Today is the 3rd anniversary of the earthquake. Many churches are holding fasts and there are other events going on to commemorate the dead and pray for the living.
Yesterday by chance, we had a mini-reunion with two families that lived with us for a while after the earthquake: Francoise Duverger, a single Mom with the young children under the age of 10, and Venita and her husband Bejanot.
Francoise is our friend who makes the lovely beaded jewelry we sometimes sell when we are in the US. Yesterday she was sad for many reasons. Her mother was in the hospital recovering from an operation, and a goat she had purchased as an investment died suddenly. What made matters worse was that the goat was just about to deliver two kids. Someone said they saw someone beating the goat a few days ago, and this could have caused internal bleeding. The goat represented a significant investment. For a woman who only makes about $800 a year, the goat cost $50 and she had offers of people who wanted to buy the kid-goats.
On top of that, Francoise is the only one in her family that has a somewhat steady source of income, so her family kept calling her all week to pay for an operation that her mother needed. When she couldn’t reach her relatives on the phone to send money to them, she was even ready to take a day off work and deliver the money herself. But I was able to reach a friend who lived near her family village, and he, through much effort, was able to deliver the money for the operation to her mother.
You may wonder why none of her relatives has a bank account where she could send the money, but to get a bank account, you have to have identification of some kind. Many do not even have a birth certificate, and then it costs money to get a government ID card.
Francoise’s sister is also in the same hospital as her mother waiting to give birth to her first child. As in most developing countries, childbirth is a leading cause of death and Francoise is concerned about her sister’s first birth experience.
All these factors reduced Francoise to tears yesterday afternoon with her three children and sister-in-law standing around her. I urged her to eat and gave her some Tylenol and she seemed a little better when she left.
It is hard being a single mother in any culture, but in Haiti with all of its daily challenges sometimes it is overwhelming.
Since the earthquake Venita and her husband Bejanot have had their marital struggles. Bejanot often does not come home at night because he says it’s hard to face his now 4 children with nothing to give them to eat. Since the earthquake he has not been able to find steady employment. They also had another child in July of this year named Esther. She is a healthy baby, thank God, and is healthy.
Thanks to the generosity of our supporters, I was able to give them about $100 to start a small business selling cold drinks. I was able to lend them a cooler as well. Please pray that the business goes well and Bejanot can start supporting his family. Bejanot will be mentored by another friend who went through my business training program a few years ago, and who I also gave some money to start a business that is going well.
Another couple we helped after the earthquake is Isidor and Johann. You may remember that their 8 week old son died in the earthquake. Now they have a new son who is about 6 months old. We had them over before Christmas and they are doing well.
So as we reflect on the day that changed everyone’s life in Haiti 3 years ago, we are thankful for you, our supporters, who allow us to walk in the good works God has prepared for us to walk in here in Haiti.