By Marie-Rose Romain Murphy | Servant Leader
Dear Friend,
With the rest of the world, Haiti is facing increasingly complex climate change disasters and humanitarian and socio-economic challenges. What is our secret power and our wealth? The love and commitment of Haitian community leaders and Diaspora members who never give up, keep fighting to advance our communities and keep our country alive. When Haiti finds a place in your heart, it never lets go.
2025 was a very challenging year as disasters abounded and many countries faced war, conflicts and major disasters, sometimes all at once. The aid sector faced its own tsunami as European and North American donors drastically cut their support. The result led to the death of many Global South vulnerable populations and the demise of too many community-based organizations.
Our Network and our foundation are still standing and fighting for our people, thanks to our allies and the support of people and institutional leaders like you. Our initiatives are educating youth, boosting communities’ economic development and, as usual, our network is working with and for communities to build “Ayti Cheri,” our beloved homeland and nation.
Challenges
Hurricane Melissa gravely affected many regions of Haiti. We are working on meeting our communities’ short-, medium- and long-term needs. Bottom line: stronger communities are able to manage disasters better. Preparedness is critical!
After a disaster, the first thing that ESPWA with its partner Fondation Communautaire Haitienne-Espwa | The Haiti Community Foundation do as a network of networks is an assessment by community leaders and field staff. This report was compiled by L’Hérisson Hilaire, our network's Executive Director, from information gathered from our people about the areas most affected by Hurricane Melissa:
Context: In rural Haiti, we say that “Bèt se kanè bank peyzan,” or “Farm animals are a small farmer’s savings account.” I saw a video showing a man trying to save his pig from drowning. It was heartbreaking. Also, no crops means hunger and poverty for families, communities and the country. Haiti’s fragility exacerbated the impact of Hurricane Melissa.
We gathered a great deal of information from local representatives and some partner community organizations and the results are painfully sobering. There were dozens of deaths, a number that keeps rising as the “missing” stay missing. In coastal communities, houses were flooded and community residents lost all of their belongings. Small farmers lost their crops and farm animals. As communities have shared their reports and accounted for their losses, the lack of insurance, social protection and government support point to a challenging road to recovery.
The FCH-Espwa field team also observed that the Grand’Anse River washed away several cubic meters of soil, destroying plots of banana trees, sugarcane, etc. The river’s erosion even paralyzed the Jérémie-Moron Road in several places.
Generally speaking, road infrastructure, homes and agriculture have been the most severely affected. The accelerated degradation of the environment (mountain slopes, riverbanks, etc.) has exacerbated the effects of this hurricane, leaving thousands of families in utter devastation.
Community Commitments and Initiatives
Green Jobs for Haiti Youth
Providing green jobs for Haiti youth is a new project of ESPWA and of Fondation Communautaire Haitienne-Espwa | The Haiti Community Foundation, in collaboration with a number of local partners: la Chambre des Métiers et de l’Artisanat d’Haïti (CMAH); la Fondation Nouvelle Grand’Anse (FNGA); and le Groupe d’action pour le développement durable et intégré (GADDIH).
Funded by The United Nation Environmental Program (UNEP) and The International Labor Organization (ILO), this initiative involves over 570 community youth, with 35 of them involved in bamboo artisanal training, pictured here.
A Breadfruit Flour Transformation Center
We continue to build our breadfruit flour transformation center, thanks to the support of our partners and of loyal supporters like you.
A few facts:
We hire ‘local’ and try to hire as many young people as possible. For every job we have, there are at least 10 more people applying for it. Per their request, we’ve adjusted our budget to increase their daily pay. This project is a community economic development initiative that will benefit the department, the Grand Sud region and the country.
Many, many thanks again for your support. As you can see it contiues to provide critical support services to the Haitian communities that we work with.
Warmest regards,
Marie-Rose, on behalf of our network and of the communities that we serve
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