Haiti Project Action
Self Education
Follow U. S. legislation in regards to Haiti
Book Review
To Fool the Rain: Haiti's Poor and Their Pathway to a Better Life
by Steven Werlin, Forward by Dr. Paul Farmer
Ti Kozi Press 2016
E version available, paperback $17 on Amazon
http://fonkoze.org/fooltherain.html
To Fool the Rain by Steven Werlin is an in-depth look at how Fonkoze’s program Chemin Lavi Miyo (CLM or Path to a Better Life) works. It follows 18 women, case managers and local community members in an easy-to-read ethnographic study of the extremely poor in rural Haiti. A professor from Chicago’s Shimer College, Steven Werlin, familiar with Haiti through many volunteer contacts, became a regional director when the program quickly expanded with a grant to enroll 1,000 new families.
To recruit participants, teams (regional & case managers) approach a neighborhood, look for local leaders, and determine who that community identifies as its poorest inhabitants (no land, no animals). For some illiteracy coexists with poor self-concept and inertia, many of the participants have been restavecs (child slaves). Only half of those invited will agree to enter the program but of these 95% will graduate.
Much of the central plateau where Werlin works is very remote, approached with motor bikes and demanding miles of hiking on footpaths over mountains sometimes with 6 foot grasses that obscure surroundings. Case managers will visit 50 families weekly coaching and motivating, inquiring about family and livestock health, cholera prevention practices, and finances (each family having received a grant, not a loan, of funds). By graduation participants will have two sources of income, a house with a cement floor and a tin roof, a plan for the future and children will eat daily.
Besides providing grass roots reporting on how CLM functions, Werlin praises his co-workers, most of whom have risen from poverty themselves, for their dedication to their clients despite the hardships of their jobs. “To fool the rain” refers to a Haitian proverb that one can hide from the sun in the shade, but can’t escape the rain without a roof. As readers meet the women whose stories make the program clear, they will realize impact of their contributions for the families of Haiti.
Haiti Project Committee Goals
Continue a partnership with the Little Sisters of St. Therese of the Child Jesus
Educate our Sisters about the needs of Haiti
Communicate opportunities for advocacy for Haiti
Encourage participation in projects for Haiti