Konbit Pou Ayiti

The Youth for the Development of Cyvadier (JDS) are a fairly new group. Cyvadier is a lush and fertile coastal area, but the signs of erosion are already clear on the hills above. When heavy rains soak southern Haiti, many homes and gardens in Cyvadier are affected.

During its first year, JDS planted nearly 30,000 trees to protect one of the community’s most valuable assets: its three mountainside water sources. A mixture of fruit and hardwood trees were planted to protect the sources from further degradation. Members of JDS climb the mountain to water the trees when it isn’t rainy season.

This past month has seen some major changes in JDS. As the program is maturing, leaders are putting more emphasis on commitment, punctuality and work ethic. What began as eighteen kids has grown to forty, and more keep coming to sign up! Members are now divided into two groups for work sessions, partly because our kitchen couldn’t cook a meal for all the children at once!

In response to the growing interest in the program, a coordinating committee is being formed. Guypson Catalis, staff of KONPAY, will remain the director of the project, but he will now work with a youth committee made up of Andy Pierre, Daphne Jean Baptiste and Francky Louisgene. All four members of this coordinating committee will be attending a three-day training seminar after Easter where they will learn the Open Space methodology (see www.openspaceworld.com for more information) for leadership and meeting facilitation, thanks to the generous support of Scott Southard and Tonya & Jim Sneed. One of their first tasks as the coordinating committee is to develop the training schedule for JDS members, as well as to start defining membership and succession for the program.

At a recent meeting we had the pleasure of distributing donated red sneakers from Global Village in Peoria, IL. We’ll be looking for smaller red sneakers for the younger kids and soon everyone will be able to identify the members of JDS by their footwear!