May 24, 2011

Montello, WI — As the country of Haiti struggles in so many ways, there is good news as well. The launch of the first Living Food Bank aquaponic system will bring fresh fish and vegetables to many. The construction of this system is nearing completion on the Northwest Haiti Christian Mission (NWHCM) campus in Saint-Louis Du Nord, Haiti and the training for the individuals who will oversee the operation of the system has been completed in Montello, Wisconsin.

Trainees Chris Clarke (left) and Ed and Lora Ginter in an aquaponics demonstration greenhouse at Nelson and Pade, Inc., in Montello, WI, earlier this year. Photo submitted

Nelson and Pade, Inc., a Wisconsin-based company specializing in aquaponics and the creator of the Living Food Bank, in collaboration with NWHCM, has trained three enthusiastic people who will be managing the new aquaponic system at NWHCM. The Living Food Bank uses a science-based aquaponic system, solar energy and a tropical greenhouse to grow high quality fish and vegetable crops. Aquaponics is an integrated method of raising fish and vegetables in a soilless system. In Haiti, tilapia, a fast-growing fresh water fish, along with leafy greens such as Swiss chard, collards and kale, and peas, beans, eggplant, tomatoes and peppers will all be grown.

Ed and Lora Ginter, from Kentucky, and Chris Clarke, from Montana, traveled to Nelson and Pade, Inc.’s facility in Montello to complete a two-month Extended Stay Learning Program. Nelson and Pade, Inc.’s new demonstration greenhouse has various aquaponic systems in operation which are very close in design to the systems in Haiti so, even though the training took place far from Haiti, the information and application is parallel to the system at NWHCM.

Ed, Lora and Chris learned the daily operation of the systems, water quality testing and monitoring, fish feeding and feed calculations, filter maintenance, seeding, transplanting, harvesting and system assembly.

Nelson and Pade, Inc.’s John Pade and Education Director, Sarah Kaatz, provided direction and education to Ed, Lora and Chris. Other advanced principles covered included fish biology, fish stocking, plant culturing and health, pest scouting and control, bio-security, nutrient dynamics, system and greenhouse maintenance and more. Plus, the team assembled, tested, crated and shipped the complete solar energy system to Haiti.

Ed, Lora and Chris will travel to Haiti – Ed and Lora as long-term missionaries working to oversee this and other aquaponics projects, and Chris to assist with the start up and operation of this system. Rebecca Nelson and John Pade will also travel back to Haiti, to help with the start up of the system. As NWHCM expands their aquaponics projects and installs additional Living Food Bank aquaponic systems, they will have a serious impact on the availability of fresh food in Northwest Haiti and beyond.

This project is headed toward success due to the combination of using a science-based aquaponic system design and a comprehensive training program from Nelson and Pade, Inc., along with the well-established and very capable Northwest Haiti Christian Mission, a holistic ministry that currently feeds 15,000 servings per day, provides medical and surgical services, nutrition programs and many other services to residents of northwest Haiti.

For more information on aquaponics, systems or training programs, visit www.aquaponics.com.

Press release from Nelson and Pade, Inc.

By Andy Olsen, NWHCM Media Director

They listened for days, scribbling on pads of paper. In the hot ocean air of La Baie des Moustiques, the church group from Rockford, Illinois, walked door-to-door to nearly every house in the small town. They asked questions about everything – about who lived where, about who did what, about health and about livestock.

A short-term mission team from Rockford, Illinois, conducts a community needs assessment in La Baie des Moustiques. Photo by Dustin Waller / Contributor

It was Northwest Haiti Christian Mission’s first-ever community needs assessment, a town-wide survey intended to paint a picture of the strengths and weaknesses of the town.

It was the beginning of something big.

Such survey work is the foundation of NWHCM’s Neighbors Project, NWHCM’s new approach to community development. The Neighbors Project facilitates meaningful cross-cultural church-to-church relationships that are dynamic and transformational for both churches and their communities.

With the Neighbors Project, we partner American churches with Haitian churches. They work together to serve people in the Haitian community, sharing physical and spiritual resources with the mutual goal of spreading the Gospel through holistic ministry – that is, by addressing both spiritual and other needs.

The primary goal of the Neighbors Project is to encourage community development projects that are thoughtful, planned, and born out of the real needs of Haitian communities.

The Rockford group is one of a handful of churches working with NWHCM in community development (they actually began their partnership with the La Baie des Moustiques community before the Neighbors Project was conceived). The group quickly recognized that “La Baie” is a fishing village, yet many people there lost their fishing boats in the hurricanes that slammed Northwest Haiti in 2008.

The group decided to work side-by-side with community members to begin replacing those boats. Funded initially by the group, the boat project is designed to eventually be self-funding. Fisherman who receive a boat are expected to take a portion of their profits from selling fish and contribute it toward building another boat.

The concept is simple, but it has significant ramifications. Community members learn and practice biblical concepts of caring for one another, and members of the group learn to invest through service and relational ministry, in addition to providing financial resources.

At NWHCM, we believe that all ministry must be done in Christ-like love, which will show itself in demonstrated respect for both Haitians and foreigners.

And at the center, that is what the Neighbors Project is all about: Listening first with compassion, then acting with wisdom and respect.

Learn more about the Neighbors Project by clicking here, or by contacting Curtis Rogers, NWHCM Community Development Coordinator, at curtis.rogers@nwhcm.org.

Curtis Rogers lives in La Baie des Moustiques with his wife, Danielle, and manages NWHCM’s facilities there.

By Curtis Rogers, Community Development Coordinator

Since the hurricanes and tropical storms of 2008, our entire staff at the mission campus in La Baie des Moustiques has been excited to move to our new campus “up the hill.” We were blessed to be spared from any major storms in 2009 and we do not plan on taking any more chances this year, as we expect to be operating from the new campus by the end of June.

A panorama of NWHCM's new campus in La Baie des Moustiques, which is nearing completion (click to see larger image). Andy Olsen / NWHCM staff

The new campus will be home for both Danielle and me, and also the Cius family (Michelet, Gernide, John Terly, Geneva, Rose Madjie and Michael). It will also be the site of a new children’s home, and we are excited to bring Maxi Iphraim, who grew up in the mission orphanage in Port-de-Paix, onto campus to live with the kids and help run the house. We have spent significant time assessing a number of needy children to possibly bring into this home. We’ve been praying over each one. We expect that there will be quite a few children living with us by the end of the summer.

We want to make sure people know that we are not forgetting about the “old” campus down the hill and all of the important work that has been invested there over the years. The main building, which we call “Miss Pat’s House,” will continue to serve as the group home, where visitors and short-term missionaries will stay while working in La Baie. Our current house on the old campus will be the site of a new clinic after we move out. We hope to employ Haitian nurses there to meet the medical needs of the town. This building will not only offer a clean and safe place to receive medical care daily, it will also serve as a base for medical teams from North America as they serve outlying communities in the Far West. The church building will retain its current function as both the church and the school, although we will need to build a new school in the near future. Michelet’s old house will serve as a classroom as the school grows.

As you can see, the work in La Baie is growing exponentially. One of the primary roles for the campus is serving as a laboratory for many differing development projects and ideas that we hope to duplicate in the Northwest. Whether through farms, composting toilets, micro-loans, or fishing supply stores, the campus at La Baie (like all of the NWHCM campuses) strives to meet the needs of the community in a holistic fashion, partnering with community members for real change. As a staff, we truly believe that the move to the new buildings has already and will continue to open up many opportunities for us to assess the needs of, partner with, and reach the goals of the small part of Northwest Haiti that we serve.

Sawyer Products, a Florida-based water filter manufacturer, has donated 269 water filters to Northwest Haiti Christian Mission’s earthquake relief efforts. The filters will provide vital clean water to communities in Northwest Haiti and in the Port-au-Prince area.

Children at NWHCM's orphanage in Saline Mayette use a Sawyer pointONE water filter. Courtesy Amy Reed / Sawyer Products

Thanks to a special matching program by Sawyer, the filters were provided through a combination of individual gifts, and generous donations from Messiah College students and the congregation of First Church of Christ in Burlington, Kentucky.

After the earthquake struck Haiti, Amy Reed, a Sawyer employee and Messiah College alumna, got in touch with Messiah’s women’s basketball team to raise funds for filters. Both the men’s and women’s basketball teams made appeals at four home games and raised over $3,800 for filters.

“Clean water is of critical importance after a natural disaster because existing water sources can very easily become contaminated and an epidemic of waterborne diseases can be just as deadly as the natural disaster itself,” Reed said. “The Sawyer filters that were donated to NWHCM take literally minutes to install, are easy to maintain, require no chemicals and are powered by gravity. They are not just a short-term solution, they will be providing clean water to the Haitians weeks, months and years down the road.”

The Sawyer pointONE filter is the official water filter for NWHCM development projects. The filters will be distributed through NWHCM’s partners in Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas to help those who were affected by the earthquake, as well as in communities in Northwest Haiti to provide badly needed clean water for poor families and refugees.

Learn more about pointONE filters by clicking here.

To donate to NWHCM’s earthquake relief efforts, click here.