We have 62 new Peer Educators in Haiti!
We had such a significant experience in Haiti this month with our team from Compass Church in Vancouver, Washington. We spent 10 days in the Cap Haitien area building relationships, learning the culture and language, and training two groups of new Peer Educators. There was lots of fun and laughter and, even more importantly, lots of learning for both the trainees and the team. These Peer Educators, with their new-found knowledge of moringa, will change lives in their communities through the Good Nutrition, Clean Water, and Economic Opportunities that moringa brings!
Grace Baptist Church in Lory
Our first training was at Grace Baptist Church in the village of Lory, just 15 minutes outside of Cap Haitien. This group was great! Fritzner has spent months teaching them what he knew about Moringa and encouraging them to start growing it and adding it to their daily meals. We visited many homes and heard stories of how their health has improved since they started eating moringa regularly. These folks are now full-trained moringa Peer Educators and are ready to impact their community.
Helping Haitian Angels in Limonade
Our second training was at Helping Haitian Angels Orphanage and School in the village of Limonade, about a half-hour outside of Cap Haitien. We had expected 20 people to attend the training, but ended up with 42! People were so interested in what we were teaching that we just couldn’t turn them away. The trainees included orphanage staff, neighbors from the very poor area near the orphanage, and others came from more distant villages.
During a walk through the surrounding neighborhood we saw deep poverty and children with signs of advanced malnutrition – distended bellies, straw-like hair, dull skin, and wounds that weren’t healing. Some of the mothers from this neighborhood were attending our training and we new that we were meant to be in this place.
Practicals
On day 2 of each training we do practicals. Both pruning and learning about planting from cuttings put the book-learning into real-life applications.
Children’s Program
Heather, one of our teammates, lead the children’s program. She taught the kids how moringa gives them strength, energy, and protection from illness and provided craft projects and activities. They also learned a moringa song and skit, which they performed for everyone in the Peer Educator training. They were a hit!
Time to Celebrate
By the end of two full days of training, people have gained a tremendous amount of knowledge about moringa and it’s time to celebrate! Our new Peer Educators received their certificates, seeds, and saplings to raucous rounds of clapping, hooting, and hollering. TOTALLY FUN!!
The folks in these villages struggle with malnutrition, lack of clean drinking water, and inadequate family incomes. Just imagine the impact these new Peer Educators will have on their families and communities as they share the amazing benefits of moringa.
Last, but not least . . .
Finally, Fritzner received his own Strong Harvest Peer Educator Manual that he was instrumental in creating.
Fritzner voluntarily provided the majority of the translation to make the Creole manual a reality! He is now our Haiti Country Coordinator, which means he will be taking the training we’ve provided to the next level through on-going contact with our Haitian Peer Educators, helping them to put their new knowledge into practice and providing additional training, encouragement, and problem solving.
All in all, it was an amazing trip to Haiti!