“The concept of revolution was born in the mind of a peasant overlooking his fields and thinking: This is not exploitable ground, but the living mother!”
-Paul Theroux (audiobook from the Cairo collection).
(OBEK)
Oganizasyon Pou ByennÈt Kapwouj
Organisation Pour Le Bien-Être De Cap Rouge
Organization for the Betterment of Cap Rouge
(OBEC)
(Region - Cap Rouge red soil, Sud-Est Haiti)
About the Mapou (the Silk Cotton Tree) and its Significance
The Mapou tree is a gateway to other dimensions and the home of certain Spirits (Loa). In traditional rituals, in national spiritual Lakous, and in private Lakous, several Mapou trees are decorated with the colors of the Spirits that rests there. Each year, ceremonies take place around the Mapou to celebrate those specific Spirits with offerings, drumming, singing, and dancing.
Ecologically, the Mapou’s roots run deep which allows water to come from far beneath the soil. Its roots are gigantic and protect the soil from erosion . Mapou is called Silk Cotton tree as its seeds are nested in a pod full of a cotton like silk fluffing. In countries that still have Mapou forests, this is used to make strong silk like material.
Kapwouj (Cap-Rouge)
Region with the red soil (Sud-Est, Haiti)
Historically, Cap-Rouge is an area where the Taínos and Olmecs had a very strong presence. Artifacts carved in stone mountains are a testimony to this region’s ancestral history. Cap-Rouge used to be a great producer of coffee and cacao for exportation. When the prices of these products dropped during the 1980s, peasants were infuriated and destroyed most of the coffee and cacao crops. They then began producing « cash crops » like corn, peas, cabbage, potatoes, and the regular food products for selling at the local markets.
At the same time, large quantities of citrus were planted and unfortunately succumbed to disease called “greening'“ which slowly destroyed those crops. At the farm present day, we have been strengthening the sour orange crops by sprinkling on the roots, one part urine and ten parts water for a couple of years, which has been now producing healthy crops of sour oranges.
A Review of 2022
In 2022, we had visits from Cultural Capital Haiti, an organization dedicated to supporting grassroots projects across the country. We work together to find solutions to the problems that we face daily led by the people, for the people. We launched our collaboration in October 2022. The hope is to build an avenue for ongoing investment and collect the urgently needed monetary resources, for our various initiatives.
We also connected with abèywayalayiti, an organization that makes honey and the upkeep of bee habitats. We had several visits to regenerative gardens in the area. The agrinatifgrown in Haiti team came to tend to the trees in need of pruning and they planted some regenerative plants like the Mexican sunflower.
Our nursery holds approximately 5,000 seed bags. During the whole season, we continued to plant seeds in the nursery. We distributed 2,500 seedlings of all sorts. In December alone, we filled bags with more than 3,000 seeds to plant and distribute. In August, we sold seeds to agricultural workers in Mirebalais from a member of OBEC's seed bank. It took several weeks and meetings to get all the transactions complete as the situation in Jacmel is direly leaving us without gas and a country-wide lockdown as protests continue.
We planted a lot of food including, Malanga, corn, manyok, peas, tomatoes, and cabbage. We were able to meet with the local OBEC team and plan for the continuation of the reforestation of degraded ravines with Baobab, Jatropha and Maya Nut (Chokogou). We pruned the trees in need and cut the old trees that do not give fruit anymore like the different breadfruit trees. We are currently in the process of preparing the last report of our Reforestation Project with the Maya Nut (Chokogou).
We prepared part of the land to make several germinators with tomato seeds, cabbages, and pepper seeds. We prepared and planted the tomatoes and the cabbage first and are now waiting for the peppers to add to the mix once the rainy season starts again. We are currently in a very severe drought and soon, will lack water for the nursery and food gardens.
We prepared all the materials to make compost along with bags to receive thousands of seeds. We are preparing a workshop for the women of Kay LaFond as well as participating in various workshops ourselves. We continue to strengthen our relationships with other regenerative agriculture organizations and individuals. One example of this is the SWAP partnership, our collaboration with the youth. They will bring us dry horse manure, help to organize the seed bags in the nursery, and help with the mulching of trees. They are compensated with money to buy toys!
What’s Upcoming for OBEC at the Lakou for 2023
Some of our primary goals include; building a 10,000-gallon cistern, raising funds for an office building, raising funds for the Operation of the Lakou to hire a full-time Director, building another nursery for vegetable growing, continuing to fill the nursery with fruits that can be transformed into marketable products, developing a delivery route to bring the crops and food products to local or distant markets, and building proper storage on-site to enable clients to pick up.
Goal: Water Sustainability
The water situation in Cap-Rouge is dire, we rely only on rainwater and the lack of water makes the cash-cropping cultures unsustainable. Our objective is to dig a well and construct a network of cisterns for the distribution of water throughout the region. We stopped digging the well manually at 65 feet as the photo shows below, considering the water is at 300 feet. Electric equipment is required to go as far as the water veins are located.
Goal: International and Local Solidarity
We want to develop more relationships across the Caribbean region, South America, and throughout the Global South. We have been able to establish connections with Boricuas in the country of Borikén (Puerto Rico) and Benin already!
We also want to strengthen existing relationships with foundations, farms, community groups, schools, and Universities, as well as cultivate new relationships. We need to raise awareness amongst students about the urgency of reforestation. Increasing global crises such as war and climate change are already affecting our food supply chain. So, it is crucial to work towards food sustainability which has now become a matter of survival.
Tree Nursery and Seed Bank
Jaden Lakou/ The Homestead
Goal: Land Back
We want to acquire more land in Cap-Rouge, in our close area, to build our dormitory for our local and international visitors, for onsite training and volunteering, as well for the live-in staff.
An important part of our work is incorporating endangered fruit trees, timber trees, and charcoal trees along with Saman also called the Rain tree, The Lignum Vitae, or Bwa Gayak which is a very important hardwood, the second hardest wood in the world, of which we can barely find anymore, and the seed has a very short lifespan. We also distribute the Mapou: Ceiba/Silk cotton tree which has been destroyed mainly by ongoing clear-cutting since the 1950s. We aim to regenerate our environment and bring back all these trees. They were the basis of our tropical rainforest.
Operations and Maintenance
Rocky Paurice, , Director of Operations.
Goal: Continue Distribution, Outreach, and Operations/Maintenance
In April 2020, the OBEC team had a meeting on the subject of the threat of the pandemic. OBEC came together to protect the most vulnerable, within our region of Cap-Rouge from the Covid-19 virus. In June 2020, OBEC chose to support 60 elders and distributed Covid kits which contained; masks (made by two tailors in the community), hygiene products, and some necessities like rice and cooking oil.
The Covid packages which also contained a dozen trees were distributed in the following weeks. After the distribution of trees, we kept in contact with the elders to ensure the success of the tree seedlings from our nursery. If we saw the trees needed more support to thrive, we bring them back to the nursery to nurse them back to health. We worked with locals to develop solid systems and methods to build up the soil they are working with, by adding compost and organic material to the soil.
Goal: Create an Infrastructure for Internet Connectivity
The internet is an issue in Cap-Rouge, so there is a big need for a satellite dish to enable better access to high-speed internet. This will enable easier communication and allow us to do the outreach and other work that we need to do.
