Friday 22 August 2014

Rag Doll in a Cement Mixer

Isle de La Gonave
Like a rag doll in a cement mixer, so was the Tuesday of my visit. The day starts with a pleasant, short 20-minute flight in a Missionary Aviation Fellowship airplane across the water to Isle de La Gonave. We climb steadily through the smog to 4,500 feet only to push the nose to the ground as soon as we reach altitude. On approach to the island we pass over the top of beautiful calm, clear, turquoise water dotted with small fishing boats and coral islands guarding the coast. All of a sudden the dirt strip on the beach is in front of us; it should have been an indication of what was to follow.

About 60km off the coast of the main island La Gonave has seen little investment over the years. There is one carpet road, about 250m long from the harbor to the main town of Anse A Galets. The rest of the island’s 200km road system varies between a few meters of nice smooth sand to extreme, rocky, four-wheel drive. The community I was heading for, Nan CafĂ©, is a bone jarring 22km and 2 hours away amongst hills clothed in avocado trees and carved out of limestone.

We have been working in these hill communities since 2002 and over the years we have worked with the communities and other partners to ensure access to schools for about 95% of the children with an increasing percentage of girls staying in and finishing school. When we arrived on La Gonave there were 3 clinics and 1 health care professional for the island’s population of 83,099 people. Today we have established and handed over 9 clinics to the government and there are 22 health care professionals serving the communities throughout the island. The statistics for health problems as a result of poor sanitation have decreased, and household incomes have increased because of improved agriculture practices, fishing techniques, vocational trainings and charcoal production. (Instead of cutting down the whole tree people have learned more sustainable ways of harvesting the wood.)

Much has improved but there is still so much more to do. The school attendance is high, but the percentage of children that can read and write at the appropriate level for their age is very low, much needs to be done to raise the quality of education. I met with 20 young people who told me the stories of their schools and communities. All of them are in or have finished school – an improvement – but then what? With our partners we have provided some vocational training but there are not enough jobs on the island. Despite that the young men and women still want to learn to be plumbers, electricians, tailors and of course, IT gurus.

Port de Bonheur, La Gonave, Haiti
This program has 3 years to go before we close out, but right now, after 12 years in the community we are planning and working toward the transition to sustainability and complete community ownership. Are they ready to continue on their own, can they do it? Their answer: “of course we can, and we must, our families futures depend on it.”

Australian sponsors support about 6,700 children in three development programs, (Grand Lagon, PACODES and Port be Bonheur) on La Gonave. If you are one of them I can tell you, after visiting all three programs, that you can be proud of what the children and their parents have achieved – lives are being transformed and hope is growing stronger.