Haitian lessons: All In A Day’s Work: From Armen

At the SMH land, chicken coup behind the cow

I should start by saying: please forgive me if it seems that my mind is everywhere… I assure you that it is. You see, in the states, non-profit work is all about specialization - there is one task, and everything falls into place behind that one task. I have found, however, that it pays to be a jack-of-all-trades here.

Second Mile Haiti (the organization I’m here to work with) does have one mission: it is a center for the rehabilitation of malnourished babies and the education & empowerment of their mothers. The singular mission is to bring severely under-nourished children to a healthy weight while simultaneously educating mothers in basic public health knowledge (everything from hygiene to nutrition) and basic business acumen, culminating in those mothers leaving with a healthier baby and a micro business that enables them to support that baby. All-in-all, the program is really beautiful and really well executed. That being said, in almost a month of being here, I have yet to work with mothers or babies… at all.

Which raises the question: what am I doing here? So… to answer that question, I need to tell you a little more about this organization. Second Mile is a complex organism with multiple ongoing projects that all contribute to the main mission in a variety of ways.

Agriculture: The land that the Second Mile compound is build on is attached to several acres of tillable farmland, on which is being grown a variety of staple crops. These include tomatoes, carrots, onions, cabbage, peppers, cepina (a leafy green plant that is similar to spinach), moringa (if you don’t know about this tree, you need to google it… it’s a miracle tree), corn, sorghum and a variety of beans. This produce is then used in the meals cooked on the land (about 25% of the meals are made with our own produce) and the rest is sold in the markets for a profit which then goes to fund the payroll of Second Mile Staff. My Role: my role in this project is limited - aside from the occasional check-in, this project is managed by a team of gardeners who tend the land full-time. We will, however, be working on a tracking system to help us calculate how much the land is producing and how much income it is generating (currently we just use pen and paper).

Baby Alpine goat... no goats milk yet!

Animals: The land has several milk cows, over a dozen goats, and almost forty chickens (there were more, but a large number was recently wiped out by a virus). We also have a recent addition of bees, which we got the first week Leah and I were here. The cows provide milk for baby formula, and the chickens provide… well, eggs, which can then be sold or eaten (We’ve eaten a lot of eggs…). My Role: There are no vets near us, so my role has been to take on part of the research in regards to animal care. This includes, but is not limited to, animal nutrition, general health, required vaccinations, etc…. before you ask, the answer is no: I have no prior veterinary experience. However my new favorite book has become Where There Is No Animal Doctor which is a very handy and user-friendly guide to animal care for the layperson. No joke.

Construction: There is a never ending list of construction projects to be completed on the land (by the time this is posted, there should be a few videos about construction progress up on YouTube). Second Mile has a full-time construction boss (‘boss’ is the local designation for anyone with a specialized skill set… so there are construction bosses, and carpenter bosses etc) who is responsible for the multiple construction projects that are happening. My Role: these construction projects require a constant flow of construction materials - rebar, cement, nails, wood, paint, palm fronds (yes, palm fronds) etc. For this role, I have been buddied up with an original employee of the organization: Harold. Harold and I use the truck to haul in Palm fronds and take excursions into Cap-Haitian for all other supplies.

Those are some of the various outlets of the organization that I have my fingers in. On top of all of this, I’ve been working closely with Jenn to create manageable weekly schedule - as you can imagine, with so many components, it’s easy to get distracted with a million little things throughout the day. I’ll also be working to create their database (a mammoth task in it’s own right) for moms and babies, and making weekly micro videos to update everyone on what’s happening. As I mentioned earlier, the first of these should be available for viewing by the time this blog is posted… click here to watch it...

The funny thing about all of this is that I am an authority on precisely none of the things I am working on… but neither is anybody else, and I have two resources that most people here don’t: time + Google. Needless to say the days are full and there’s always a lot of work to be done or roadblocks to be overcome, but it keeps me on my toes, and for the most part, distracted from the little anxieties that come with cultural adjustment… honestly, I’ve never thought I would make a very good specialist, so I kind of love it.

Things coming up include building a clay/brick oven, bread making, yogurt & cheese making (to sell), and many other things I'm sure...

And now some pictures for your entertainment: