sonje Ayiti as it choose which direction to take its farm in. The other project is helping to build a cocoa factory that is owned by the RAFAVAL women’s co-op which is supported by Sonje Ayiti. Immediately following the earthquake, CTI donated two Ewing III grinders to the co-op which allowed them to instantly ramp up production. The new revenues paid for much needed supplies for all of the victims of the quake that had moved to Limonade from Port Au Prince.

Now it has been over a year and we are looking to move this from a start-up project to a full on business that will employing close to 50 people in Limonade and also purchases product from local farmers. Gabrielle Vincent and I are up late tonight working on a grant proposal to do just that, and we will be submitting the proposal to USAID officials in Haiti tomorrow. We also spent time this afternoon visiting with Mr. Moise Jean Charles, who is a Senator of the Northern District. Just like back home, things don't get done unless you know the right people and this is why we partner with organizations on the ground.

After meeting with USAID officials tomorrow morning we will visit the Sonje Ayiti farm and then interview members of the RAFAVAL women’s coop to see how the grinders have helped their households and the economy in Limonade. Stay tuned for more.

Rebuilding Lives in Haiti

When the devastating earthquake hit Haiti in January, Madame Aliette Belizaire was among the millions whose lives were changed forever. In the aftermath of this horrific disaster, Madame Belizaire discovered that her daughter had been killed in the quake and her that husband was missing, leaving her with two grandchildren and eight remaining children of her own to look after. As days passed and the crisis continued, Madame Belizaire and her family made the heart-wrenching decision to leave Port-Au-Prince.

After traveling to the southwest city of Jeremie, Madame Belizaire and her family were provided a small home by the Haitian Health Foundation, where they began rebuilding their lives, growing corn and other crops to support their family. In May, Compatible Technology International (CTI) sent a food grinder to the Belizaire family. Within days of receiving this simple device, the whole family was processing crops into enough food to eat as well as to sell in the local market. The family began using the grinder to make Akasan, a corn-based porridge meal, and peanut butter, which is important for relieving malnourishment in the children of the area who have kwashiorkor - a severe protein deficiency. The family will use the grinder to feed themselves and to prepare peanut butter which they will continue to sell at the market. All of the children will be able to attend school with the money generated from these sales.

Although it's been seven months since the earthquake hit Port-Au-Prince, the extreme poverty that dictates the lives of 80% of the country continues, and the truth is, without addressing Haiti's chronic hunger and malnutrition, Haitians will continue to be vulnerable to the next earthquake, flood, or famine.

CTI is partnering with organizations in Haiti to identify communities and families that can use simple, post harvest technologies to produce more nutritious food and generate incomes. CTI needs help from supporters like you who are willing to step in when relief falls short. Donate now to contribute to CTI's efforts toward sustainable development in Haiti and around the world.

Port Au Prince, Haiti - February 22, 2010

This is my first night in Port Au Prince, where the devastation for my reason coming occurred. But the longer I am here the more I realize that—earthquake or not—there’s been a desperate need for CTI and other NGOs like us all along. I have been doing most of my work over the past few days in the rural farming areas outside of the devastation where small technologies that save time and valuable crops have always been needed. Now with the influx to the regions of refugees from Port Au Prince they are all the more needed.

I have been working with an NGO that has been on the ground here in Haiti for years and thus knows the issues better than myself, Trees for the Future (www.plant-trees.org). They have connections with small communities through the rural mountain surrounding Port au Prince, that are planting trees in the hopes of restoring some of the soil that has been lost due to deforestation over the last 200 years. Along with planting trees for better soil, come needs to maintain more of the harvest to further pull themselves out of poverty.

I met with over 50 leaders of these communities over the last few days who all shared similar stories; they had walked long distances to pay someone to grind their maize, sorghum, millet or groundnuts and much of their harvest was lost in the process. If they did not have to travel, they would save food, time, and money. All of them expressed both hopes and doubts about me returning. Hope that I would bring the technologies that I said that we had, and doubt because so many NGOs have promised such things in the past.

They all expressed the same concerns about the current influx of aid into Haiti; that while immediate assistance is incredibly important to alleviate pain and suffering, there was no one coming to them to talk about ways to ensure a good harvest in three months. I think that we at CTI are in the right place and the right time. I hope that we can find partners in Haiti and other places to help us continue our work here.

A quick note, while the blog has been sporadic because of internet issues here the tweets have not. They do not offer the same in depth stories as the blog, but a constant reminder about CTI’s work. Please check them often and the CTI website for more.

Sam Usem

CTI Americas Committee Vice Chair

Limonade, Haiti - February 15, 2010

By Sam Usem, CTI Volunteer, Haiti

It has been a few days that I have been here now. My first couple of days were spent ensuring the Meds & Food For Kids (mfkhaiti.org) had all of the support of CTI that they needed. Since then I have been establishing CTI within the existing NGO community, attending UN cluster and logistics meetings, and setting up sites to visit.

I have learned one thing for certain thus far. No matter what you have planned for you day in Haiti, it will change ten times over before it even begins. I have spent the last two days with Gabrielle, the country director of Sonje Ayiti (www.sonjeayiti.com) a non-profit based in Cap-Haitian that does everything from micro-financing and farming projects to immediate food aid and coordinating medical teams. On Monday I got to know the organization better and helped to ferry around medical teams while visiting different small subsistence farms along the drive. With limited resources at the moment one jumps at any chance they can for a free ride.

Today I spent the morning with the RAVAFAL women’s group in Limonade, about 8km east of Cap-Haitian. The co-op group has been making small chocolates for hot cocoa to sell in Haiti and is trying to begin an export business. When they hear through the grapevine about our grinders, it seemed to be a perfect fit. The Ewing III grinder has never been used for cocoa beans before, but the only way to know is to try. With about 15 women from the group in attendance we covered the maintenance on the grinder and then got right to work.

The grinder worked like magic, and before I knew it, the group had ground 10 kilos of cocoa beans. In the recipe includes nutmeg and cinnamon before they put the chocolate into a mold, freeze, and then into package it. The long term plans are to build a small factory based on CTI grinders and sell the hard cocoa candies to make hot chocolate in Haiti and the U.S.

After meeting with the co-op, I traveled to a few of the farming sites that Sonje Ayiti has in the community to see if other CTI technologies could be of use. They have over 60 acres that are owned by a co-op, and while at the moment they are only growing vegetables, grain is coming in the future and thus a place for CTI devices.

After returning to Cap-Haitian I visited the Meds & Food for Kids factory and helped load 1,000 kilos of Medika Mamba into the Sonje Ayiti truck to be taken to malnourished children in Leogane, an area just outside of Port Au Prince that hit hard by the quake.

In Haiti at the moment, most people are living second-by-second approaching each issue as they come up. While it is important to address these it is all the more important that we do not forget about the next couple of months. It is good to know that the day can start by building long term solutions and end by sending aid to where it is needed most. The rain has started and so I am off to my room, before another day of begins with the sun and changes as quickly as it moves.

Arrival in Cap Hatien - February 12, 2010

BY, Samuel Usem, CTI Volunteer, Haiti

For a while now I have thought of myself as somewhat of a seasoned traveler. Coming to expect that through the doors of each new international terminal the shock of the reality in front of me will be become less and less astounding. At some point in my life I began to see poverty through this lens as well. I have been asked for ‘one dollar’ by men without limbs, children without clothes and mothers with babes in their arms but each time they were alone. For some reason it seemed understandable in a way that an individual could be poor. Today however my conscience did not have this luxury.

It began with a multitude of young men who all jump at the chance to push your baggage through the door, young women who shove each other out of the way to graciously open the door for you and children that clamor over one another offering to pull your bags. I refuse each one, knowing I can’t possibly hand out charity to all whom expect it for such deeds, and try my best to hang onto my bags. I make it within 5 feet of the car but soon the mass of hands overwhelms me and they begin to pick up my bags to put them the truck with the hope that I will give them money not because I said I will but because now all they have is hope. Behind the throng of able bodied locals are those that do not have the energy to push and shove. They stare forward with glossy eyes that seem to wonder; if begging is too hard then what is left in a country that seems to offer little more at the moment. This is the poverty that immediately slaps you in the face as quickly as your eyes can take it in; forcing you to confront the reality of a humanity that includes this.

Only a couple of a hundred kilometers to the south, in Port Au Prince, is carnage that is beyond imaginable. The image of pancaked buildings with limbs stuck between the layers has been seared into all of our minds. We hear tales of bodies upon bodies that makes up a collection of faces with no names and cannot begin to imagine the reason for this horror. Yet we can take some solace in the fact that we did not create this earthquake. Earthquakes, tsunamis and the like occur on this tiny planet of ours by no fault of our own and we do our best to help in the immediacy after their occurrence. But Haiti’s other woes, those that existed before the quake, require us to recognize our shared humanity and our conscientiousness to aiding our fellow man.

I have to come to Haiti as a CTI volunteer to take partial responsibility of that fact. To help lay the groundwork of a future Haiti where its people do not have to look upon begging as a skill. This future can only be realized if we begin to understand that some aid must have an end goal. In Port au Prince there is a place for disaster relief and immediate medical and food aid, but here in the north it is important that we not forget that lasting sustainable aid is crucial to Haiti’s future. We cannot let the immediacy of this outpouring of aid go without shedding a light on the sustainable and lasting development that must happen if aid organizations are to ever leave this country.

Over the next two weeks I will work at building on existing relationships and creating new ones with those organization and individuals that share CTI’s vision of a world in which everyone has access to food and water, the basic building blocks of not only our economy but our humanity. The real work, as it always seems to, begins tomorrow.

CTI Responds to Crisis in Haiti

“I‘ll take that grinder with me to Haiti tomorrow,” Janeil Owen, Executive Director of NW Haiti Christian Mission, told Nancy Wagner, Development Associate at CTI, on January 22, just 10 days after the devastating earthquake.  Nancy and the grinder were in Ft. Lauderdale introducing CTI to a group of 50 nonprofit organizations who are recipients of the food packets produced by Feed My Starving Children (FMSC).  Owen told Nancy that he had hungry kids to feed but their FMSC food was in Port au Prince and would not make it to his mission in the far NW corner of Haiti.  The mission did, however, have on hand bags upon bags of corn but no way to grind it.  Needless to say, the CTI grinder went to NW Haiti the next day and was put to work immediately. 

CTI is not a “relief organization” in the normal sense, but the situation in Haiti has created a need for unique strategies to enable close to 3 million people throughout Haiti to be fed now and in the months and years to come.  Our Omega VI grinders are running at Meds & Food for Kids in Cap Haitien (northern Haiti) in order to produce large quantities of Medika Mamba, a peanut butter based ready-to-use therapeutic food, providing emergency nutrition for children and pregnant women.  A request just came in from another group that works in northern Haiti-they would like a grinder to process millet.  Another group said they could use several grinders to help feed the kids they serve.

Clearly, our post harvest technologies can make a difference in Haiti.  We would like to be able to offer grinders to any nonprofit organization in Haiti that could use them.  The immediate need is great and the long term need will be greater still.  In Port au Prince, government and aid officials are reporting a reverse migration of close to 500,000 people from the city to rural communities and outlying cities.  CTI can play a vital role in healing Haiti as we can deliver the technologies necessary to provide ongoing support as a sustainable solutions provider.

CTI has sent volunteer Sam Usem to Haiti to provide grinders and training to relief organizations and to reach out to organizations that may have a need for manually operated food processing equipment.

If you would like to make a donation toward this effort, please read the special message on our website, or call the office at 651-632-3912.