Sustainability Outreach

“Helping Haitians help themselves for the long haul…”

Here at Love A Child (LAC), we focus energy and resources on helping families do more than simply subsist on charity. In fact, our highest goal is to help the Haitian people become working, viable members of society, and create sustainable improvements in their living conditions.

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.

 

The highest form of helping people is to help them develop their own full potential for creating a sustainable improvement in their living conditions.

 

LAC’s development for sustainability model relies upon six interdependent elements working together to promote self-sufficiency in order to break the cycle of poverty: 1- training; 2-job skills; 3-promote commerce; 4-ecological development; 5-agroforestry; 6-appropriate technologies.

  1. Training – training in sustainable methods of gardening, soil preparation, appropriate irrigation, using mulches and compost
  2. Job skills – raising chickens for eggs or meat or both; raising tilapia fish; small business management; growing vetiver to sell, etc.
  3. Promote commerce – the Gwo Maché Mirak regional marketplace; Farmer John’s slaughterhouse/butcher shop
  4. Ecological development – reforestation; water harvesting and conservation; using vetiver grass for erosion control and biomass
  5. Agroforestry– a sustainable land management practice that combines agriculture with forestry.  Some species of trees are very beneficial for supporting fertile cropland when they are grown in association with one another.  Trees such as Leuceana, Cassia, Neem, Acasia, and Moringa are grown along with cropland, they benefit the cropland by stabilizing the soil, adding nitrogen, providing organic bio-mass for compost, and offering protection from winds and too much sun, increasing crop production while controlling erosion and preserving ground moisture.
  6. Appropriate technologies – rocket stoves for faster, more economical cooking; making running water; solar power for households; food preservation methods; compost toilets for improved sanitation and hygiene; tire gardens when there isn’t good garden soil
All six sustainability projects currently being implemented in Haiti are listed below. From agricultural training classes to help improve food security, to simple tools like a rocket stove to help improve food supply.  Love A Child is helping to create jobs, improve soil, and increase crop yields for families across Haiti. Please click on the images below for more details.
Agricultural Training CenterLearn More
Poul Mirak Chicken Co-opLearn More
The MarketplaceLearn more
ReforestationLearn More
Edible Plant NurseryLearn More
Appropriate TechnologiesLearn More
Most organizations are only attempting to solve for one, maybe two elements contributing to the chronic cyclical poverty. LAC’s approach is unique because we have identified and address 6 major elements which operate together to foster the chronic cyclical poverty. If we tried to only treat 1 or 2 at a time, the other would still defeat our efforts.  When we address the 6 major causes simultaneously we have a better chance of changing lives for the long term.

Love A Child’s “Sustainability … Food For Life” Newsletter…

Read more about what makes us unique in our “Sustainability … Food For Life” Newsletter archives today!