Hockley Valley resident Michel Jobin has been going to Haiti for 15 years. From the way he talks about the place, his love for the country and the people is clear. It is a second home to him.

His base in Haiti is a village on the north coast called Terrier-Rouge, where he has built a small home to accommodate himself and the office for the foundation he and his wife Kathleen have established, KAMI Foundation for Haiti, in cooperation with a board of directors.

For more than 20 years, Mr. Jobin worked as a civil servant for the federal government as an administrator, on the farm debt review board, mediating between the government and farmers. He retired in 1993. His interest in Haiti began at about that time.

He wanted to know how he could help the farmers in the small area which he was visiting. He became the first white man to be involved with the Rabouré Cooperative. There were conditions, however.

Mr. Jobin related the story of his introduction to the group to me in an interview we did at his farm in Hockley: “They told me: ‘You listen to our meeting every week, but don’t interrupt. Say what you think at the end.’ This way I learned how the necessity to talk to them as individuals, not to try to make decisions for them,” he added.

Haitians were slaves in the 1800s and they have never forgiven this. “There is still the slave mentality,” Mr Jobin remarked. “They don’t still don’t trust white men.”

However, with his guidance the cooperative doubled its income, marketing their products. They grew produce and then the ladies had a food processing place which they ran on propane but now run on kerosene. Working with Mr. Jobin, they developed a true market for their goods.

There are many aspects to the way the Haitians farm that Mr. Jobin was sure he could improve. Remembering that Haitian protocol required that he speak to each individual and that, above all, he listen to them, Mr. Jobin developed a system that could easily improve the health of Haitians.

Of primary concern is the fact the Haitians do not eat vegetables, not because they cannot grow them but because the animals, both wild and domestic, run at liberty and where there is a garden, so is there a steady invasion.

So, there is a wonderful tree called jatropha, which can grow in the tropics in any kind of soil, seemingly no matter how poor. The oil from the seeds of the jatropha, which can be cultivated within two years are pressed for oil as light and fuel. The jatropha, although native to Haiti, has been largely unappreciated until recently.

The plan is to grow jatropha tress around small plots of land as gardens, owned by individual farmers, to protect the vegetables from animals, which will not be able to chew through the jatropha as it is inedible to them. Part of KAMI Foundation’s plan is to compensate farmers while their crops are developing.

That is for a start. And then, there is the project that is closest to Mr. Jobin’s heart: the KAMI Stove.

This stove is a single burner on a solid steel frame. The frame must be tough enough to hold the large pots which the Haitian women use to cook family meals. The stove is, preferably, fuelled by gravity-fed kerosene. The frames are made in Haiti, giving opportunity for another small industry, while the burners and fittings are made in Philippines by Goodfire Stoves Corporation.

After some research, Mr. Jobin found these were the best stoves available and the only gravity type stove to be found. Most importantly, the workmanship is excellent, resulting in reliable, safe little cookers.

There is a major reason for the need for such a project: charcoal. Inasmuch as Haiti is all but denuded of trees, there is a pressing necessity for an alternative to cooking on charcoal, as most of the nation’s homes do. Charcoal is slow and wasteful and relies on the destruction of trees, meaning that, regardless of efforts to reforest the country, the need for charcoal will always outweigh the effectiveness of tree planting projects.

Kerosene is plentiful and cheap, efficient and quick. Haitians eat mainly beans which require a lot of cooking time, extended the longest when using charcoal. With kerosene on one of KAMI’s stoves, the cooking time is reduced from seven to two hours.

Eventually, moreover, the plan is to fuel the stoves with biodiesel, produced mainly from the jatropha trees. Here are some facts from KAMI’s information sheets:

Biodiesel fuel burns cleaner; jatropha trees produce four times the oil of soya. Biodiesel can be produced in small quantities locally; jatropha trees which can grow anywhere can contribute to the reforestation of the country and hillsides.

Biodiesel has a positive energy balance of 3 to 1 (3 units of energy produced for1 unit to produce it); jatropha produces for up to 40 to 50 years.

Jatropha biodiesel can be a Haitian renewable energy source where food crops cannot be grown.

Currently, KAMI is subsidizing the cost of the stoves so that they can be introduced into more homes. The foundation also provides instruction on the use of the stoves and installs them into homes as they are purchased.

Naturally, shipping and importing into Haiti – or Canada – is a problem where prohibitively high duty and taxes are imposed. Mr. Jobin can take small numbers of stoves with him in his baggage without difficulty but he hopes to increase the quantity of stoves coming into use over time.

“We don’t want to go too fast,” Mr. Jobin commented. “In Haiti, we have to take our time.”

Ann Lay, herbalist, is presenting a fundraiser for KAMI in her organic herb gardens on Saturday, August 1. For details, call her on 519-940-3659.

And for more information on this remarkable project, call Mr. or Mrs. Jobin on 519-942-0255 or micheljobin99@hotmail.com