This area is a very different environment from Bayonnais. It's like southern California desert; rocky and barren. Cactus and low brush cover the sandy/rocky soil. We drop off a friend of Demeter who has traveled with us from Gonaieves then continue through what feels more like trails through the desert than roads. The sun sets. We are driving towards the mountains. These paths branch off and split many times. If you didn’t know where you were going you would quickly and easily get lost. There are cacti and what looks like dried up riverbeds lit up by the headlights. The kitten that we found on the way to Sources Chaudes and named Bon Bagay (Creole for “It’s a good thing!) curls up on John’s lap. We arrive at the AMURT offices after dark, and have an impromptu dinner of spaghetti and rum and Sprite. We talk about Haiti and development, discovering that we have a lot of alignment of ideas. Community based enterprises we all believe are one good answer to Haiti’s problems. Ground up as well as top down answers will eventually meet in the middle and provide stability for Haitians to seize opportunities and develop their own economy. To change the course of Haiti a balance between investment in infrastructure and community based enterprise is needed. We talked about the need for a community bank in Sources Chaudes. A bank will provide loans to residents; provide credit to compete with the usurious rates local moneylenders charge, and provide a safe place to store cash. This will initiate fiscal stability for the community.
AMURT and Demeter have done a lot to provide stability for the area. They negotiated agreements to end the conflict over the water flowing from the mountains into the communities along the shore. Now instead of strategizing over how to divert water, maintain control and prevent others from using the water, Demeter has ensured that everyone has a fair and equitable use of the natural resources. In addition, they are working with salt manufactures to provide an improved process for salt cultivation. AMURT has built a medical facility and is currently constructing a school. The pedal generator and lighting enterprise fits very well with this vision of development. Downstream manufacturing would expand this idea by employing additional people driving the price of the generator down further, allowing other communities to benefit from it and the associated enterprise model.
Demeter organizes a community meeting to show interested people the pedal generator and lights. About forty people show up at AMURT’s office. They get very excited by the project and want to start that day! Demeter is very excited by the potential of the project too. He wants to make sure that in addition to the generator and lights the project can transition into manufacturing. The generator is quite simple; using readily available parts, and easy to obtain crank set and pedals. The circuit board (used to protect the battery from being overcharged) will most likely be imported at first. Manufacturing will employ additional people (not just an operator), bring more cash into the community, drive the price of the generators down, and provide a good base for bringing the generators to other communities in Haiti and the Caribbean basin.
Another AMURT project in Sources Chaudes is a factory manufacturing slow sand filters for home use. The factory is in an old school built under the Aristide regime. The design for the filters comes from the University of Calgary. The factory employs about 10 people building the filters, then selling and installing them in local resident’s houses. They charge a subsidized rate, which is supported by a grant. These filters are used on the local water supply, which is a natural hot spring that surfaces in the community. Like Bayonnais, this source provides water to the immediate area, allowing community members to focus on other wealth creation activities. The spring is cooled and fills a community swimming pool. A hotter stream fills a small soaking tub also used by community members. We swam one night in the pool and sat in the hot springs under a full moon on the second night.
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