Travel = Flexability and Adaptability

Travel = Flexability and Adaptability

Haiti

Sunday marked a long day of travel back to Iowa from Haiti. We enjoyed some delicious cinnamon rolls and said our goodbyes before hitting the road for a three and a half hour drive to Port au Prince to catch our first of three flights for the day. It was an interesting day of travel as flexibility and adaptability were the themes of the day.





We had an excited passenger on our flight from

Friday Night Pizza and Pop

Friday Night Pizza and Pop

Haiti

We started off the day by students working together to test soil samples from their gardens. We found many of the same results from past years. Soils often were low in nitrogen and potassium, adequate in phosphorus, and a pH above 7.5. Some of the students even brought soil samples from home to compare to their gardens to analyze different practices. We, also, had a discussion on practices to

Agriculture, Presents, and Earthquake

Agriculture, Presents, and Earthquake

Haiti

Today we ventured out from campus. Following breakfast we met many of the Ag students at UCCC and made our way to the irrigation gardens. The students from UCCC  shared their successes and challenges with us for a variety of crops. This is their dry season so they are growing their second crop. The students from Haiti and the U.S. worked together to collect soil samples that we will test at the

Lizard on the Loose

Lizard on the Loose

Haiti

It was another great day in Haiti! The weather is beautiful and lots of awesome things are happening. Believe it or not, plans changed again today. After a delicious pancake breakfast we headed back to the cafeteria for a question and answer session with farmers at the Haitian Ag Summit. There is a lot of issues with diseases attacking a variety of crops. There was also a tense moment with

"I have a spider in my bag! Want to see?"

"I have a spider in my bag! Want to see?"

Haiti

It was a fantastic first full day in Haiti! This morning we found out that the Haitian Ag Summit was set to start today and finish tomorrow, January 4th. We changed our plans on the fly and it was a very successful day.





We started off by helping organize name tags and registration for he farmers in attendance at the summit. It was a full room with over 200 in attendance. The students from

Excitement for Haiti

Excitement for Haiti

Haiti

Today started early with us departing from the hotel at 2:30 AM for O'Hare. Our flights took us from Chicago to Miami and then to Port au Prince, Haiti this afternoon. It is always great to see the excitement from the students as we arrive into Haiti and start our travels to UCI near Caiman.

Below we make our way out of Port au Prince as we head to the mountains.







After making our way

Chilling in Chicago

Chilling in Chicago

Haiti

This afternoon the majority of our group met at the Waterloo airport to begin our trek to Haiti. We have a great group with a variety of backgrounds for our time in Haiti. We have a layover in Chicago tonight before an early flight Monday morning.

This year we have Alyssa, Katelin, Morgan, and Tessa who are students at Hawkeye; Cole who is a student at Iowa State and Iowa FFA State Officer;

Haitian Agriculture Suffering from Hurricane Matthew

Haitian Agriculture Suffering from Hurricane Matthew

Food Security Haiti natural disasters

The article linked below discusses the effects of Hurricane Matthew on the country of Haiti. For a country already suffering from food insecurity this concern has been magnified with the recent storm. Read the linked article and spark conversation with others around the globe utilizing the discussion points below.

Food Security of Haitians Threatened

Discussion Points


How has Hurricane

Reflecting on Haiti

Reflecting on Haiti

Haiti

We had a spectacular week in Haiti working with students of all ages sharing our passion for agriculture! We were able to work with students at the elementary and university to promote and improve agriculture practices. We continue to see growth and potential with Haitian agriculture. We built upon the practices we shared last year. To keep things moving forward we are scheduling frequent

Goats to Guano

Goats to Guano

goats guano Haiti hogs

Our time is flying by in Haiti! Hard to believe that we only have one full day left in Haiti. We started off our day by returning to our energetic 5th and 6th graders to elaborate on our agriculture lesson from the day before. After further discussion we had the students build an agriculture chain. Students had to write agriculture facts on strips of paper and hook them together to make a chain

Precision Farming in Haiti

Precision Farming in Haiti

Education GPS Haiti soil

Today was a great day filled with agriculture and education! We started off the day with 5th and 6th graders at the elementary school. We shared a lesson revolving around agriculture awareness. We had the students create a list of agriculture related concepts in Haiti. They compiled a great list that we discussed. We will return tomorrow morning to address questions that arose from this activity

Market Madness

Market Madness

feeding center Haiti Irrigation market

We started off our Monday with a trip to the local market. You could find everything from rice to super glue to hogs. Several of the group bought some souvenirs. The group tried to buy a goat, but the price jumped drastically when we were part of the purchasing group. We held off and are still in search of a goat to purchase for a local family. At the livestock auction at the market the

Sunday Fun Day Haiti Style

Sunday Fun Day Haiti Style

black beans corn feeding center Haiti Irrigation papaya plantain

Today was our first full day in Haiti. We started off this morning by attending a church service here on campus and seeing the traditions of the Haitian culture. On Sunday our cooks have the day off so Craig and Julie prepared a spectacular lunch for us.



After lunch we traveled to one of the eight feeding centers that UCI supports. Upon arrival we had the opportunity to distribute Christmas

Level Z Roads

Level Z Roads

agroforestry Haiti papaya

After a short night in the Miami airport we boarded our final flight to Port au Prince, Haiti. We arrived on schedule to Haiti, but long lines awaited us in immigration. After grabbing our luggage we loaded up the van and started the three hour trek north to the Caiman area. From Port au Prince to Caiman we travel on National Highway 3. This highway is paved 3/4 of the way to Caiman, but the last

First Class Crew

First Class Crew

Haiti

We have a first class group of individuals heading to Haiti to kickoff the New Year! January 1st 8 of us made our way to the Eastern Iowa Airport to begin our trek to Haiti to work with UCCC (University near Caiman) developing agriculture projects. Over the next week we will work with students and faculty at UCCC in agronomy, animal science, alternative energy, and meshing agriculture and