Wynne Farm- Environment and Education!

There are few places in Haiti where you can see trees that are a hundred years old but many places where you can see the environment eroding right under your feet. By contrast there are many places in Haiti were children linger around without a thing to do and those children born into a country that depends on agricultural production to survive have no knowledge of the earth surrounding them outside that of the Port-au-Prince slums they live in.

These two worlds were brought together this past Wednesday. Twelve orphan girls from City of God a slum of 10,000 people in Haiti’s capital, accompanied by their first grade teacher, headed into the mountains of Kenscoff, 45 minutes away, to visit Wynne Farm. Wynne Farm, founded by Victor Wynne in the 1930s and now run by Jane Wynne, his daughter, is a magical place in Haiti that is fast suffering the same misfortune as most of Haiti’s environment. As Jane Wynne does battle with those who encroach on her land using the same destructive practices, environmental and political that have destroyed Haiti for centuries she works equally as hard to educate Haiti’s youth about their environment.

For less than $3 per student, Jane Wynne introduces children to basic teachings about the environment, such as how the sun plays a role in creating rain and how the birds’ play a role in scattering seeds, as a result planting trees and that without trees the birds are destroyed. She teaches how destructive the charcoal industry is to Haiti’s environment and introduces new methods of alternative fuel, such as paper briquettes made from recycled paper. She takes students on tours of her garden, exposing them to 100s of plant species, hikes them up to the reserve which boasts an orchard of Loquat trees and grassy knolls, serves a fabulous vegetarian meal and gives the many future agronomists their first ever ride on a horse. Jane is passionate about the environment, education and children and she sees that there is no other way to reverse the destructive trend in Haiti than to combine these three elements.

Jane is also active with other major environmental and peasant organizations in Haiti including being a founder of FWE Fondatioin Wynne Pour L’Environment. She plays a major role in protecting the environment through reforestation efforts, alternative fuel programs and larger scale education initiatives.