The people of Haiti are eager to work themselves out of poverty; all they lack is the means to get started. The village men around Lake Azuei have traditionally been fishermen but dwindling fish stocks and an increase in depth have made it almost impossible to make a living. To make things worse the lake contains saline water, which has bleached the soil making farming nearly impossible too! The lack of income means limited access to healthcare, food and education.
OB has already provided 20 impoverished families the equipment (cage, young fish, fish food) and training they need to farm fish . One batch of fish generates enough on-going income to restock with new fingerling fish and provide a profit, giving families food to eat and an income to live. We plan to expend this very successful project to include many more families and villages near large lakes throughout Haiti.
To increase the fish farm program we already have in place in Madan Belize.
» Supply and train additional families with all they need to start fish farming. This costs just £750 in total per farm/family.
Success will be additional families starting to farm fish along the shoreline of Lake Azuei. Seeing these families become self sufficient.
This project is all about the long term. Initially our plan will strengthen the village of Medan Belieze as a model, which we will then roll out. This will then revitalise communities all over Haiti providing them with work, food, finance and hope long in to the future. This is not about a quick fix but about sustainability and enabling the beautiful people of Haiti to stand strong on their own two feet.
There is of course a risk that there would be another major earthquake in Haiti. The farms we already had in Haiti during the last earthquake sustained very little damage and the project continued as planned.
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This project is based in Haiti. Even before the massive earthquake in Jan 2010, Haiti was already listed as least developed nation in the Americas and was politically unstable. In 2003 it was estimated that about 80% of the population was living in poverty - although that is now estimated to be much higher. Food security is poor and in recent years there have been protests and riots over the rising cost and lack of access to food. Life for the majority Haitians is a struggle for survival.
We currently work with families in the village of Medan Belize, but our expansion plans will incorporate thousands of additional families living near large lakes all over Haiti. This will also effect the wider communities bring more finance into the villages, suppling fresh fish throughout Haiti and therefore having a knock on effect into the wider communities.
Operation Blessing is best placed to carry out this project as we already have a very successful and sustainable model in place, We have also built relationships and gained the trust of the haitian villagers.
Operation Blessing is a non-profit humanitarian organisation that has helped more than 202 million people in more than 105 countries since it began in 1978. For the past five years OB has been awarded Charity Navigator's highest 4 star rating for fiscal efficiency in the US.
Director of Caribbean Harvest, who specialise in breeding and raising Tilapia fish. Abe was recently honoured by Bill Clinton for his work in Haiti.