Life & TravelPaul Shetler FastJuly 23, 2016

Cashews: Journey to the Table

Life & TravelPaul Shetler FastJuly 23, 2016

As people who love to cook, it's easy to focus on food's transformation in the kitchen. But living in Haiti, and working alongside farmers, reminds us that the vast majority of the risk, effort, and artistry that goes into food's journey happens long before it reaches us in the kitchen. Take cashews, a nut I've always found delicious. You can find a thousand recipes for what to 'do' with cashews in the kitchen, in fact we have a few on our blog, but today I want to focus instead on their journey to the kitchen -- from fragile seedlings in mountain-top nurseries, to the freshly roasted cashew nuts for sale in market stalls.

About half our work here in Haiti is focused on agriculture, and helping farmers and their families develop sustainable food systems and markets, providing the income they need in the short-term while protecting and improving their land for longterm food security. We work with vulnerable families to capitalize on their own hard work, skills, and resources to secure a future for themselves and their families. When it comes to cashews, a very valuable crop, this work starts by developing self-sustaining tree nurseries to help communities re-forest their corner of Haiti, one garden at a time. To ensure these valuable seedlings thrive, we also support the spread of multi-cropping and soil protection techniques, and assist with fencing to protect the fragile new trees from roaming animals. One of our longstanding partners working in Haiti's north, PDL (Partenariat pour le Développement Local), works with farmer's cooperatives to add value to their cashew harvest by shelling, cleaning, and roasting cashew nuts. Below are pictures of this remarkable journey from a cashew seedling taking root in the mountains overlooking the Artibonite river, to the final stages of value-added-processing with a community cooperative in Mombin Crochu.

If you'd like to learn more about our work here in Haiti, check out our MCC Haiti blog. We are also currently recruiting for two 3-year positions on our team. One is a Monitoring & Evaluation Advisor in Agricultural Development, working full-time with our partner PDL, not far from the community of Mombin Crochu where these pictures were taken. The other is a Designer for a Haitian Artisanal Fair Trade Organization, working to build capacity and support Haiti's oldest fair trade artists cooperative.

A young cashew tree in the mountains overlooking the Artibonite river -- Rondo, Haiti

Raw, unprocessed cashew nuts -- Mombin Crochu, Haiti

Jean Estanne -- Cooperative member and farmer in Mombin Crochu who helped in the group's cashew processing

Deymen Elfare  -- Cooperative member and farmer in Mombin Crochu who helped in the group's cashew processing — Deymen Elfare -- Cooperative member and farmer in Mombin Crochu who helped in the group's cashew processing

Osis Charle  -- Cooperative member and farmer in Mombin Crochu who helped in the group's cashew processing — Osis Charle -- Cooperative member and farmer in Mombin Crochu who helped in the group's cashew processing

Cashew nuts, cleaned and beginning to roast -- Mombin Crochu, Haiti — Cashew nuts, cleaned and beginning to roast -- Mombin Crochu, Haiti

The traditional high-heat roasting causes the cashew shells to burst into flames over the fire, leading to a unique smokey flavor in the finished nut -- Mombin Crochu, Haiti

The roasted nuts are then hand-shelled and cleaned once again -- Mombin Crochu, Haiti

Cooperative members then re-roast the shelled and cleaned nuts a final time before they are ready to sell -- Mombin Crochu, Haiti

Paul Shetler Fast

Life & TravelPaul Shetler FastMay 01, 2016Comment

Saving the Harvest

I have always found seeds kind of amazing. I remember the first time my dad explained to me that these beans we were about to cook could just as easily be planted. Whenever possible, I have planted edible gardens, from using bay trees as decoration in my office, to clandestinely planting cabbages in our front flower garden in Pittsburgh. One of the first things we did in our new home here in Port-au-Prince was to plant every square inch of soil with thyme, parsley, cilantro, rosemary, dill, basil, chives, garlic, oregano, tomatoes, greens, cucumbers, lettuce, okra, and squash. But to be honest, I’d always just bought seeds and never thought too much about the time and steps involved between harvesting seeds from one crop, and planting them for the next. This week, while visiting a project in the rural community of Kabay, Haiti, I got a first hand look at the impact seed storage has on farmers and their families.

Life & TravelPaul Shetler FastMay 01, 2016Comment

Life & TravelPaul Shetler FastOctober 09, 2016Comment

3 Families After Hurricane Matthew

High in the mountains above the Artibonite river, we pass through villages and clusters of houses that do not appear on maps, past destroyed houses that will never make it into official calculations of the damage fromHurricane Matthew in Haiti. We are miles from the nearest paved road, many hours from the nearest medical clinic, and nearly a full day's walk to the market where people normally sell their produce to purchase necessities like medicine, oil, and clothing. When I asked the local government official with us, why his region showed zero damage on the latest UN maps, he grew angry, "How would they even know? No one has come up to look. No one has even asked." Working with the local governments, community organizations, and a likeminded NGO, we are bringing the first relief supplies to people whose homes and livelihoods were destroyed by Hurricane Matthew in this area. Within 72 hours of the rains stopping, all our prepositioned aid (water treatment supplies, blankets, food, and hygiene kits) have been distributed to people in need. This is only the beginning for these families on the long path to rebuilding their lives and their communities.

If you've been watching the news on Haiti, you know of the devastation that Hurricane Matthew has wrought; the rapidly rising death toll, the destroyed homes and livelihoods, the statistics of suffering on a massive scale. But for us, and for our organization MCC, the story both begins and ends with the resilience and perseverance of the people and communities we serve. These are human stories better told through pictures of people, pictures of dignity and strength in the face of loss.

Here are the stories of three families after the storm.

Life & TravelPaul Shetler FastOctober 09, 2016Comment

Life & TravelPaul Shetler FastSeptember 06, 2017Comment

Praying for Haiti -- Hurricane Irma

This evening, Hurricane Irma, a category 5 Hurricane and one of the largest on record, is churning westward towards Haiti. The most serious of its effects will likely reach Haiti Thursday evening. Across Haiti people are praying for a miracle. While the eye of the storm is unlikely to make landfall in Haiti, its winds and rains are expected to bring tremendous suffering. In river valleys across northern Haiti, families are bracing for floods. On windswept mountains, people are looking out to sea, praying for protection. New parents are holding their children tight, praying that their roofs will hold during the storm. The farmers we work with across the Artibonite and Central Plateau are anxiously watching their crops, hoping they will not be washed away. We pray tonight for the safety of our staff, for our partners across Haiti, for the tens of thousands of people in the storm's path without protection or a safety net. We pray that in the months ahead, Haiti and her people will have the strength for the slow and painful work of reckoning and rebuilding. Just eleven months after Hurricane Matthew, we pray Haiti has the resilience to struggle back to its feet, once again. Please pray with us.

Life & TravelPaul Shetler FastSeptember 06, 2017Comment

Life & TravelPaul Shetler FastJanuary 29, 2016Comment

Baby Madeline

We have a daughter! It’s a surreal thing to say. We are blissfully happy to share that after weeks of on-and-off contractions and gestation in three countries, our beautiful baby girl, Madeline, was born at 1 am yesterday in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, weighing in at a healthy 7 pounds. Madeline is a lively little newborn, and both she and Rebecca are doing well. It’s hard to put words to the feeling of being parents for just a few short hours; joy, relief, shock and happiness. We have been finding ourselves bursting into giddy (exhausted) laughter quite a bit since little Madeline arrived. We will be taking the next month off from work to get to know our new daughter, and look forward to introducing her to her family (even if virtually in many cases), with her first introduction to both sets of grandparents when they arrive in Haiti in just a few weeks!

Life & TravelPaul Shetler FastJanuary 29, 2016Comment

Life & TravelPaul Shetler FastMarch 26, 2016Comment

Good Friday On Mòn Kalvè

About an hour east of Port-au-Prince, just off the the road that leads to Santo Domingo, sits Mòn Kalvè (Calvary Mountain), a pilgrimage site during Holy Week here in Haiti. Starting just after dawn on Good Friday, a friend and I hopped on motos and made our way to the base of the mountain. We joined the faithful making their slow pilgrimage to the top. Stopping at each station of the cross along the way, people prayed, sang, lit candles, asked for healing, paid penance, and remembered loved ones. Kneeling side-by-side to pray in the crowd, I was moved by the candor of sorrows and joys shared. Some had walked days in hope of a miracle. Others came to sell food, candles, hats, and herbal remedies to the pilgrims. For me, it was an opportunity to reflect, give thanks, and to stand in wonder of this beautiful new country we call home, and the indomitable spirit of her people.

Life & TravelPaul Shetler FastMarch 26, 2016Comment