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Our Board of Directors, our volunteers, and I wish all of you and your families a healthy, joyful, and prosperous New Year and thank you for continuing your generous support.
Although the economic situation here also has been very difficult, many of you never stop thinking about how much the destitute children of Lascahobas are suffering. Because of your generosity, the organization has been able to sustain its program to help poverty stricken families in Lascahobas.
Sadly, one of our mothers has had a stroke and is now paralyzed. Without her contribution, her family needs more support than ever. In another situation, we are delighted to report to you that the six mothers who had been hospitalized due to the cholera epidemic, thank God, have gotten well. They have returned to their activities and are once again taking care of their children.
COOPERATIVE ECONOMIC GROUPS - All the women who are able to be in these groups are grateful for the loans they received from the organization; that money enables them to earn enough to feed their families. Sometimes, funds are extremely low and I have to tell the mothers, ”I know it’s not much, I wish we could lend you more money.“ They reply, “Mommy, your group keeps us alive; whatever you give us helps, and we know it’s not easy for you either. Now we have hope. We don’t have anywhere else to turn; that’s why we are always checking to see when you will arrive.”
Three of our groups who had been dealing with the credit union have decided to pool their money to purchase black beans for planting. To obtain beans in the past, they had to agree to repay the seller with fifty per cent of the resulting crops and no less than the amount borrowed. When there was a poor season, the seller sometimes took the entire crop in payment of the loan. In the end, the person who had done all the work would have no money.
Since some of the members have small plots that can be planted, the three groups now work cooperatively to purchase beans to reserve in storage until it’s time to plant them. At that point, each member will borrow some beans at an agreed upon rate and will return a percentage of the crops they reap for the group to store for the next planting. Someday, their increased reserves may allow the group to sell to others who want to plant. Knowing how they had suffered under the fifty per cent rule, they are certain to ask for a more reasonable rate in re-payment of the loans.
Mothers usually get money and materials from the FCLH Center. Last year, when I arrived at the end of September, I learned that mothers and grandmothers had been stopping by the center every day asking, “What are we going to do to send our children to school?
There are many reasons for their high levels of anxiety; only some of it is because of concerns about getting the children to school. First, schools in Haiti are not free, and children must wear the prescribed uniform to classes. Second, lots of grandmothers had to become responsible for their grandchildren after the earthquake disaster in January 2010 because their mothers died. Nobody gave these women any additional money to help to care for these children even though many of them had lost both parents in the earthquake. Third, and perhaps most important of all, food prices are just exorbitant.
Some families lost everything they had in the Port-au-Prince earthquake and brought their children to grandmothers in Lascahobas so that the surviving parent could go looking for work.
One of those grandmothers waited until after I had finished working with her group and all the women left before asking for help. She said that she uses the money we give her to feed the children, to buy things to sell and also does whatever work she can to pay back the loan. She went on to explain, “I have three children to send to school. When she was alive, my daughter had them in school; I can’t keep them out of school now, but they have no shoes.”
When I was able to give her only one pair of sneakers for each of the boys and a pair of black shoes for the girl, the grandmother cried and said, “Thank you, but the school is requesting all the students to wear black shoes with the uniform.” Unfortunately, we didn’t have any more black shoes.
During my recent visit, I spent three weeks in Lascahobas, and realized that I may have to reduce the amount of time I spend there to only one week at a time. It has become too painful to have to turn away so many truly needy people without being able to give them any help at all.
After one week, there is nothing left to give away. The economy is also bad in the United States and we have less money because FCLH has been receiving fewer and smaller donations. Lots of people who usually send donations have lost their jobs.
FCLH wants to continue sponsoring fourteen children in primary school. After we found out that some of our mothers are really illiterate, we had to hire a teacher for them. They need to be able to read, write, and do basic arithmetic so that they can run a real business as well help their children to succeed in school.
I am begging you, our supporters, to continue helping us with these programs. Only your donations allow FCLH to serve the people of Lascahobas.
We are grateful to you for your continued support.
Sincerely yours,
Estelle Dubuisson
