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In Haiti: Every Day is Earth Day

Quixote Center began its Haiti work in 1999. The first of many projects was a partnership with the Jean Marie Vincent Center in Grepen to restore the forest on a mountainside called Tet Mon. In 1999 the mountain was bare; today it is home to more than 200,000 trees. With your help, Quixote Center continues to sustain the forest by covering the cost of maintenance and security. The Tet Mon forest has become a model for the whole region.

Jean Marie Vincent was a Montfortain priest who was assassinated on 28 August 1994. According to another Montfortain, Father ChaCha, ([link removed].) Jean Marie had a dream for Haiti. This dream was for the country, which has been extensively deforested, to be covered with trees one day. It was a bold idea, but he believed in God and he also believed in the people. For Jean Marie, planting trees was the foundation for Haiti's future.

The project has grown. In 2021 Quixote Center began providing funds for experimental gardens within the forest, sowing food crops on the hillside and among the trees. The gardens have done well, and the harvest is used to help families in need throughout the area.

With Quixote Center's help, the JMV Center at Grepen also cultivates tree seedlings, maintaining a nursey at the Center itself as well as satellite nurseries in surrounding villages. Local smallholder farmers are able to purchase high quality seedlings for affordable prices to plant in their own gardens and fields. One beneficiary describes the impact:

"Today we say thank you to Everyone for this impactful development project in our community. None of our gardens had trees before this project. Our mountains were barren. Today we are organizing volunteer community work groups called "konbit" to plant trees in our community. This is all possible thanks to your support of the work of Karitas Gros Morne at Grepen Center. We ask God to continue to give you strength for this good work. We plant mangos, avocados, and also trees that we now use to make furniture and timber for houses alongside those fruit trees. The ladies in my community are able to sell the fruit in the market, which is making a positive impact in our local community."

In 2023 we launched a new project, to cultivate and distribute plantain seedlings. Plantains are an important part of the Haitian diet, so with access to high quality seedlings, local farmers can increase their production to feed their families and to sell for cash in the local market. Plantains are trees that grow and reproduce quickly. Their deep root systems improve soil structure and stability, reducing erosion and improving soil quality. They grow to about 15 feet, adding to the forest cover, and after the harvest farmers remove them to use the leaves, stems and fruit residue for compost and fuel, making room for the new seedlings already popping up. Each plantain tree produces around 5 seedlings.

With your help, in 2024 we are expanding the plantain project to new villages. Thank you to each of you for supporting us to support Haiti's fragile environment.

 

Quixote Center Denounces Deportations

On Thursday, April 18 the United States deported 74 Haitians back to a country controlled by gangs and with no functioning government.

Due to the dual crises of violence and hunger, the Quixote Center and our partners ([link removed]) have for months and years been calling for an end to deportations to Haiti. We reiterate our plea for dignity and humanity for Haitian migrants. President Biden, stop the deportations!

If you have not already sent a letter to Congress and the Administration, please use the link in the next section.

 

Take Action for Haiti

Haiti is desperate. According to the UN special envoy to Haiti, criminal gangs control 80% of the capital and are moving further and further into other parts of the country, leaving many people trapped in their homes with little means to feed their families, or forced to flee their homes with nothing. Scarcity of gasoline and water, and high prices of essential products are transforming an already distressed State into ashes.

In the absence of a functioning state, gangs terrorize the population with rape, kidnapping, and murder, all with impunity. Gangs are blocking commerce distribution routes and paralyzing the main port, leaving 1.4 million Haitians on the verge of famine, and more than 4 million in need of food aid, according to the UN's World Food Program. Haiti needs humanitarian aid, and also intellectual contribution toward the establishment of working policies designed to strengthen its political weakness. It is urgent that the United States government take action to save lives in Haiti.

In response to the growing violence, we ask lawmakers to:
* Support S396, the Haiti Criminal Collusion Transparency Act, to identify and hold accountable those who are financing the gangs, especially those with assets in the US. A companion House bill has already passed.
* Stop the illegal flow of weapons from the U.S. to Haiti.
* Support HR 6618, the ARMAS Act, in the House, and introduce a companion bill in the Senate. HR 6618 would mandate a comprehensive federal strategy to disrupt arms trafficking, restore Congressional oversight over small arms exports, and prevent legitimate security assistance from being diverted to criminal groups.
* Provide sufficient resources and hold accountable U.S. agencies charged with enforcement, to prevent illegal arms trafficking out of Miami and New York.
* Do not waiver in ending U.S. support for de facto prime minister Ariel Henry. Henry remained in power due to U.S. government support, and widespread opposition to his government has contributed to the current crisis.
* Redesignate and extend TPS for Haitians. The existing TPS designation for Haiti is set to expire on August 4, 2024. Redesignation will allow protection against removal and eligibility for work authorization to all eligible Haitians currently in the United States.
* Stop all deportation flights and interceptions at sea. Despite extreme violence in Haiti, removals continue.
* Immediately increase humanitarian aid, and ensure consultation with impacted populations so that aid is directed toward the long-term sustainable development of the country. Include language that prioritizes Haitian diaspora organizations uniquely equipped to consult with local populations. The mission must prioritize a community development approach.
* Open a channel of communication and consultation on the future of Haiti where all affected groups, including gangs, elite, non-profit organizations, government agencies, and generation Z influencers can share their views on a sustainable socio-political framework.
* Any international police or military intervention should:
* Consult with Haitian civil society before deployment;
* Take measures to ensure human rights protections;
* Provide support and capacity-strengthening to the Haitian National Police;
* Articulate a clear mission to support a Haitian-led solution to restore democracy and ensure elections.

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