Just Haiti trip to check coffee status after hurricanes
September 17, 2008

From September 17 to 25, Kim Lamberty of Just Haiti will travel to Haiti and attempt to travel to Baradères, the community of coffee growers with whom Just Haiti works.

Haiti has been hammered by four major storms in the past month—tropical storms Fay and Hanna and hurricanes Gustav and Ike.  An estimated 500 to 1,000 people have died, and perhaps a million have been left homeless, according to Partners in Health, the organization led by Dr. Paul Farmer. And workers have not yet reached all the affected areas, because roads have been destroyed and streams are still too swollen to cross.

In Baradères, flooding caused severe losses of livestock and food crops in the river valley. When Kim returns, we will report on the extent of storm damage to the coffee crop. Normally, the season's first coffee harvest would have begun by now.

In addition, Baradères' only road to the outside world was washed out. Nevertheless, conditions permitting, Kim will travel to Baradères to meet with the growers' association to discuss future plans, including the timing of the next shipment of coffee.

Kim will also meet with Just Haiti's country representative, Father Pascal, and our agronomist, Atila Getro. In addition, she will meet with shippers and agriculture officials to firm up logistics for shipping Baradères coffee to the U.S.

We will report on the outcome of her trip.  In the meantime, please consider helping the Haitian people cope with and recover from the recent storm disasters by donating to organizations that are very active in Haiti, such as Doctors Without Borders, Partners in Health and Catholic Relief Services.