Tag Archives: Haiti

IHMs in Haiti through Fonkoze

Posted on February 24, 2010 by | Leave a comment
I’ve written about Sr. Anne Wisda before.  In this short piece she writes about how Fonkoze is helping Haiti’s recovery from the earthquake.There is a link to Fonkoze below in case you’d like to learn more about Fonkoze.
 
In 1993, I was in Haiti with a Pax Christi delegation. In the evening, we had speakers come to share peace and justice information. One of these speakers was Anne Hastings. She shared her dream about using her banking skills to empower the organized poor of Haiti – especially women – to establish a micro-lending program. She inspired all of us with her commitment, and she explained that this bank would need investors. In December 1997, we were among the first of several religious congregations to make alternative investments in Fonkoze.
 
Our IHM investments have helped to build and support the foundation for “economic democracy,” especially for the women in Haiti. The IHM commitment to Fonkoze is one of the best investments we have ever made. In the midst of poverty, hurricanes and earthquakes, Fonkoze, a successful micro-credit program, has given education, stability and support to empower the poorest of the poor in Haiti. Today, there are 41 branch offices throughout Haiti. Fonkoze has been credited with stabilizing the banking system for the country’s most vulnerable people.In addition to micro-lending programs, Fonkoze sponsors major literacy, health care and micro-insurance programs. Its remittances and savings accounts serve more than 200,000 people, making it a significant part of the country’s financial system.
 Within two weeks of the devastating earthquake in January, Fonkoze distributed $2 million to the 34 of the 41 branch offices open after the quake. It has been credited with stabilizing the banking system for the country’s most vulnerable people.
by Anne Wisda, IHM

http://www.fonkoze.org/innews/earthquakenews.html

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Posted in IHM, spirituality, sustainability, Uncategorized

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Walking with the Haitian people

Posted on February 12, 2010 by | Leave a comment

As we remember the devastating earthquake in Haiti on this day last month and the stories of heartbreak and heroism, I can’t help thinking back with admiration and gratitude to my experience with the Haitian people in the late nineties. As Director of the Diocesan Haitian Center in Trenton, New Jersey I ministered to all Haitians in the area, Catholic or not, with any services they needed. Since most Haitian people are poor even here in the United States, they needed help with notices of eviction or power turn off,  need for food and clothing, and assistance navigating  the confusing and intimidating  Welfare and Immigration systems.   On one hand the people were needy; however that was only half of the picture. I learned so much from their rich culture. They are a people of  dignity, warmth and graciousness, of strong faith, people  who looked out for the needy in their community. This morning on NPR a Haitian bishop expressed thanks for the food aid that is finally beginning to help the people.  However he spoke of their urgent need for housing before the rainy season starts as well as their continuing need for clean water. He concluded by saying that he has confidence in his people and hope that the world community will assist them to rebuild and strengthen their country.

Here in the Motherhouse we are living Haiti week with videos, books, collection of donations, and sharings from sisters on our Haiti committee.  IHM sisters have a special commitment to Haiti because of our co-foundress’s Haitian roots. A number of our sisters have traveled to Haiti in connection with projects we’ve helped to sponsor.   As I looked through the resources provided for us I found this poem written some years ago by a  Haitian boy named Gayly living in St. Joseph home for Boys in Port au Prince. I’d like to share it with you.

Father!

Please listen to my prayer.

Children are hungry.
Children are sad and alone.

Children are crying. Children are scared.

Send them angels of joy and encouragement.
Send them angles to protect them from harm.

But, Father
Where are your angels of mercy?
Are they sitting in their comfortable clouds
When children need your help?

Tell those angels there is work to do!

Send Your angels to tell the children that you hear their prayers.

from A Gathering of Angels edited by Peter Eyvindson

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Meet Sr. Michelle

Posted on May 8, 2009 by | 9 Comments

Sr. Michelle with Haitian Children

Sister bears witness to Haitian struggles

 Upon her recent return from Haiti, Michelle Denton, IHM, reflected on her most riveting experience.

 “At an orphanage operated by Mother Theresa’s Missionary Sisters of Charity, there was a line of women waiting to give up their children,” she says. “These children were skeletal, with the huge bellies of malnutrition.

 “Because of the severe malnutrition, the orphanage was the only chance they had to survive,” says Michele, who traveled to Haiti with a delegation from the World Community of Christian Mediation. Organized as a pilgrimage, participants bore witness to the unimaginable conditions of the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere as they visited cities, rural areas and fishing villages.

 Lack – of food, money, jobs, education, health care, potable water, basic sanitation, utilities – is the hallmark of Haiti.

 “We were often approached by beggars,” Michele recalls. “We had been advised not to give anything to them, but rather work with one of the charitable programs and organizations that bring relief and desperately needed care to the country. Projects such as the IHM ‘Pennies for Progress’ initiative, which benefits the people of Fondwa, Haiti, or the St. Boniface Haiti Foundation, which provides health care, education and community support.

 “One of the members of our delegation, a Haitian doctor, said that of all the needs in Haiti, education is the most pressing,” Michele notes. “If more people were educated, many of the current challenges could be met.”

 In spite of the deplorable conditions, Michele reports on “pieces of hope.” Solar-powered traffic lights. Solar panels on some of the houses in rural areas to augment sporadic electricity. The spirit, faith and friendliness of the people.

  “Just being there – even if our group didn’t actively change lives – we seemed to bring hope to the Haitian people,” Michele notes. “Our visit said that we care and will share our experience with others so that conditions can be improved.”

At Mass on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, Michele renewed her vows as an IHM Sister. After she read her vows in English, a translator read them in Creole so the Haitian people attending Mass could understand what was happening. 

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