By David Stillman | PPAF Executive Director, Project Leader
Dear PPAF Supporters and Friends,
First of all, a big THANK YOU to all who contributed to very successful fundraising by PPAF, especially through the GlobalGiving Bonus Day in July, and the Little by Little campaign in September. In addition to the gifts from donors these efforts merited some $1,200 in matching funds from GlobalGiving. Accordingly, we and collaborating organizations have been able to resume support for the solar cooking and biogas course at the University Notre Dame d’Haiti in Hinche (UNDH-Hinche) and the cooking and sewing classes at the Art Creation Foundation for Children (ACFFC) in Jacmel, Haiti. We and volunteer team members from KDCK and Solar CITIES Biogas are now finalizing plans for a year-end monitoring and expansion trip, including establishing a biodigester at a community center in Cotes de Fer.
The team leaders at UNDH-Hinche and ACFFC organized a round of users’ surveys for the Haines solar cookers that had been distributed in June. The results (35 in Hinche, 10 in Jacmel) showed students often used the solar cookers in the setting of their families. They cooked several kinds of food and reported saving money that would otherwise have been needed for charcoal. The surveys will be repeated and expanded, consistent with guidelines from Solar Cookers International (SCI). Such news is central to the purpose of our GlobalGiving project.
Our support for the previous course (23 students) at UNDH-Hinche was interrupted from mid-March to early August by the national COVID-19 lockdown. Final exams for that term took place in August. A new semester began in September (28 students). Exams are scheduled for early December. The tree nursery that had been started with biodigester fertilizer has survived despite the lockdown, and young saplings have been planted around the campus.
Solar CITIES Biogas and KDCK, with participation from SCI, prepared and provided flashdrives in January with teaching, practice session and reference materials for the solar and biogas wings of the course. The team at UNDH-Hinche reports these to be very useful.
The organizers at both project sites have asked for more Haines solar cookers. PPAF has organized shipments of 30 for UNDH-Hinche and 26 for ACFFC. These are for use by the current classes of students and for promoting solar cooking in the two towns (each the seat of government in its Department). We and the Haines company look forward to possibilities for eventual local manufacture.
As part of the current semester at UNDH-Hinche, students have been assigned homework construction and class presentation of simple solar cookstoves and small model biodigesters. They are proud of their experiences, as can be seen in the attached photos.
Giving Tuesday is approaching fast! We hope you will join us again and help to press ahead!
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