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News from the Grepen Center in Haiti

While the gangs continue to terrorize the population with gunfire, kidnappings and extortions, people do the best they can to take care of themselves and their families. There is a huge amount of fear, particularly in the capital Port-au-Prince where merchants and businesspeople are more exposed to the risk of being kidnapped for ransom. Students avoid wearing their school uniform to avoid unwanted attention and nobody dares to stay out too late.

Our partners in Gros Morne inform us that in most of the country, many students attended school between May and June and covered enough of the curriculum for seniors to take their final state exams to graduate from high school.Despite gangs being part of the daily reality in Haiti, the economic activity in Gros Morne continues to function albeit with precautionary measures. Insecurity comes and goes, there are periods of superficial calm that allow small businesses and families to carry on with their daily activities, always remaining careful as bandits sometimes come close or into town.

The Jean Marie Vincent Center in Grepen plays an important role in providing nutritious food to the community and protecting the local environment. Their tree nursery program promotes biodiversity in the region by offering a large variety of fruit and native tree species to local producers. This activity also generates revenue for the center as it strives to become fully sustainable in the coming years. It is complicated to strike the right balance between promoting their seedlings while also not attracting attention from the bandits.

Technicians working at the Tet Mon Forest continue their daily duties of clearing out the forest floor to prevent fires while also acting as guardians of this fragile ecosystem from illegal logging. The forest fulfills its mission of conserving the local ecosystem and biodiversity as well as protecting the soil from erosion, which benefits the entire community. This program also has a direct impact on the ten staff workers and their families with a steady income.

Meanwhile, the Grepen Center garden is producing healthy crops with corn and beans almost ready for harvest and several merchant clients already lining up to purchase these highly demanded products. During the past three months, the garden has sold mostly plantains to a local school and a catholic group that prepares food for prisoners. The only problem they had in this period was with a pepper crop that was lost due to excess rain.

Quixote Center is pleased to support the Jean Marie Vincent Center and their important work in Gros Morne. We look forward to continuing our collaboration as they transition to a new leadership team. We would like to thank all our supporters who have enabled this partnership to grow and navigate through these most difficult times.

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Take Action for Haiti:
Tell your Representative to Support andCo-Sponsor the Haiti Criminal Collusion Transparency Act

The humanitarian situation in Haiti continues to worsen as its people suffer from a crisis of gang violence and hunger, fueled by weapons and ammunition trafficked from the US. The flow of illegal weapons not only allows gangs to terrorize communities, but undermines stabilization efforts in Haiti such as long-term governance solutions and security reforms. Cutting off the financing for arms dealing in Haiti is crucial because it deprives gangs of the weapons they use to decimate communities and commit atrocious crimes against humanity.

Join us in taking action to curtail the power of Haiti's gangs by urging your representative to support the Haiti Criminal Collusion Transparency Act ([link removed]) which directs sanctions at Haiti's political and economic elites who finance gangs and profit from gang violence.

Thanks to strong bipartisan support, this bill has a strong chance of passing in both the House and Senate.

Click on the Take Action button below to urge your representative to support and co-sponsor the bill!

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Interview with Herby
A Grepen Center Tree Nursery Program Participant

Listen to Herby share his advice to other community members in Gros Morne who have not yet joined the Grepen Tree Nursery Program.

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