Our work
One home, three projects.
Everything we do happens in and around Gonaïves, Haiti, and it all starts with the kids.
Since 2010
Children’s Home of Gonaïves
With so many kids left vulnerable by poverty and natural disasters, Djemson and his family began adopting children in their hometown. Two quickly became three, then four, and before long the family needed more space and more help.
What started as a few adoptions became a home that now cares for [##] children, with local nannies, a security guard, and seasonal tutors keeping it running day to day.
Family gardens
Ti Jaden Lakay
Djemson brought what he learned in his EarthCorps internship back to Haiti. We visit nearby neighborhoods to find homes with room for a garden, then give those families seeds and show them how to keep it growing.
Five of the older kids from the home learn right alongside them, and most of the families we help live just down the road.
Reforestation
Plant Nursery
Started in October 2014 on two acres of rented land, the nursery grows trees to replant around Gonaïves. We grow beans there too, to help feed the kids.
Deforestation makes Haiti’s storms deadlier. With bare hillsides, every hurricane brings floods, and Gonaïves is especially exposed: Hurricane Hanna killed hundreds of people here in 2008. Every tree we plant makes the city a little safer, and we want to take this work beyond Gonaïves.
The next chapter
A permanent home of our own
PAH owns land a few kilometers north of Gonaïves, with a working well and crops already in the ground. Volunteers with Architects Without Borders Seattle designed an efficient, affordable campus: three buildings around a central courtyard.
- Community building. A kitchen and big common room for meals, plus space for tutoring and environmental classes, a library, and a computer room.
- Dormitory. Room for 16 boys and 16 girls, double what the rental house holds.
- Administration building. Offices, a first aid room, staff quarters, and a guest room for visitors.
- Built green. Rainwater and grey water collection, compost toilets, and solar power.
Where it stands
[Current build status, e.g. first building finished, dormitory next. Add what the next phase costs if you know it.]
