Abricots must stand again

My name is Ikpindi Djeri and I am originally from a small country in West Africa called Togo. After completing my high school in a small city in France, I moved to the United States where I pursued and acquired a degree in business management and another one in respiratory care. I have worked in both disciplines in several countries including Haiti. In fact, I moved to Haiti two and a half years ago with Sebastien (my better half), a Haitian native. We moved to his childhood village, a place called Abricots in the south of the country; this place is located 25 km away from the town of Jeremie, but it is very difficult of access as the roads are almost impracticable. Nonetheless, close to 5,000 people moved back to Abricots from Port-au-Prince after the devastating earthquake in 2010. The population went from approximately 25,000 to 30,000 overnight. Upon our arrival, Sebastien and I began work with the local farmers, producing pure, organic cacao, and encouraging fair trading that contributes to the sustainability of the farms and the community at large. The recent hurricane, Matthew has left our village devastated and in need of sustainable repair.

    Photos by Ikpindi

In 2015, I was offered a position as a project manager with a small foundation in the area called “Paradis des Indiens.” This organization was created by a friend of mine, Michaelle de Verteuil in the 70s. She saw the need to create schools in this remote place, at a time when no one was paying attention to this region, and many children were left out. My work as a project manager for the foundation consisted of implementing a program called “Vouchering school feeding pilot”. The idea was to provide a canteen that serves balanced meals for 2300 students across the commune of Abricots. To provide these balanced meals, 40 local women were selected to offer their catering services, boosting their own business in this way. The project not only promoted the importance of a balanced meal, but encouraged the usage of local produce and propane gas. These practices would respectively improve the local economy, while preventing the usage of charcoal for cooking (possibly reducing deforestation).

  Photos by Marie Bodin and Ikpindi

This past year has been amazing as we have been having positive feedbacks from different sources: fishermen and various people have seen their business increase. Parents and teachers have noticed first-hand the impact of a balanced meal on the students ‘alertness and focus in class and out. The local caterers and others have witnessed the impact of using propane gas instead of charcoal. We take these things for granted, but these women would explain to us how this had changed their lives. No more blacked nails from handling charcoal. No more irritated eyes from the smoke. No more waiting for the charcoals to get hot. The different actors in this project benefited from basic business management classes, propane and stove usage, hygiene and nutrition training.
Our home was booming.

  Photos by Marie Bodin and Ikpindi

   Photos by Marie Bodin

However, as is well-known by now, on October 4th, the day of my birthday, Hurricane Matthew ravaged our little village. We lost lives, cattle, homes, and crops. We lost everything in a matter of hours. Approximately 30 000 people are fighting to stay alive in our community. Our region, an extremely marginalized part of the country, is often overlooked as much of help goes to larger cities. I am writing to ask for your help to get our village back to its feet and thriving again.

   Photos by Jessica Hsu

Before(left)                              After(right)
     Photos by Jessica Hsu, David Millet, Ikpindi

   Photo by Jessica Hsu

   Photo by Jessica Hsu

I refuse to dwell on the disaster that lays before our eyes and I choose to rebuild. To do so I am calling on to you, my friends to help us. We are going to need tools such as machetes, shovels, pickaxes, hoes, rakes, rain boots, to start cleaning up and also planting again. I am hoping the first phase of help will come through an organization for first aid and food as it would be very hard for me to pretend to manage to feed 30,000 for the upcoming months. What I am proposing is to start clearing the land and preparing it for planting some crops right away.

  Photo by Marie Bodin

I invite you to share this with as many of your friends as possible.
A blog will subsequently be created to allow all of you to track our progress.
I am not part of an NGO. I am not supported by big organizations where often the funds raised are difficult to trace. You will have access to reports through my bog and detailed expenditures will be kept and available upon request.The system will be run in a transparent way, allowing you as contributers to see, review , and make suggestions. I have a team of volunteers on the ground assessing the needs as I write this. You will be able to reach me and ask questions at any time. You will be directly participating in the renaissance of Abricots and its community. Your donation will be equivalent to “hand-to-hand” donation to the people of Abricots.

“ Men anpil, chay pal ou ”
is a Creole proverb that translates to « Many hands make the workload lighter »
Let us work together.