Sustainable Development

"Give a man a fish, he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish, he'll never go hungry again." 

Lespwa Academy is about educating, employing, and empowering the Haitian people. We are here to help them succeed; to help them to a better future for their people. In order to do this, we must work together, side by side teaching each other and helping each other grow. We are not an organization which goes into the villages and does what "we think is best" for the people that live there. Part of our program is all about surveying the local people and asking them what they want, where they need help, and what they feel will work best. We also bring in our knowledge and new ideas to them to help aid them to an easier, more productive way of life. 

We plan to help reforest the land, build a new functioning road so people are able to get equipment trucks and other vehicles up to certain areas more efficiently. Many parts of the mountains are unnaccessable due to the road conditions being so poor. We hope to fix this problem in order to make everyday life of traveling to and from school, the market and the hospitals easier. 

Here at Lespwa Academy we run completely on solar energy. We also use an all natural sand water filtration system in order to ensure that the students and staff are drinking from clean, safe water. We are working hard to incorporate and teach new ways of agricultural living for the people in the mountains. It is hard for them to harvest due to dry, sandy soil and regular droughts Haiti often endures. The mountains also have a large problem during hurricane seasons where their crops get wiped out due to heavy rains and weak soil. We plan to implement greenhouse-type structures which lock in moisture, use less water, and also keeps their crops safe from the elements. 

Aside from agriculture, we plan to offer business classes to the students, as well as night classes to the men and women in the villages who want to learn about new business ventures and other opportunities available to them. We will be providing a micro-loan lending program for those businesses we feel will help the community excel.  

We want to bring technology, information, and a more productive way of life to the Haitian people. This will be done through sustainable development and working together to achieve the greater goal.