Help Haitian Families Rise From Poverty to Dignity

Thank You for Your Generosity and Solidarity with Families

Thank you for your generous support for Beyond Borders’ Family Graduation Program. Thanks to you and people like you, this past October 109 of 110 families in the third cohort graduated, becoming the latest group of families on Lagonav Island to escape extreme poverty for good.

I can’t thank you enough for helping to make this possible. When these families entered the program in April of 2019, they were among the very poorest families in their community. They lived in tiny, dilapidated homes, drank unpurified water, and had no latrine. Hunger and illness were constant companions and they often could not afford to pay school fees.

Your Generous Support + Their Hard Work = Lives Transformed

Your generous support gave families the opportunity to create a better life for themselves, encouraging their hard work, resilience, and determination. Today, as they graduate, they each have a savings account, and a source of steady, reliable income -- either animals to raise and sell or goods to sell in their own small business.

They have clean drinking water and a sanitary latrine. They are healthy, no longer hungry, their children are in school, and they live in a safe, sturdy, dignified home. Most importantly, they now have the skills and confidence to ensure that they can maintain the extraordinary gains they’ve made.

At the graduation, each graduate told us how her life and life for her family has changed. Here are a few of examples of what graduates said:

Because of your support I am now able to send my children to school and we have clean water. We have a house, and I have animals to raise so I can earn money and take care of my children. Thank you very much. ~ Kenflore

I thank you because I had nothing. I was homeless and I used to be humiliated by those I was staying with. Now I have a house, and animals to raise. I will always remember you in my prayers. Thank you so much. ~ Nerlande

Your support has helped me so much. My children are in school now. I'm raising goats and chickens to earn a living and I have a donkey. Thanks to you I am no longer sleeping in someone else's house. Your support has restored my dignity and I can be among other people and feel like a human being. ~ Marieliene

Dignity and Hope Restored

Your support and their own hard work and determination has changed the trajectory of life for these families, restoring their dignity and confidence and giving them hope for the future.

It’s that sense of confidence and dignity regained that did as much as any material item – such as livestock to breed and sell or the goods to start a small business – that your generous support provided.

That’s because families that live on the margins often feel as though they have little or no reason to hope for a better future, much less plan for one, so they don’t. Your support gave them a reason and taught them how – for the very first time – to earn a living and plan for the future.

A Family Graduation Program with Results

Through their own hard work and determination, and the opportunity that you and supporters like you provided, the families in this third cohort achieved the following results:

• 100% of children are living free from malnutrition

• 100% of families have clean water

• 98% have a savings account

• 94% of children are living at home with their families

• 87% of children are enrolled in school

Parents Freed 59 Children from Slavery and Brought Them Home - Thanks to Supporters Like You!

Parents who are unable to feed, clothe, and educate their children often feel forced to send them away to live with others, with the hope that it will mean a better life for their children. Often, children who are sent away become enslaved by those who receive them. But thanks to you and donors like you, parents in this third cohort were able to free and bring home 59 girls and boys, and enroll them in a quality school in the community where they live. 

Gratitude for Your Generosity and Solidarity with Families

Your generosity and solidarity with these families has transformed the trajectory of their lives, giving them the opportunity to earn a dignified living and provide for their children and themselves long after they graduate. If you have any questions about what your support helped make possible, please call or write me anytime at (305) 450-2561 or b.stevens@beyondborders.net Thank you again for your generosity, your care, and your concern for vulnerable children and families. I am grateful!

Links:

• We've earned Charity Navigator's highest rating.
• Follow us on Instagram for the latest from Haiti.
• See all our videos from Haiti on YouTube.

Thank You for Your Generosity and Your Solidarity with Families in Haiti

Thank you again for your generous and faithful support for Beyond Borders' Family Graduation Program. I am grateful!

You are making all the difference for families during this pandemic, providing them with real stability in a time of profound challenge.

Before these families joined the Family Graduation Program, their lives were punctuated with frequent episodes of misery and despair.

Families Are Persevering in the Gains They’ve Made

But now -- even as the pandemic sends prices in their local market skyrocketing and makes it that much harder to earn a living -- the 110 families in the Family Graduation Program are persevering in the gains they've made, thanks to supporters like you.

That's because your support is providing them with the skills and resources they need to earn a dignified living in normal times and to manage the complexities of a crisis like this.

One of the ways that your support does this is through the creation of village savings and loans. In normal times, they provide access to credit to fuel economic growth, and in times of crisis they serve as a source of emergency funds for families in need.

You can read more about how your support is empowering families to save money for both good times and bad here: https://beyondborders.net/six-steps-to-lifting-families-out-of-extreme-poverty/

You are Ensuring Safe, Dignified Housing for Families

Right now on Lagonav Island, the generosity of supporters like you is ensuring safe, dignified housing for families in the Family Graduation Program, so that none of them ever again has to live in unsafe housing.

One of the primary reasons Beyond Borders invited each of these families to join the Family Graduation Program was the decrepit state of their housing. It's one of the things that made them especially vulnerable.

And while your support is changing this for them, what they receive from you isn't a handout. They'll work extremely hard. They will do all the manual labor of taking the wood and lime and rocks and water to the construction site of their new (or repaired) home.

They will pay for the windows and doors -- with the support of weekly visits from their caseworker to help them learn how to manage the income-generating assets that your support also provides (like farm animals, or the goods to start a small business) so that they can earn a living, and start saving too.

In place of destitution and dependence, your support is restoring dignity and hope.

Nerlande Tells the Story of Her Family’s Transformation

Thirty-three-year-old Nerlande is in her 17th month of participation in Beyond Borders’ Family Graduation Program in Nan Mango. She is a mother of three children. 

“Before [Beyond Borders’ Family Graduation Program], I didn’t have any equity that would help me take care of myself and my children. I used to suffer a lot of abuse from my children’s father too. I had to ask my aunt and grandmother if my children and I could stay with them when I made the decision to leave my children’s father. It was raining that day. We got soaked.”

With support from Beyond Borders’ Family Graduation Program, Nerlande built her own home. She worked very hard and used different strategies to save money. She managed a small business, and she even asked friends and family to help her save so she could build her own home. Many people helped her. Her brother, who lives in Chile, sent her some money, and others supported her in other ways. Her father helped her construct the doors and windows for her house.

In January, Nerlande moved out of her grandmother’s house, and now she lives in her own two-room home with her family. 

Nerlande operates a small business worth 15,000 HTG ($134) and owns six goats, three donkeys, one pig, and five chickens. She has plans to purchase two additional goats, another donkey, an extra pig, and two more chickens. Nerlande is able to do this because she has been saving and making profits from her small business. 

Nerlande’s children are in school. She has a backyard garden where she grows vegetables like spinach and parsley. Nerlande plans to plant an even bigger garden for her family to consume and to sell a portion in the marketplace to cover other costs in caring for her children.

Nerlande’s son Stanley has been ill his whole life. Because of medical care received through Nerlande’s participation in Beyond Borders’ Family Graduation Program, Stanley’s condition is improving.

“I’m so happy because I don’t worry as much anymore. I’m not living in someone else’s home with my children anymore. I have livestock that I can sell if I’m in difficulty, and my small business feeds my family. I’m in a Village Savings and Loan Association, through which I save my money every week. I’ve received so much helpful training [through the program] on how to manage my assets, my livestock, and my family.”

Thank You Again

Once again, I cannot thank you enough for your care and concern, and for the way that you are accompanying families through this pandemic to escape extreme poverty for good. If you have any questions about what you read in this report, please contact Brian Stevens, Donor Engagement Director at b.stevens@beyondborders.net or (305) 450-2561.

Links:

• READ: The six steps to lifting families out of extreme poverty.
• WATCH: See how families are moving from poverty to independence.
• FOLLOW: Beyond Borders is on Twitter!