Interview with Reforest Haiti Director Guerlyne Jean Louis

"Our greatest objective is to see the day when Haiti has enough food for all its children to eat." Recently we sat down with Guerlyne Jean Louis, the director of Let Haiti Live’s Reforest Haiti program, to learn more about why she has chosen to work with the program and how it fits into her larger purpose in life. She explained: 

“I work with a group of dynamic young people that make feel that Haiti has a future, and that despite all the difficulties we can find a way to work. The young people always persevere and they want to continue their work. For me, I see the will these youth have to change our country and it is a great experience for me. I have a habit of working with young people in education and cultural activities. However to work with the land, to see a seed you plant begin to grow after only a few days, it makes me feel recognition of life itself.

“My contribution to Reforest Haiti is to structure the team’s work and to manage the team so that we can meet our goals. Our greatest objective is to see the day when Haiti has enough food for all its children to eat. Our vision is a future where we see the mountains become green again, and in the department of the southeast where JADPE is working, we want to see the water sources never run dry because of the efforts we have made.

“During the last year in Cyvadier, Reforest Haiti and the JADPE youth group have accomplished many things. We have planted many trees around the three water sources in the area to protect the watershed. These sources are called Anba FIge, Nan Djanmann and Anba Banmann. We have cared for the trees and maintained them after they were planted, and now they are tall and the protect the water sources by retaining soil on the hillsides above and around them, and retaining more ground water in the area.

“However the greatest satisfaction I find in the work is the love we are creating in the youth of JADPE for the plants. For each seedlings, each vegetable sprout and seeds, I can see how they have come to have great importance to the children and teenagers. I have watched them care for these small living things, and seen how they maintain the tree seedlings, and it is an extraordinary thing. I hope that this work will continue long into the future, and that through Reforest Haiti we will be able to replicate the effort throughout Haiti.

“Right now we need more resources. You could say our means are weak, but our will is great."“Right now we need more resources. You could say our means are weak, but our will is great. We have the desire to see the country change, and we have the motivation for a Haiti that is green. We have the capacity to accompany the peasant farmers who we meet in their gardens, and we have the will to open the eyes to each and every person to the importance trees have in their lives in Cyvadier and beyond. Because we know that protecting trees is protecting life, and that gives us the strength we need to keep going until we arrive.”