Help Raise 50K for Haitian Farmers to fight Hunger

This is a season of growth—and your generosity is helping it flourish.

On Lagonav Island, where hunger remains a persistent challenge, your support is making it possible for Haitian families, students, and educators to lead a grassroots movement that’s fighting hunger with creativity, knowledge, and community solidarity.

In the past few months, your gifts have helped strengthen and expand the Creole Gardens initiative—a program that provides families and schools with seeds, tools, training, and ongoing accompaniment to grow their own organic food. But the impact goes far beyond food. This is also about building dignity, reclaiming local knowledge, and equipping children and their families to build more secure futures together.

May Day: Planting for the Future

May 1 is Labor and Agriculture Day in Haiti—a moment when communities pause to honor the dignity of work and the importance of the land. This year, students at the Matènwa Community Learning Center marked the occasion by planting fruit trees across the school’s campus and surrounding areas.

• Eighth grade students planted avocado and tamarind trees. These are more than symbolic acts—these trees will provide food, prevent soil erosion, offer shade, and one day, serve as sources of income. Tamarind in particular is widely used in rural Haitian communities to make juice or be eaten raw, and it's rich in Vitamin C.
  
  
• First graders each planted their own tamarind tree, proudly recognizing how important the fruit is to family nutrition and local markets.
  
  
• Preschool students, dressed in costumes made of banana leaves, joined in the celebrations too—highlighting the joy, color, and cultural pride that’s woven into daily life at MCLC.
  
  

In a country often portrayed only through struggle, these moments are vibrant reminders of resilience and renewal, rooted in Haitian culture and driven by community leadership.

Food, Culture, and Creativity

Beyond farming, your support also strengthens the holistic, locally rooted education at MCLC—one that teaches children to care for the land and their communities.

In May, seventh grade students learned how to make gift boxes from recycled paper, wood seeds (known locally as grenn legliz), glue, and natural materials. These creative, hands-on projects teach sustainability and craftsmanship, and they give students practical skills that connect to both their heritage and economic opportunity.

Meanwhile, Adonaï, the school’s facilities and agriculture manager, used bamboo grown on campus to create furniture and beautify shared spaces with flowering plants. This is the same bamboo that was planted years ago by students and staff—now being used to furnish their learning environment and create peaceful places to gather during recess and before class. This cycle—from planting, to harvesting, to creating—embodies the values of sustainability and self-reliance.

Honoring Haitian Flag Day with Joy and Pride

On May 18, Matènwa held a special celebration for Haitian Flag Day. Students, parents, and teachers gathered to raise the flag in a ceremony filled with music, reflection, and joy. This year, fanfa drummers played traditional rhythms while students from every grade participated in unique ways:

• Preschool students wore straw hats and costumes made of natural materials.
  
  
• Third-year secondary students (Ns3) proudly wore hand-woven hats and helped younger students celebrate the heroes of Haitian independence.
  
  
• Students posed for photos in front of images of Haiti’s founding figures—reflecting on the past while looking toward the future they are helping to shape.
  
  

You Are Making This Movement Possible

All of this—tree planting, gardening, hands-on learning, cultural celebration—is part of a bigger story. A story of local leadership, creativity, and hope that’s unfolding on rural Lagonav Island thanks to your support.

Through the Creole Gardens program and the broader food sovereignty movement, students and families are:

• Growing food to fight hunger
  
  
• Honoring local culture and knowledge
  
  
• Learning practical skills in sustainability
  
  
• Teaching one another what is possible when a community comes together
  
  

Your support helps provide seeds, tools, training, and solidarity that families can count on. It brings parents and educators together to face growing economic hardship with dignity and determination.

You’re not just helping grow gardens. You’re helping plant a future rooted in justice, resilience, and hope.

From all of us—and especially from the Matènwa community—thank you for believing in this work and for standing with Haitian families.

Links:

• Check out our YouTube channel for the latest Lagonav videos.