Sadhana Forest Hait was established in 2010. Since then it has served the local population of the area and as an educational volunteer experience for international and local visitors.

Anse-à-Pitres

Anse-à-Pitres is a municipality with 25,000 inhabitants, on an area of 185 km (115 mi), located in the southeastern corner of Haiti, close to the border of the Dominican Republic. A large percentage of the population in Anse-à-Pitres suffers from malnutrition, and from health related problems like: high infant and mother mortality, pre-term labor, and immune deficiency in children and adults.

Charcoal

Haiti is one of the most deforested countries in the world. One of the reasons for deforestation is the charcoal business. Many people in the area do not have the means to sustain themselves so one of the only options they have is to cut down trees and turn it into charcoal. This is a very big challenge for reforestation projects. We have adopted an approach of “each tree is protected by a person”. The trees we distribute are not planted out in the open with no one to protect them, they are given to people that can protect them from chopping and grazing. Recently we came to the understanding that this approach has resulted in a magnificent survival rate of 74% in the towns and 94% in the villages of the Anse-à-Pitres area.

Planting Food Bearing Trees

Together with the people of Anse-à-Pitres we have already planted more than 55,000 indigenous food-growing trees. Many trees have also been planted in public spaces like parks, schools, etc.

Our main efforts have been focused on distributing the Maya nut tree which produces a highly nutritious nut that can be used in many different ways – milled into flour, baked into bread, boiled as porridge, extracted into oil, etc. We also distribute other food bearing trees to the local population. We have established a nursery that can produce 50,000 saplings per batch (potential of two batches a year). The planting is done mainly in kitchen gardens and in surrounding villages in the larger Anse-à-Pitres municipal area. The planting is done together with the local population and training is offered in Sadhana Forest Haiti’s training center. Another major aspect of the project is focused on sustainable living and water conservation. We are constantly sharing this knowledge and acquiring knowledge from the people who visit us. The project has held Permaculture courses in Haitian Creole, workshops, international Permaculture courses, and is constantly expanding its operations in the Anse-à-Pitres area.

We believe that such valuable knowledge is the commodity of the masses and we give all of our courses, workshops, and training free of charge. To read more about why we do not charge for our knowledge please visit: “Gift Economy”