Growing Knowledge & Building Partnerships

Photo above: Partners' Farmer to Farmer Staff Benito Jasmin and Gerard Michel Joseph (Papy) unload medical supplies Dear Partners of the Americas Members, Friends, and Collaborators, Two weeks have passed since the tragic earthquake struck Haiti on January 12, 2010. With this letter, Partners of the Americas would like to share with you a “report from the field” describing the efforts taken by Partners’ program staff in Haiti to use donations for immediate relief to earthquake victims. Cap Haitien January 22, 2010 Thanks to everyone. Finally the banks are open and I [Benito Jasmin, Farmer to Farmer Country Coordinator] have started paying back the pharmacy that has been lending us medicine and supplies on credit. Sincerely we did a great job, supplying the two main hospitals in the North of Haiti, Hôpital Justinien and Hôpital Crudem de Milot, with medicine they need. We bought what they asked of us from the list they gave us. We have supplied the emergency center in H...

My mind can't seem to wrap around the idea of a title for this blog. How to summarize the turn of events since 4:53 Jan. 12th 2010. Hopefully writing will add some order to the confusion in my head. I am finally starting to feel much better. It is a surreal thing to be able to go from the devastation and in less than a day be able to use a phone, see a doctor within an hour, sleep indoors in a comfortable bed, eat when hungry, drive a car, get gas at will, hug your family..... It has been a busy week of interviews, developing plans to meet the requests of the people of Grand Boulage and Riviere Froide and fund raising. We already have over $10,000 on its way. $1000 got here before me even. Monday I will start transferring funds to Haiti and get the wheels literally rolling to provide sacks of cement so people will be able to start rebuilding their homes. It will be a challenge because we only have one truck lined up so far and it can only carry 400 sacks. The rains start in Mar...

Over the past several days many of our past Farmer to Farmer - Haiti volunteers as well as our institutional collaborators have shown their support for and solidarity with Haiti and the FTF Program, through calls and emails to our DC Office and directly to our field staff. Benito and our team there wishes to thank you all (read a short quote from him here ). Some have also chosen to give donations through Partners of the Americas and the FTF Program since they know and trust our organization and staff, and since they want to help those in Haiti with whom they have developed professional relationships and friendships. We would like to thank the New Jersey Beekeepers Association, the American Beekeeping Federation, the Friends of Haiti, and the New Jersey Chapter of Partners of the Americas for their fundraising efforts either through or in collaboration with Partners' Farmer to Farmer Program. Although Partners is not a first-responder humanitarian aid organization, our longstand...

The Farmer to Farmer Team is very happy to announce that as of tonight all 3 volunteers and 2 of their children are either home or on their way there as we speak. We would like to recognize all of the efforts made by our local field staff in making sure that this happened. Communications with them has hardly been possible these past days but we know they were there every step of the way. If you would like to view a news clip of the return of one volunteer, Mark Pasternak, and his two children, please click here .

Below is the link to a nice blog post belonging to Justin Hackworth, a photographer and Partners volunteer who recently traveled to the Dominican Republic and Haiti to photograph some of our agriculture projects and more. Between the words and the photos, it is worth a visit to Justin's blog post. His photos show the vibrant and resilient energy in Haiti. Click here to view: "Love Your Neighbor - Haiti"

Partners' Farmer to Farmer Team would like to thank all of you for your outcry of support and concern for Haiti and our volunteers, Chapter, and staff. We have confirmed that our staff and volunteers in country are safe and well. We are still waiting on news from our Haiti Chapter. Partners is preparing a brief statement and immediate donation information for our website, http://www.partners.net/ , as well as further communication related to relief efforts. Please stay tuned. Please click here if you would like to read a news article published by a local news agency in New Jersey. Partners' New Jersey Chapter is linked with Haiti.