Revolution + Renewal

Today is Independence Day in Haiti, commemorating the Declaration of Independence in 1804 which concluded the first and only successful state-scale black slave rebellion of the colonial era.

To celebrate, many families in Haiti and around the world will be celebrating with a soup. The hearty squash-based soup joumou was profiled in the New York Times this week as a symbol of nourishment, generosity, family, pride, racial equality, history, and aspirations, all stewed together and eaten in community. In Les Anglais this year, Marie André will be cooking soup joumou in her electric kitchen with microgrid electricity powered by the sun. She came to the clean energy store today to top up her electricity account before the holiday and kindly agreed to pile up her soup ingredients for this photo.

“Anyone who is against oppression and stands for justice and freedom for all people should be proud, and celebrate that first victory for enslaved Africans against their oppressors,” Manie Chery, creator of the popular “Love for Haitian Food” website and YouTube channel told the Times. We were thrilled to see Ms. Chery post her own electric cooking Soup Joumou recipe today : Instant Pot Soup Joumou (!)

How will the two electric cooking soups compare? We’ll need to wait for some comparative taste test results to find out! 

In the meantime, we are sending you warm wishes for good health, happiness, and great progress toward realizing shared dreams in 2021.

To continued revolution and renewal towards a better world for all,
The EarthSpark and Enèji Pwòp teams

This post is an adaptation of an EarthSpark International newsletter. Sign up here to stay plugged in to EarthSpark's ongoing participatory clean energy work in Haiti.