Notes from Haiti #6

After nearly a week in Haiti it is fascinating to consider how your perspective changes.  When we landed last Wednesday the cacophony of different noises and the crush of people on the streets was startling. It now feels like the norm. Driving by a river and seeing people washing their clothes, their bodies or their motorcycles is expected. Seeing women carrying impossibly large containers on their heads and walking along the road is no longer a object of wonderment.  

What of poverty? Do your perspectives change there as well?

Here again the answer is yes. For the past few days I have been following the CLM team of Fonkoze. CLM stands for Chemen Lavi Miyo which means "pathway to a better life". It is a program for the poorest of the poor in Haiti. The program, which lasts for 18 months, is designed to take people from extreme poverty and puts them on the road to a more secure life. People who graduate from this program have a roof over their heads and a source of income. The people who CLM chooses from are living on less than a dollar per day. The United Nations definition of extreme poverty is people living with less than $1.90 a day. When people graduate from the CLM program they are earning more than 2 dollars a day.  They have learned life skills, banking skills, and most receive animals as a grant to get their business going. They are also required to save money along the way. This is a program that originated in Bangladesh and was imported to Haiti. According to the program's director, Gauthier Dieudonne, when the people came from India to help get the program started they said that they had never seen poverty like what they were seeing in Haiti. After spending the past few days observing the CLM program in action I cannot imagine people existing with less.

My guide into the world of CLM has been Dr. Steven Werlin, the regional director of the program. Steve is a remarkable man who serves as a Professor of Philosophy at Shimer College. He came to Haiti a few years ago and has been working with Fonkoze ever since.  I observed his easy manner with the people that he meets and the way way people respond to him. Steve is fluent in creole, but he communicates something much deeper: they understand that this man truly cares for them. Steve is a kind and caring person. A mensch of the first order.  

Steve took me to remote areas. We walk on narrow paths and come to a clearing and find a family living there. We are walking with their Fonkoze sponsor. This is the person who will be meeting the client once a week and guide them through the 18 month program. The sponsor travels on a small motorcycle on bumpy dirt roads to get to these hard to reach places. We meet the client whose name is Jean (yellow dress in picture). She has been in the CLM for a few weeks. She must sign her name when she receives her stipend but Jean does not know how to write. She has been using her thumbprint up until now. The sponsor teaches her how to write her name while her husband and children look on. Part of the money is put into savings. They are asked why they have not built an outdoor toilet yet?  Jean explains that they don't own the land and the owner does not want them digging a hole. The sponsor strategize with her as to how to go forward. Nothing can go forward until they have the ability to fulfill the requirements of Fonkoze. It is a challenging meeting but the sponsor guides Jean in a serious and loving way and Jean responds positively.

We visit other clients in equally remote areas. Among others we visit Elina (she is wearing a red dress in the picture) who is pregnant. The sponsor asks her if she has gone to the hospital to check on her condition. She has done what was asked of her and he has her show him the medicine and makes sure that Elina knows how to take it. She shows us her animals and the sponsor checks to see if they are well cared for. In each case the sponsor reviews a health issue. Last week the lesson was on worms, and this week the issue is vitamin a. The sponsor goes through a checklist  of what the client should be aware of as they go forward.  No one has ever taken the time to teach these people the things that most of us take for granted. Elina has been abandoned by much of her family since she became pregnant and the father abandoned her. If it was not for Fonkoze and an aunt nearby one wonders where this woman would be. 

Finally we meet Marie Andre (wearing a white dress in the picture) who is a graduate of the program. When she started the CLM she was living with her parents and her young child.  Now she has her own home and a business buying a selling animals. Her child is in school and she can afford tutoring her as well. It is remarkable to see what she has accomplished in a short time thanks to the CLM program. Moreover, her manner is confident compared to the others we have met. She has not only changed her life but she has been transformed as a person. 

The fact is that the people that I went to visit today are not even visible to Haitians. They are the poorest of the poor. What Fonkoze has shown is what can be done when you have a strong program and remarkably dedicated people going out into the field and spending time with each person: serving as a mentor, a guide, and a a friend. These people are on a journey that will take them out of extreme poverty and giving them a future. The beauty of the program is that nothing is given to them without something being asked in return. When Fonkoze helps them with the rebuilding of the house, the family is responsible for supplying some of the material. They are required to save their money. Before they receive animals, they must build a pen for them. In short, they are not being treated as poor people, but as capable members of society. In short, they are now visible. Since 2015, 1,400 families have been part of the CLM program and their graduation rate is 99%.

I have been well aware of Maimonides' ladder of Zedaka: Charity for many years. I could not count the number of times I have taught it to others. However, I needed to come to Haiti to fully understand the highest level of charity: giving a person the tools to take themselves out of poverty. I feel blessed and privileged to have the opportunity to witness something truly remarkable and to have my perspectives forever adjusted for the better.