I'm assisting a permaculture relief team in Haiti currently with The Permaculture Guild, a group of six permaculturists who were first responders for the earthquake – five who are still there. They have saved lives by putting in sanitation systems and low tech water filtration, which were the key areas where lives were at risk when they arrived. They have been educating Haitians on how to do this sustainably, for themselves.
They have moved into the next phase of "teaching the teachers" focusing on teaching permaculture techniques for growing food, sustainable shelters, water filtration, etc, to a number of local organizations in several cities. They are working in coordination with the Haitian government and local organizations to meet real needs.
This article appears in Mar 17-23, 2010.