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“If you have come here to help me, you are wasting your time … but if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.” Lila Watson, Australian aboriginal woman
Partners in Progress works “men nan men” (“hand in hand”) with the Association of Peasants of Fondwa (APF) in the tenth communal section of Leogone, a mountainous area located about 60 kilometers South West of Port au Prince about half-way between Leogone on the Northern coast of Haiti’s Southern peninsula and Jacmel on the Southern coast. The population of Fondwa itself numbers approximately 4000, but the region is home to about 40,000 persons. The model of sustainable development being created and tested in Fondwa is based on the vision of APF coordinator (and PIP board member) Fr. Joseph Philippe,CSSp and the approximately 400 members of the peasant association.
For generations the people of Fondwa have paid taxes without receiving ANY services from the government of Haiti in return! It was the “ti legliz” (“little church”) movement of base communities that took root in Haiti after the reforms within the Catholic Church following the Second Vatican Council and the meeting of the Latin American Bishops in Puebla, Mexico in 1979 that became a force for change in Haiti. The Association of Peasants of Fondwa is the result of the people of Fondwa deciding to take responsibility for their community and making use of their resources to improve the quality of life for themselves and their neighbors.
Since it began in 1988 APF has given priority to developing the infrastructure of the Fondwa region. An improved road gives greater access to the nearby markets of Tomb Gato where peasants from Fondwa sell what they produce and purchase what they need. Water projects, improved sanitation (latrines), and soil conservation were also early priorities of APF’s work. Seeing education and health care as essential tools for overcoming the factors of ignorance and disease that have helped keep Haitians poor for 200 years, APF opened Lekol Sen Antwan (St. Anthony School), the cooperative agriculture and animal husbandry program and the APF medical clinic and medical laboratory. The need to create economic opportunities to increase the sustainability of the other projects resulted in the educational tourism program, the bakery, the carpentry and welding shop, commercial center, and auto parts store. Care for the most vulnerable children in the community was assumed by the Sisters of St. Antwan who opened the Fatima House residence for “at risk” children. Most recently APF has sought to disseminate the fruits of its experience and vision through a post-secondary educational program, the University of Fondwa-2004, which will educate men and women drawn from all over Haiti in the principles of sustainable agriculture, animal husbandry, and management. The university opened in January 2004 with 20 students!
Partners in Progress has accompanied APF step by step in its journey towards creating a model of sustainable rural development since PIP began operations in July 2001. Through its program of resource networking it has provided technical assistance and financial support. Thanks to the generous friends of PIP, Partners in Progress has been able to successfully coordinate various streams of existing support for Fondwa projects and generate new sources of funding for sustainable development in Fondwa.
In spite of the fact that Haiti has continued to sink deeper and deeper into misery over the past decade the organized poor of Fondwa, in collaboration with Partners in Progress and other partnering organizations (Family Health Ministries, FONKOZE-HAITI, Peace Development Fund, FUMCOG Fondwa Development Committee, Sacred Heart Church in Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh Regional Haiti Solidarity Committee, and others) have proven that then can solve the problems they face if they have the tools they need. PIP donors are helping them overcome lifetimes of misery, decades of environmental degradation, and chronic scarcity of resources. Together we are making their world, and OURS a better place!
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