Page 2 - The Daily Builder - Day 08

the funding to re-dig the lake, than 17,000 people have benefited the lake was filled completely
but even then, it would still take from the lake’s restoration. by Hurricane Matthew and
years for rainwater to collect and “The last two years have been subsequent storms that brought
fill Mare Verger. a blessing for my community,” misery and destruction to many
Disaster struck in the form of said Dugat Esaie. “First, more other people.”
Hurricane Matthew in 2016, and production, income and quality Thanks to Heifer International for
though this storm tore through of life of the farmers and their letting us share this story. Read an
southern Haiti and left devastation families. Second, no more losing update letter from Director Hervil
in its wake, there was a silver our animals because of lack of Cherubin this past June!
lining: says Cherubin, “The storm water and food. The irony is that
battered the area for a few days,
but when it cleared, Cabaret’s
lake was almost completely full
of water.”
Today, most of the farmland
that was destroyed by the
earlier droughts is now back in
production. Livestock is thriving
on access to the water, and local
families no longer need to worry
so much about simple survival.
Belisaire Anseinio, 72, standing in the dry Mare Verger lake bed in Haiti in 2014. The 25-acre lake dried up in
2013, leaving farmers with no source of water. They have food for themselves
and their families.
Mare Verger is at roughly 70
Haiti, before and after percent capacity, but even so, more Mare Verger today, filled by Hurrican Matthew and kept full by rainwater
harvesting, provides a reliable source of water for local farmers.

By Worldbuilders mud hardened in the unforgiving us for help, we started like we and other elements. With most of its components burned
Photos by Lacey West sun, and the lake vanished once usually do,” said Hervil Cherubin, The booming charcoal markeT away, the final product weighs only a quarter of the wood’s
and for all. country director for Heifer Haiti. When we were in Malawi, we saw a lot of people making original weight. Commercial charcoal processers burn in
In Cabaret, there used to be a Farmers in Cabaret have been “We helped with seeds and charcoal or transporting it in large white sacks on bicycles huge steel or concrete silos. In Haiti, most charcoal is made
25-acre lake called Mare Verger. getting by as best they can, livestock, and we trained them. as they walked along the roadside to the next town. There under mounds of dirt.
It was almost more of a swamp, traveling great distances to bring But we didn’t take into account were always bags of charcoal stacked for sale at roadside Charcoal production is a big chunk of Haiti’s economy,
but the soil was good for farming back the water their farms need. the severe climate change. So we markets. We could smell it in the air at dinner time. employing an estimated 200,000 people. When crops
and the fields were full of crops Even when they can get water, the came back and had a community We couldn’t figure it out, until we read about it when we fail and other work can’t be found, many people resort
to feed the local families. But land is dry and hard to farm, crops meeting under a tree. They said, were researching Heifer’s information on Haiti. to making and selling charcoal because there’s always a
dry weather and drought hit, reluctant to grow or completely ‘If you will help us get water, you Charcoal burns hotter and more slowly than wood. It also market for it. With only 2 percent of the country’s tree cover
destroying huge amounts of crops withering. Livestock and people don’t need to do anything else.’ produces less smoke and is far easier to transport. Most remaining,
and leaving families in dire straits. alike struggle for survival. We said yes, we can do it.” Haitians, both in cities and rural areas, depend on charcoal some people
for cooking. But it’s not the charcoal we’re used to, pressed
Farmers had to cut down trees for When Heifer started working And so digging began: a long into pillowy shapes and sold in paper bags. The charcoal are resorting
to chopping
charcoal, which could provide with the Farmers Association process of restoring Mare Verger, in Haiti is almost always handmade from wood, roots and bushes and
both survival and income, but had of Cabaret in 2014, they quickly so that the lake can irrigate 250 brush. digging up
devastating effect: without trees realized the usual Heifer model acres of farmland and provide Charcoal is mostly carbon, made by cooking wood in roots to make
the topsoil washed away and mud wasn’t going to work. Cabaret and beyond with much- a low-oxygen environment to burn off water, hydrogen charcoal.
filled Mare Verger. In 2013, this “When the people approached needed water. Heifer provided

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