Martin Nolan, from the New York Metro Rotary Club, returned to our club to provide an update on the Haiti Hydroelectric project
 

We were happy to get an update from Martin Nolan on the progress of the Hydro Electric project in Haiti.  Here is the official website for the project. 

 Fund raising efforts are continuing well, with the main fundraiser being the 5 Boro Bike tour of New York, which has been very successful.  The Bike Tour partners with local charities for some of the slots at the event.  Since this is an event that sells out, this is an alternative way for you to both help a great charity and also get the chance to participate in the Bike event.

Martin spoke of the partnerships that are being forged for the project and how they are learning from Earth Spark which works with Digicell.   Digicell has cell towers in Haiti and they need generators to power the towers.  However, they generate more power than they need, even at the lowest levels so Earth Spark have set up a system for pre-paying electricity.  This solves a major problem of collections by having customers prepay for the electricity and then it counts down as they use it.  Innovations like this will help the project be sustainable over time.

Martin also shared a very interesting anecdote about one of the meetings they had with local government to discuss ownership going forward.  At the meeting they were told that they would have to speak either in Creole or French since those are the official Government languages for Haiti.  This was a requirement even though everyone in the room spoke English.   However, Martin had no problem, thanks to his being a Rotary Exchange student to France when he was young and was able to conduct the meeting in French.

He also updated on their new partnership with One Day University to help with the fund-raising efforts.  The New York event is on April 6th at the New York Hilton on Avenue of the Americas, and there is more information here

 Useful Links:
Hydroelectric Project
One Day University  (Help a young girl in Togo)

John Adams, Exchange Program Chair for our club, Isabella and Martin from the New York Metro Rotary Club share their common experience of being Exchange students.  

 

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