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Haiti
We believe one of the strategic paths to positive, sustainable change in Honduras starts with Aquaponics.
(You can find the full definition of Aquaponics by clicking here). Aquaponics allows for the creation and implementation of a renewable method of raising healthy fish alongside hydroponically-grown leafy vegetation.
This will substantially provide both food and a practical trade for anyone interested in learnng and maintaining these systems.
Connect Global's own National Director of Honduras, Jorge Amador, has built 5 systems in La Ceiba over the last year and plans several more in 2018 and beyond.
To find out More Please Check out the Articles below on Aquaponics
Featured Articles on Aquaponics from Connect Global
To Join us, you can go with us to install the next system, or you can make a donation towards the overall cost of our next project.
1. In Haiti...You never Know
Julio Jn Gilles and Javier Mendoza in Madeline Haiti
This has become a familiar response while traveling through Haiti with Julio. I take this in a very positive way. He is keeping a gentle attitude about things that are out of his control. We try to control our schedules as best as we can. We cross all of the t's and dot the i's but in Haiti, as in life, sometimes you just never know. That means don't sweat it and be content with where you are. Stay motivated, but realize that as much as you would like it to be, not everything is under your control.
2. Compassion trumps Convention
“Pastor Julio’s compassion defies convention by providing much needed access to quality education for a group of children who will one day raise themselves out of poverty, and change the nation of Haiti. ”
Allowing things to stay "the way they've always been" is not only unacceptable it simply has no power in the eyes of Julio Jn Gilles. A son who grew up without his mother, practicing voodoo, and having no consistent place to lay his head at night, Julio knows first hand how for millions of people Past Predicts Future. Julio however had a different path because of the compassion of a missionary who saw it more fitting to send Julio to seminary than voodoo rituals. It's now the compassion of Jesus Christ that propels Julio's mission in life. He provides food for the needy and education for over 150 students every year. It is his compassion that allows the neediest ten percent of his student body to still attend school despite their inability to pay tuition. Pastor Julio's compassion defies convention by providing much needed access to quality education for a group of children who will one day raise themselves out of poverty, and change the nation of Haiti.
3. Challenges will face Everyone but not everyone faces their challenges.
Julio Jn Gilles is restoring dignity and hope to the nation of Haiti.
Everyone has challenges but it's how we deal with our challenges that determine who we are. Our own personal challenges always seem like mountains to us because we see them up close. Not to say that our challenges aren't really challenging they are. I'm saying that there is always someone who has overcome a bigger challenge than us, at some point in history. Pastor Julio has helped me realize that how big or small a challenge seems, is largely in the eye of the beholder. We have the ultimate choice to either face our difficulties head on, or allow them to bury us in over our head. For someone who has faced dozens of challenges, Pastor Julio Jn Gilles in Haiti, has overcome and is overcoming them in a huge way. He leads a growing church that is near capacity every week, 6 grades of school, is raising a family of five, and finds joy in the fact that at one point in his life could not fathom a future for himself.
Pastor Julio Jn Gilles
Pastor Julio Jn Gilles In Haiti displays an evident passion for God, and has compassion for people.
Pastor Julio Jn Gilles is a Haitien Pastor with a wonderful motivation to see his nation positively changed for good. From the voodoo rich culture, to hundreds of years of governmental corruption, to know the historical challenges still facing haiti, one can almost resolve to think that the country is beyond restoration. To hear Pastor Julio, however, is a different story. He recognizes the hurt that his nation has both endured and inflicted upon itself, and yet he remains dedicated to seeing positive change within his lifetime.
Growing up poor after his mother passed away when he was three, his father raised him to practice and partake in the country's voodoo religion. He struggled through school and was constantly living homeless and hungry, until one day a Christian missionary took him in and gave him a bed to sleep in and food to eat. The missionary helped restore his dignity and gave him hope for a future. That relationship led Julio to seminary and now some two decades later he has become a well respected Husband, Father, Pastor, School Director, and a Friend to everyone he crosses paths with.
He has now made it his mission to restore dignity and hope to Haiti through his five children as well as through the primary school and church that he and his countless friends have built in Cap Haitien.
Please keep Pastor Julio In your prayers and consider partnering with him financially so he can confidently continue the amazing work he is doing.
Featured
Author: Bhawan Singh, University of Montréal, and Marc J. Cohen, Oxfam America
Haiti has long faced severe natural and human-created hazards due to its location in the Caribbean hurricane zone and to widespread deforestation. Hazards including storms, floods, and droughts have highly destructive impacts on buildings, land, water, livestock, and people in Haiti. The poorest Haitians, including low-income women, children, and elderly people, are especially vulnerable. What are the impacts of climate change, now and in the future?
The prospects for building Haiti’s resilience to climate change are now closely tied to post-earthquake reconstruction. As Haiti turns its attention to preparing for more disasters and rebuilds significant parts of its infrastructure, there is a real opportunity to integrate climate resilience into these efforts.
This report analyses Haiti’s adaptive capacity, adaptation options, and finance and governance issues. It concludes with recommendations related to resilience building and climate-change adaptation needs and opportunities.
- See more at: http://www.oxfam.org/en/grow/policy/climate-change-resilience#sthash.OeL15Cvx.dpuf
By making Sustainable Solutions accessible, we are empowering life change in communities around the world in a dignified and lasting manor.
(via Connect Global)
Come to Haiti with us in 2014, There are two opportunities for you to join us.
Fill out the TEAM APPLICATION (via Connect Global — Haiti)
There are several trips planned for 2014, and we are accepting applications for team members now!
(via Connect Global — Trips)
I’m still decompressing and processing everything I experienced during my week in Haiti, but I wanted to share a little bit with those who helped me to get there and everyone else who has asked how it went.
Monday morning, as my husband was driving me to the airport, I was filled with an overwhelming sense of fear and all I could think is, “I can’t do this!” I almost told him to turn around and go home. The reality of not seeing my family for a week and possibly not speaking to them hit me hard and fast. I kept my mouth shut, reminded myself that God had a plan and that He would sustain me throughout my trip and boarded my first plane. After the first flight was over, I felt significantly more confident.
When we arrived in Haiti, we were bombarded by men whose only means of income was basically begging at the airport. Some were pushy, some presented themselves as helpful friends who just wanted to lend a hand. Most people automatically think, “Get a job”, and then the reality of your location sets in and that annoyance, for me, was replaced with compassion I don’t think I’ve ever felt. Lesson/confirmation #1 - if I am pursuing the heart of God and my desire is to imitate Christ, compassion shouldn’t be secondary, it should be my primary reaction.
I was the only woman in our team of 6, and they’d never had a woman on any previous trips so none of us were prepared for the cultural differences and honestly, in my American naivety, I just figured they’d ignore me, pat me on my head for not knowing any better and move on. Instead, the Pastor’s wife made sure I had extra clothes which was incredibly uncomfortable for me because I’m not a dress or skirt kind of gal. I was ready to dig in the dirt, run around with some kids and instead I was introduced to the world that the Haitian women live every day. They work hard to maintain their homes, all day, every day. The fact that we were there and that they wanted to give us their very best meant that they worked harder. They didn’t have the modern conveniences that I personally take for granted literally every day of my life. They don’t have electricity most of the time, so that means no washers and dryers, no stoves, no refrigerators to store your meat and freeze enough for the week. It means daily trips to the market to pick up fresh vegetables, fruit and whatever meat you’re cooking for that day. It means sitting in the yard, drawing buckets of water from the well and spending hours washing clothes and hanging them out to dry.
I am married to an amazing man, who busts his tail to provide for our family and treats me like a queen even when I probably don’t deserve it. He does it because he loves us, he has a heart to serve and he is blessed because of it. I’ve grown to appreciate him in a new way over the last few months and actually started to feel bad because I feel like I don’t reciprocate that nearly enough. It never bothered me until recently, and before I even started to plan the trip, I started to pray for motivation to be more committed to being a more productive wife and mother. Lesson/confirmation #2 - I have NO excuse to give my husband and my children anything less than my absolute best every single day.
I couldn’t have hand-picked a better group of people to travel with and I’m so glad God put together this particular team.
There was a “papa bear” type who looked out for me throughout the trip because he knew any good man would appreciate knowing that someone had his wife’s back her first time out of the country. One of our team leaders floored me the first time I met him at a marriage seminar last year because he was so open to the Holy Spirit and told me things about myself that absolutely blew my mind. From that point, I was eager to be more open to that kind of guidance and I always look forward to any time I get to spend with him because I see the passion in his heart for the vision that God has given him. His partner has that same fire and a great sense of humor to go along with it which brings great levity to sometimes awkward situations and makes any encounter with him a great one. 2 of the guys were much younger than the rest of us, 18 and 20 and I was SO impressed by their fearlessness and desire to go wherever God leads. I had that same spirit when I was younger and allowed myself to forget it over the years so I was inspired daily by these two young men to continue to rekindle that fire.
7 days is a lot to process, and I’d fill up the internet trying to share it all with you. I cried a little, laughed a lot and I’m sure God will continue to help me sift through everything I experienced but I know that I definitely got what I went for and so much more. Thank you again to everyone who helped me get there, you’ll never fully understand just how wonderful you are to me and how large your role was in this particular part of my life, but I will be forever grateful.
Some people have expressed interest in mission trips and had no idea where to start. This is the team that I went with to Haiti. Aside from the fact that I personally think they are amazing human beings, I appreciate the very intentional nature of their ministry. They are building relationships in various locations, so you will have the opportunity to go and follow up in the place you are lead to go.
Before I left, my heart was set on service to my family and the ways I could be more diligent in my day to day tasks. The blessing of wearing “wife and mother” as my primary job title is something I’m still adjusting to and even take for granted at times. Spending the week in Haiti opened my eyes and blew my mind in various ways, but seeing Pastor Julio’s wife organize and run her home was absolutely awe inspiring. To her, it is service in love to them and anyone who comes to their home. If I’m able to imitate even a fraction of that, I’ll definitely be much better at my job. -Marcia Perry
The Connect Global Team has been investing in Aquaponics since our inception. On our First Official Trip as 'Connect Global' to Cusuna, Honduras we built 5 aquaponic systems. We have learned a lot since then, and our friend and partner Jorge Amador has built many more complete systems and taught several people his skills as well. We plan to build and facilitate an Aquaponic Training Center in Honduras soon.