OHDD (Organisation Haïtienne pour Développement Durable / Haitian Organization for Sustainable Development) is a social and non-profit organization working in Petit Goâve since 2005. They have envisioned the development of a community center that includes scholarship for orphaning children, tree nursery, soil conservation, and formation in nursery management and soil conservation in benefit of the
peasants, community sanitation, Socio-education. They are inspired by the essential philosophy of Platon which points out that community gathering centers, where people are able to share ideas of the arts, politics, and philosophy, are necessary for a healthy community working towards any common goal. OHDD has been working hard in their town to educate the community about environmental issues including deforestation, soil erosion, pollution through the misuse of plastics, and overpopulation. One member of the organization has been put in jail because of the group’s attempts to stop the cutting down of the few remaining trees that exist in the town. They have been able to save hundreds of trees by actively engaging the people cutting down the trees in conversation about the problems of deforestation. If that doesn’t work, which often it doesn’t, the group threatens to take them to court. During the presidency of Papa Doc, laws were set in place that made it illegal to cut down trees larger than a certain diameter. Since the fall of Baby Doc, most of the old laws haven’t been enforced, although they still exist. The group is working towards bringing environmental justice within their community. However, they are facing further challenges with local community leaders, such as judges and mayors that have financial interests in cutting down the trees. Community Need:
Haiti’s Population has been growing exponentially for the past few decades and has resulted largely in towns that line the highways without any forethought into creating livable communities. This has been mainly due to poor infrastructural planning and the overwhelming poverty. Therefore, there are hundreds of miles of highways that stretch across Haiti that have houses lining them without any town centers, parks, free spaces or civil services. Parents, who average 2 American dollars a day, are expected to pay for their children’s education at a high premium. More than 60% of the population is considered illiterate and school funding is at its lowest. The need for income and lack of opportunity has resulted in many abuses to the land (that means deforestation for hard wood commerce, over planting hillsides causing erosion). This is why OHDD feels it is important to educate people in different level and would like to create a free space for people to come together and have access to information through all kinds of information, and from this information they will know more and try to have other living condition. Soon, we will do our best to plan to build a formation center that will provide a facility for the townspeople to congregate, share information and hold seminars on the many pressing problems that Haiti faces. Also included will be a tree nursery to give hands on experience with the most pressing problem Haiti faces; deforestation.
