Horticulture in hell.It is known to voodoo priests as the Valley of the Serpents, an appropriate name for a rainforest clinging to life in the heart of one of Haiti's most hellish slums. The priests regard the forest as sacred, and environmentalists have lately been inclined to agree. In fact, a worldwide movement is now under way to turn the forest into an internationally protected botanical garden botanical garden, public place in which plants are grown both for display and for scientific study. An arboretum is a botanical garden devoted chiefly to the growing of woody plants. . "You could call it horticulture in hell," says Cameron Brohman, the 44-year-old Canadian leader of the project. The 30-acre paradise of trees and medicinal plants medicinal plants, plants used as natural medicines. This practice has existed since prehistoric times. There are three ways in which plants have been found useful in medicine. lies in the heart of Carrefour, a concrete slum of 400,000 people on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince. It contains 32 species of trees, including mahogany, avocado, and breadfruit breadfruit: see mulberry. breadfruit Fruit of either of two closely related trees belonging to the mulberry family. Artocarpus communis (also called A. incisa or A. altilis) provides a staple food of the South Pacific. , as well as dozens of plants and shrubs. "Its treasure is not so much the rarity of the trees and plants," said Brohman, "but the simple fact that it exists at all in a country that is 96 percent deforested." Brohman has garnered international support for his conservation efforts through the London-based umbrella group, Botanical Gardens A botanical garden is a place where plants, especially ferns, conifers and flowering plants, are grown and displayed for the purposes of research, conservation, and education. Conservation International, which recently added the forest to its list of 400 garden projects. In addition, several other botanical gardens are backing the project, and Brohman has even gained the cooperation of the island's voodoo priests: Since April 1994 he has been supervising voodoo rites the locals say will protect the forest. For over 40 years the property has been owned by Katherine Dunham Katherine Mary Dunham (22 June 1909 – 21 May 2006) was a mixed race dancer, choreographer, songwriter, author, educator and activist who was trained as an anthropologist. Her father was an African-American Business man, and her mother a woman of mixed race, i.e. , the legendary American dancer, choreographer, voodoo high priestess high priestess n. The female head or chief proponent, as of a movement or doctrine: the high priestess of modern art. , and anthropologist. The 85-year-old Dunham lived on the property until Jean-Bertrand Aristide was ousted in the military coup of September 1991. In 1992 Dunham went on a 47-day hunger strike hunger strike, refusal to eat as a protest against existing conditions. Although most often used by prisoners, others have also employed it. For example, Mohandas Gandhi in India and Cesar Chavez in California fasted as religious penance during otherwise political or at her American residence in East St. Louis, Illinois East St. Louis is a city located in St. Clair County, Illinois, USA, directly across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, Missouri. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 31,542. , to protest the Bush administration's policy toward Haitian boat people. She has since been actively working to preserve the forest and create the Katherine Dunham Botanical Gardens. The forest has a long and checkered history. In Haiti's glory years, the Years, The the seven decades of Eleanor Pargiter’s life. [Br. Lit.: Benét, 1109] See : Time property was once home to Napoleon Bonaparte's sister Pauline. In the late 1960s it was converted into an international jet-set playground, with villas, swimming pools, a casino, and a hotel. Today, says Brohman, the gardens serve the people as a natural escape from the concrete jungle of the slums. Support for the preservation project has come from botanical gardens around the world, including the Fairchild Tropical Gardens in Miami, which helped raise funds by hosting a photo exhibit of the area in 1994. The photos, part of an extensive photo-journalistic effort by the Miami Herald, were taken by Herald photographer Peter Bosch. "The place is incredible," says Bosch. "You have to see it to believe it." Until recently, such a conservation effort probably would have been futile, but with the return of Aristide and a new political climate, things have changed. "I think that during Aristide's absence it would have been unwise," said Katherine Dunham. Today, however, local officials, as well as Aristide, support the project, which will include a horticultural school. According to Brohman, the fact that the rainforest has survived and is poised to make a comeback should stand as a strong symbol for the Haitian people, who themselves have had to survive years of strife and political upheaval. Apparently, widespread support for the project even includes a sanction by voodoo gods. When two five-foot snakes appeared in the toilet of Dunham's Haitian home last year, it was taken as a sign that the serpent god Damballah, master of all spiritual wisdom in voodoo culture, was pleased with her determination to leave the forest as a legacy to the Haitian people. It's dreadful, the things that have been happening to Haiti, especially the deforestation deforestation Process of clearing forests. Rates of deforestation are particularly high in the tropics, where the poor quality of the soil has led to the practice of routine clear-cutting to make new soil available for agricultural use. ," says Dunham. "I feel that this project will be sound, secure, and nonpolitical, and could serve as a model; this kind of conservation is just not being done in most areas of the country today." Donations can be sent to: The Katherine Dunham Botanical Gardens, 532 North 10th St., East St. Louis, IL 62201. RELATED ARTICLE: Haiti's New Green NGO NGO abbr. nongovernmental organization Noun 1. NGO - an organization that is not part of the local or state or federal government nongovernmental organization Last February, Operation Green Leaves, a partner of American Forests' Global ReLeaf International, donated 35,000 genetically improved slash pines to Haiti's new department of the environment. And on Earth Day last April, the group distributed 2,000 trees to residents of the Miami-area communities of Little Haiti, Little River, and Buena Vista. The group hopes to be in full operation in Haiti by the end of this year. Contact it at 305/635-9040. RICK BOLING - is a freelance writer working out of Land O' Lakes, Florida Land O' Lakes is a census-designated place (CDP) in Pasco County, Florida, in the United States. As of the 2000 census, the CDP population was 20,971. The city grew rapidly during the 1990s, growing from 7,800 residents to 20,971. . |
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