Tracking clean cookstoves & fuel in Haiti

Dear friends and supporters,

( Save the date – Giving Tuesday, November 28, is coming soon.  Please be generous! )

Despite the turmoil in Haiti, mostly in the capital city, the PPAF project is recording success in Hinche and Jacmel, including the first sales of solar cookers at both locations.  We hope you will be as excited as we are when you read our update and see the attached photos.

The lead photo for this report shows repairs to a dilapidated, dangerous bridge outside Hinche, and a solar-cooked lunch.  The bridge is on the way to one of the orphanages where a collaborator supplied solar cookers and a PPAF colleague goes for monitoring visits.  Our colleague organized community-led repairs and PPAF covered the costs.  He also organized the use of several solar cookers for a community demonstration and lunch that day, which led to sales on the spot.

Also in Hinche, another colleague is using solar cookers for demonstrations and light lunches after Sunday services at her church.  She manages one of the orphanages PPAF supports, across the street, and has borrowed cookers from those supplied by our collaborator.  Now that PPAF’s first shipment has arrived, she is gaining customers for these.

That first shipment for Hinche came through an airfreight piggyback arrangement with our collaborator and never had to pass through Port-au-Prince.  We have placed the supply with the community group REPASERVONOUS, with which PPAF has a relationship.  They make them available to our PPAF colleagues and are gearing up to make sales themselves.

The first shipment for Jacmel has also come through a piggyback arrangement, with our friends at the Art Creation Foundation for Children (ACFFC). These did have to pass through Port-au-Prince, and we are glad they arrived safely. 

Our PPAF colleague in Jacmel received this supply.  He has been conducting solar tests and demonstrations for quite some time.  Now he can begin to make sales.  He has met with some of those for whom he has previously conducted demonstrations.  Recently he led a large and successful demonstration, leading to sales, in the public park.

At the ACFFC itself, PPAF has been supporting solar cooking classes for the low-income children connected with this center.  Recently the students met the challenge of preparing a solar-cooked lunch, with several dishes, for the annual meeting of all staff.  It was a big success.

We want to acknowledge and thank our collaborators in these exciting steps.  The work by colleagues in orphanages, church, and elsewhere around Hinche has relied on donations of SunDome Solar Ovens, from Solar Oven Reflectors, LLC.  The work at ACFFC and by our colleague in Jacmel has relied on purchases from Haines Solar Cookers, LLC.  We are glad to call upon several organizations and individuals for advice and a hand.  Going forward, we intend to create and build small business opportunities, including local assembly and distribution. 

Thanks to all for your support!

Links:

• Public-Private Alliance Foundation - website

Report 24-25 - News from Haiti & the UN

Dear friends and supporters,

Solar cooking demonstrations and training are advancing in Hinche and Jacmel Haiti. In addition, PPAF recently participated in an exhibit on solar cooking at the United Nations in New York. We are very happy to report on these, despite the continued political and economic insecurity in Haiti’s capital city and elsewhere in the country. 

Attached is a YouTube video of a cooking demonstration at a marketplace near Hinche.  This shows an enthusiastic welcome for the innovation brought by colleagues who are members of the Haitian non-profit Repaservonous.  Members post their progress and share their experiences in a WhatsApp group.  They are moving beyond learning about solar to promoting what can be done.  The next step will be to develop the beginnings of sales and distribution of solar cooking kits to meet a budding demand.

Also attached is PPAF’s illustrated booklet “Solar Cooking – Progress in Haiti.” We presented this as part of an exhibit during the 2023 session of the UN High Level Political Forum.  This introduced and summarized our work, engaged UN delegates and others, and helped them become aware of solar cooking possibilities in Haiti.  Solar Cookers International was the main partner in the exhibit. Its representative was able to introduce visitors to the worldwide range of SCI advocacy, capacity-building, and research.

As shown in the photos with this report, PPAF is supporting two lines of activity in Jacmel – solar cooking classes for adults and for kids.  A long-standing colleague and his associate have been teaching solar cooking to members of the non-profit Ann Repanse Sides.  That organization aims to rethink development work in Jacmel and Haiti’s SouthEast.  In relation to kids, PPAF is supporting solar cooking classes and refreshers for low-income students at the Art Creation Foundation for Children.

In Hinche, PPAF is working with the suppliers of two different solar cookers.  A Haitian colleague has been teaching and monitoring the use of sets of Sun Dome Solar Ovens, from Solar Oven Reflectors, LLC.  This is at a half dozen orphanages in the area.  The Repaservonous members are using the products of Haines Solar Cookers, LLC.  Beyond our own observations, we are glad to note the work of our friends at Solar Cookers International, who have established a performance evaluation program for standards based on internationally accepted protocols.

Looking to the future, PPAF wants to bring more solar cookers into Haiti and stimulate their assembly and distribution.  Security conditions are currently a serious problem, but we are planning and fundraising to achieve the goal.

Thanks to all for your support! 

Links:

• Haiti market - solar cooking demonstration - YouTube
• Pubic-Private Alliance - website

• PPAF presentation for UN solar cooking exhibit (PDF)