It's Giving Tuesday and beyond! R2H has been helping in Haiti since 2010, when the devastating earthquake hit. We are now beginning to take bigger steps to further sustainability in the village of Belle Anse, Haiti. Co-Founders Pierre and Cynthia Balthazar live in Lansing, MI and travel to Haiti several times a year. Their work
Our January 2018 Rocket Stove and Medical Assessment Group: Pierre & Cindy Balthazar - board members, co-organizers of R2H Dr. Virginia (Ginny) Nelson M.D., from Ann Arbor, MI Alina Cushing - Nurse, from Fairbanks, Alaska Margaret (Maggie) Bassett - Professor of Nursing, from Christiansburg, VA, Jack Slaggert - Rocket Stove Genius, from Bear Lake, MI
Return2Haiti is creating a Coffee Farmers’ Association in the Greater Belle Anse Region. The farmers will work with trained agronomists to learn Fair Trade Coffee Practices. Return2Haiti will be responsible for paying the agronomist for the first 2 years and support the farmers in regenerating the coffee industry through: Planting new coffee seedlings and shade
Two events highlighted the month of April for Return2Haiti...on April 8, Pierre, Cindy and Janice attended the University of Michigan-sponsored event “Pandemic! Contagious Crises from AIDS to Zika” that featured Dr. Paul Farmer, founder of Partners in Health and a hospital in the Central Plateau of Haiti. After his talk, we were able to meet
Our trip to explore the coffee business took us from Santo-Domingo, Dominican Republic to the border-town of Pedernales. Just across the border lay the Haitian town of Anse-a-Pitre, a sea-side, rural city bustling with life where curious onlookers greeted us with a smile and people addressed us in the Haitian Creole, “Bonjou” for “Good Morning!”
Return 2 Haiti, co-founder Pierre Balthazar, describes the water situation in Haiti’s Belle Anse region. Finding a source of potable water when in the country of Haiti is not as simple as turning on the faucet – a habit we have been accustomed to in the United States for some time. Our mission team, visiting
October 2016 saw Hurricane Matthew tear through the South and Grand Anse Departments of Haiti, and sent high winds, much rain and storm surges all along the Southern coastline of Haiti. This weather flooded the town of Belle Anse and destroyed some of the security walls surrounding the yard and buildings where our preschool, Ebel’s
