The Growing Edge: GROW BIOINTENSIVE Training in Haiti
ECHO (Educational Concerns for Haiti Organization, www.echonet.org) is a global NGO that brings relief assistance where it is most needed. The organization is ECOPOL's international partner and invited Director Juan Manuel Martinez to participate in its Annual Conference, held in Haiti in 2017. Haiti is still recovering from the catastrophic magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake that occurred in 2010 and is greatly benefiting from ECHO's assistance. At the conference, Juan taught a GROW BIOINTENSIVE (GB) Basic-Level workshop for 28 people and gave a presentation for 130. Juan said, "The response was enthusiastic, with many inviting the instructors to continue training in that region." Additional GB instructors included Ricardo Romero and his daughter Haya from Las Cañadas in Veracruz, Mexico. (For more information on the important GB work being accomplished at Las Cañadas, please visit ensia.com/features/the-farm-that-grows-climate-solutions/.) Juan states that Haiti has 11,023,000 inhabitants with 60% living in urban areas—primarily two cities: Port-Au-Prince (the capital) and Cite´ Soleil. Since the earthquake, cities are slowly recovering. However, 40% of the population lives in rural areas and the circumstances there are much like those of rural areas in America. The positive impact that GB can have on this region should not be underestimated - the need, the energy to implement it, and the interest in the method are there. Juan reflects on Haiti, "When [one thinks] about the concept and opinion we have of this country, it is important to understand that most of it is manipulated by the information we receive from the media. Without ignoring the big problems facing Haiti, I found answers to many of the challenges there using the Biointensive method. There is great energy and awareness among groups of Haitian small-producers and national and international NGOs. I will return next year to strengthen the work of the groups we've taught this year." .
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