Vote for Plant With Purpose in the Humanity Calls Tournament

A few months ago Plant With Purpose won $15,000 to plant 15,000 trees and 15 miles of soil conservation barriers in Haiti through the “Project 7 Challenge”. We are thrilled to report that these projects are now underway in Haiti, and this was made possible by your votes!

Plant With Purpose is now participating in another challenge called the “Humanity Calls Tournament”. This is another fun and easy way for you to help us raise money for our programs!

Here is how it works:

1. Click here to enter the Humanity Calls website.

2. Click the yellow “New User Sign Up” button.

3. Create a free account.

4. Once your profile is set up, click the yellow “Browse” button and find Plant With Purpose.

You get one free vote just for signing up! Consider allocating 1 vote to Plant With Purpose, and then consider donating more, ($10 = 5 votes.)

Additional votes can be earned by donating directly to the tournament cash pool, which earns 10 votes for each $10 donated, or by referring friends via Twitter, Facebook, email, or the Humanity Calls widget, which earns 1 vote for each friend referred and registered.

At the tournament close, the top 30 nonprofits will share in the tournament's final cash pool - which starts at $50,000 but will grow exponentially thanks to your outreach efforts and donations!

Please feel free to Tweet your vote, or announce it on your Facebook page! The tournament ends on June 22nd, so the sooner you sign up, the better.

Thank you for helping us spread the word about Plant With Purpose and partnering with us to heal lives and landscapes among the rural poor.

-The Plant With Purpose Staff

Videos from Haiti

We want to share some clips of our Plant With Purpose staff in Haiti and the farmers they have been working with before and after the earthquake that struck on January 12th of this year. A lot has changed for thousands of individuals who work and live in rural regions outside of Port-au-Prince. Household sizes have nearly doubled. Food scarcity, which was a problem before the quake, now puts families at greater risk of malnutrition. Issues of health, sanitation, and deforestation continue to rise as marginalized families struggle to survive. Despite the reports of destitution and poverty, there has been a very consistent theme throughout Haiti's arduous history; it is that Haitians are resilient and courageous and will pick themselves up, dust one another off, and continue living their day to day life. They will continue to help their communities rebuild, offer a hand to their neighbor, and look for ways to provide for their families.

In this video you can hear our Technical Director, Bob Morikawa, in the background as he surveys land in Martel, Haiti that is being prepared for planting season. Plant With Purpose has been able to employ 135 teams of 20 that have been working two week shifts to build soil erosion barriers that will protect trees and crops while helping to restore watersheds as well.

On the side of a Health Clinic in Cherident, a choir group practices for the upcoming Easter Sunday Service:

From the United States Plant With Purpose staff we would like to say to our co-workers in Haiti just how proud we are of your ability to respond as leaders in your communities. You are continuing to bring hope and opportunity to your neighbors and your brothers and sisters in Christ.

The Strength of a Community

By Tenaya Wickstrand, Plant With Purpose PR Intern

When our Executive Director, Scott Sabin, arrived at one of our program sites during his recent visit to Haiti, he noticed that our staff had taken makeshift tents and joined them together in order to make one long tent. This seemed to be a natural thing for them to do, as they didn’t want to be separated or to sleep alone; they created a place for everyone to sleep together with the security of being a community.

Another example of the Haitian’s interpersonal closeness, as Scott expressed, is that when people stand in line, they are so close they’re basically touching one another. This was amazing to me. I can’t imagine being in line and having the person behind me touching me, let alone me being that close to the person in front. Our culture has a different acceptable level of personal space; I’m sure I'm not alone in that feeling. But I was fascinated by how united the Haitians are, and I have to say that I do think we lack a bit of those community ties here in the United States.

In California, especially, we are private people. There is an unspoken need for individual space and privacy. People will even choose an isolated seat to avoid sitting right next to another person in a movie theatre, a restaurant, or elsewhere. We even protect our personal privacy with laws.

As Haiti exemplifies, this privacy tendency we share in the United States is not shared in other parts of the world. In 2008 I studied abroad in Italy and had a glimpse of how close everyone is in the Italian culture. I was in a “ristorante” one night observing the way the hostess seated customers and noticing how very different it was from home; I asked our server about it. He told me that in a restaurant in Italy people are seated in tables right next to each other, even if the entire place is empty. This was because Italians like feeling related to one another, even in a restaurant with people they don’t know. This stood in stark contrast to the American way where the two tables of people would have been seated as far apart as possible.

This connection the people of Haiti have has helped them in dealing with the aftermath of the earthquake. A recent LA Times article explains that, "Haitians rely on their communities to survive. They borrow money from neighbors, share food, watch one another's children, and sell things they pick up in the central markets."

Plant With Purpose is connected with Haiti and the communities where we have programs. I think we can apply this feeling of being part of a family to our work everywhere. The closeness of the connection helps us understand other people's ways of life and to realize the group mentality they have can be quite an asset. At Plant With Purpose, we talk about involving ourselves and understanding the way each community operates. In order to achieve this, we need to strip ourselves of our individualistic mindset and be open to sharing and connecting with the people and countries where we work.

Plant With Purpose seeks to do just that. In Haiti we work side by side with the local farmers. We get to know them as individuals but also as a part of their community. This direct involvement has aided our success in Haiti and the many other countries where we operate. We teach them, but they also teach us.

Mighty Mothers Around the Globe

by Stephanie Rudeen

I would like to thank all the mothers out there who have inspired their children, offered support, let their children experience life, and even kissed their boo-boos when they tried to jump off the top of the climbing tower, straight onto the cement sidewalk below (thanks, mom). And to celebrate the one day when mothers finally receive the attention they deserve, I would like to think about the mothers everywhere, especially in the countries where Plant With Purpose works.

I wrote a previous blog post about maternal health and the astonishing amount of women who die each year during pregnancy. Maternal health proves especially harmful and fatal in the impoverished countries where Plant With Purpose works, such as Africa. Although I do not want to detract from the global epidemic that is maternal health, I have some good news for all the mothers, and sons and daughters, in the world, especially those in Tanzania and Burundi – new data shows that maternal deaths are declining throughout the world!

In a recent New York Times article, “Maternal Deaths Decline Sharply Across the Globe,” researchers have found that the maternal mortality rate has dropped from 526,300 in 1980 to 342,900 in 2008. Although this is still a significant number, it gives hope that maternal health is finally receiving the attention it deserves, and eliciting appropriate action.

There are a number of reasons for the drop in maternal death rates, including “lower pregnancy rates in some countries, higher income, which improves nutrition and access to health care, more education for women, and the increasing availability of ‘skilled attendants’ – people with some medical training to help women give birth,” according to the article.

The bad news, though, is that Africa still has the highest maternal death rates in the world. As more mothers all over the world have the health, knowledge, and resources they need to have a healthy pregnancy, there are still women all throughout Africa who die every day giving birth.

I don’t even know what kind of person I would be without the guidance and support of my mother, and I’m sure people all over the world feel the same way. The decline of the maternal death rate brings hope to millions of mothers all over the world, but don’t forget those mothers out there who still need help from people like you. Help Plant With Purpose bring hope to moms in Africa who need it the most. With improved income, improved nutrition, access to clean water, education for children, and spiritual growth, women everywhere can experience a long, happy life.

Consider planting trees this Mother’s Day to honor your mom, and help reforest Mother Earth. Visit our website by clicking here: http://www.plantwithpurpose.org/page/24/trees-please.html and choose to plant a tree, an orchard, a hillside, a grove, or even a forest. Entire communities will be changed in your mom's honor! Now that’s an incredible gift.

Oaxaca Wednesday: Cinco de Mayo Especial

by Stephanie Rudeen

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Cinco de Mayo has become an almost exclusively U.S. holiday, often observed through consuming excessive amounts of tequila and margaritas. Cinco de Mayo was originally meant to commemorate the 1862 Battle of Puebla, the victory of Mexican troops against Napoleon III’s French army, although Cinco de Mayo is often confused with Mexico’s Independence Day, which is actually September 16^th.

In Mexico, there is little celebration of Cinco de Mayo, and it is usually limited to the town of Puebla. This stems partly from the fact that shortly after the Battle of Puebla, the French army captured Mexico City and held their government there until 1867. Although Cinco de Mayo has become more of a U.S. holiday, that doesn’t reduce the significance of celebrating our neighbor to the South, or the many Mexican-Americans that reside all over the United States.

This Cinco de Mayo, try something new and celebrate the culture and rich history of Oaxaca, Mexico! I’m always a fan of food, especially because I believe food is a great look into the traditions and history of a place. Authentic Mexican cuisine is the result of Aztec, Mayan, and Spanish influences with sub-tropical ingredients like chili peppers, chocolate, jicama, and guava. Oaxaca itself is famous for its mole sauce, which is thick, sharp, sweet, with notes of smoke, sometimes clove and citrus, and always with heat from dried chiles. Oaxaca’s mole comes in at least seven basic varieties including negro, amarillo, almendrado, verde, coloradito, rojo, chichilo negro, and Manchamanteles.

Aside from its extraordinary food and mole sauce, Oaxaca has 16 formally registered indigenous communities and more speakers of indigenous languages than anywhere else in Mexico. Although we at Plant With Purpose often stress the help that Oaxaca

desperately needs, which is true, we can also celebrate Oaxaca’s rich diversity and traditions. We’ve been excited to witness community members in many of the villages where we work translate stories and prayers into their Mixteco language as well as teaching their children Mixteco oral traditions and folklore. Plant With Purpose empowers Oaxacan communities to not only restore their land and overcome poverty, but also to preserve their culture, enrich their communities, and build a better future for their children.

Although facing many problems, Oaxaca is an interesting and complex state with a fascinating story to share. So this Cinco de Mayo, put aside the margarita for a moment, and truly learn about our neighbor to the South.

Transformation in Thailand!

SAWAT DEE! Greetings from Panasawan, Thailand! Plant With Purpose is working in Panasawan to provide the community with relevant and sustainable options that address issues of poverty, lack of citizenship and related rights, and the loss of access to and degradation of forests and fields.

Read how Plant With Purpose is transforming lives in the village of Panasawan...

Jayaw Licha is a dedicated farmer with a wife and a child. With the help of Plant With Purpose, his entire family has seen great transformation in their lives! Plant With Purpose taught him sustainable agriculture techniques, such as interplanting crops with trees and using organic fertilizers and pesticides, which he applied to his farm.

Now his thriving farm produces an impressive variety of food year round—coffee and tea, corn and beans, mangos, bananas, and pineapple, just to name a few! His land produces enough to feed his family and he sells his corn for extra income. In fact, his farm is doing so well he no longer has to leave his community to work as a day laborer to support his family!

Jayaw and his son.

Terraces on Jayaw's agroforestry farm.

Reforest Mother Earth this Mother’s Day

This Sunday, honor your mom by caring for our dearest relative, Mother Earth. Instead of giving a gift that will wilt, consider planting trees in your mom’s honor this Mother’s Day.

Trees are vital to our earth’s well-being, as well as our own! They increase soil nutrients, restore watersheds, prevent hillside erosion, and enable poor farmers to live sustainably on their land while providing for their families.

At Plant With Purpose, our goal is to plant 1,000,000 trees this year in the six countries where we are working. A portion of those trees will be in Haiti where reforestation and investment in rural agriculture are critical needs.

To plant trees to honor your mom this Mother’s Day, visit our website by clicking here: http://www.plantwithpurpose.org/page/24/trees-please.html and choose to plant a tree, an orchard, a hillside, a grove, or even a forest! Only $1 plants one tree. Just think - entire communities will be changed in your mom's honor! Now that’s an incredible gift.