Green Circle family helps in Haiti

by PAUL MORTON

Associate editor

An Oberlin man was trying to get to Haiti last week to help the island nation's people rocked by an earthquake Tuesday, Jan. 12. But when he gets there, he will join the efforts his family has operated there to help Haitians for nearly 30 years.

John Van Wingerden, president of Green Circle Growers, was trying to get to Double Harvest, a Christian-based, family-operated 200-acre compound 10 miles east of the capital of Port-au-Prince. The project, started in 1981 by John's father, Aart Van Wingerden, consists of a farm, a school, a medical/surgical clinic, and a benevolent housing project.

John's son, David, who lives in Oberlin, was in Florida arranging for aid to Haiti. But he said the family's facilities are already able to help.

"Because the facilities are built to code, not just put together from local materials, our buildings suffered very little damage," David Van Wingerden said. "So we're set up and ready to help."

He said the farm has six deep wells that normally provide water for irrigation on the farm, fresh water needs of the clinic and school, and drinking water for some of the nearby villages. He said those wells will be even more important now with fresh water in short supply.

The medical/surgical clinic is one of the most modern and best equipped in Haiti, and regularly hosts teams of doctors to provide medical care in a country where such care is often substandard or unavailable, even before the earthquake. Van Wingerden said it, too, will be helpful immediately.

"There happens to be a medical team down there already, so they're helping out," he said. "It's heart specialists down there right now, but they'll do what they can to fix people up. It's a great central location to help folks."

The Haitian Red Cross estimated Thursday between 45,000 and 50,000 people were killed in the magnitude-7.0 earthquake. The airport at Port-au-Prince reopened Wednesday after the control tower collapsed in the tremor, with the U.S. Southern Command directing flights from a fenced-off building at the end of the runway.

Double Harvest has been operating in Haiti since 1981, when Aart Van Wingerden established an agricultural project to help Haitians help themselves. Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, with about 80 percent unemployment,

"My grandfather had 16 children, and they're all involved in the greenhouse business," David Van Wingerden said. "We thought the best way we could help would be in the agriculture/horticulture area."

Greenhouses provide 67,000 square feet of space to propagate up to two million tree seedlings per year for reforestation programs. They also grow starter plants for salads, beets, tomatoes, egg plants, onions, ornamental flowers, and more.

Most of these starter plants are transplanted to the fields at the farm. The fields also grow corn, sorghum, dry beans, sweet potatoes, tropical fruit trees, and vegetables.

Some of the produce from the fields provides food for the students in the school, the school staff, and farm employees. The grain and many of the vegetables are sold to vendors, who in turn sell the produce in the market places in surrounding villages, providing employment for farm laborers and the vendors.

Double Harvest is registered with the government of Haiti and operates under Haitian government guidelines for non-governmental organizations. It is also a tax-exempt non-profit organization under the U.S. Tax Code.

Donations may be made to Double Harvest, 55 S. Main St., Oberlin, Ohio 44074.