Time For Kanaval!

Time For Kanaval!

i Mar 6th 1 Comment by

An annual carnival celebration—leading up to Mardi Gras—is a big event in many places around the world.

Haiti is no exception!

Many schools across the country celebrated Haitian Kanaval last week with a day off school, and a big party complete with food, drink, music, dancing, and more dancing.

In Montrouis, Haiti, we were part of an exciting Kanaval story this year.

We learned from some of our students who attend school together that they would not be having a kanaval party this year. That they are one of many schools that cannot afford to throw a party each year.

You see, in order to hold a kanaval party, school administration ask each parent to contribute a small amount to the cost of the party, and to ensure that their child has a kanaval style outfit/costume to wear to the party.

As a school that serves extremely low income families, this administration knows that it is not realistic to ask families to contribute to the party costs.

For $80, HFF was able to cover costs for a drink and small snack for each student at the school—512 kids total—and supplies for each student to decorate a kanaval mask!

The students and parents pitched in to plan what music would be played, who would perform, and to choreograph a group dance.

Everyone agreed that the suggested attire would be anything at all, removing the pressure for the students to dress up in a kanaval costume, which can be expensive.

The outcome was amazing and many of the students said it was the best party they have ever been a part of.

We received a letter from the school director this week thanking us for the contribution, which made it possible to give these kids a special day that they all deserved so much.

It was the first year since the earthquake in 2010 that this school was able to celebrate kanaval.

While it is true that most of our days are filled with desperate parents, scary sicknesses, and frustrating situations, sometimes we are able to bring remarkable happiness to the children we love.

This brings us the joy and encouragement to continue our work every day.

We have the incredible opportunity to continue to bring happiness and joy to the families we serve because you support us.

We can not do this without you.

Thank you.

What About Birth Control?

i Jan 30th No Comments by

I am often asked how the women in HFF programs feel about birth control.

Many people are under the impression that women in Haiti do not take the proper precautions to avoid unwanted pregnancy. The truth is that most often these women don’t know they have options or where to turn.

HFF is proud to work together with them to offer options and provide support.

It is an unfortunate truth that many women in Haiti do not have access to basic medical care. A doctor visit may be a day trip away, and can cost as much as a weeks worth of earned wages.

They do not have the luxury of seeing a doctor regularly for check ups, and wellness exams.

One of the first questions that we ask a woman who comes to us in desperate need is what her ‘family planning’ plan looks like.

Most women are excited to learn that there is an option to receive a shot that can prevent pregnancy for up to 3 months, and an implant that works for 5 years.

Some women are afraid of these methods, they have heard horror stories of medical procedures gone wrong, or have even been taught that birth control is not ‘good’.

Our job is to educate these women about their options.

When a woman chooses to receive the shot, we help her to coordinate her doctor visits around her busy schedule—working in the fields or in the market, getting her children off to school and picking them up—and to plan her mode of transportation to be sure that she makes it to each appointment.

An HFF employee follows up with each woman regularly to be sure that she is feeling healthy, and confident in her decision.

The need is different for every family, but in every case, each parent simply wants what is best for her child and her family.

We work hard to make sure that each mother is comfortable with the decisions that she is making to take the best care of her family possible.

Fabiola’s Story

i Oct 17th No Comments by

Each day in Haiti is different. And most days are difficult for the families with whom we work.

The work of Haitian Families First helps during those difficult days, weeks, and months.

For the hundreds of people we’ve reached through our years of service, difficult days are now a little lighter.

I want to tell you a very personal story about Fabiola. She is the reason Haitian Families First works in Haiti. She’s the reason families come first.

Fifteen year old Fabiola wakes up before the sun.

As her eyes adjust to the dark of the two room home she sleeps in, the roosters crow outside the door. In Haiti, the roosters wake up before the sun too. She navigates her way outside to cross the path to the community shared toilet.

Inside the home sleep her sisters Tayna (8) and Kristmath (10), brothers Charles (12) and Orons (1), and her grandma and grandpa, Mr. and Mrs. Pierre.

Fabiola never knew her father. Her mother suffered from Tuberculosis for many, many years. She was never able to afford proper medical care, and when we met the family the disease had taken control. We took her to several clinics and hospitals, but no doctor was able to help her.

Fabiola’s mother passed away in June 2012. 

As the family slowly stirs, Orons makes sure that he is the first one taken care of by wailing for his bottle of milk. The incredible love and care he receives from his siblings and grandparents has left him a little bit spoiled. Fabiola pours the filtered drinking water from a 5 gallon jug and perfectly measures it the way Jamie showed her, mixing in two full scoops of powdered formula. 

His mother had been unable to breastfeed because of her disease, leaving Orons far below a healthy weight as a baby; his cheeks were puffy from malnourishment.

His grandparents and big sister were doing everything they could think of to take care of him, feeding him bread soaked in water with sugar, mashed beans and rice. They gave him all they could afford to give him. 

Fabiola picks up Orons and holds him close while feeding him. She sings to him softly and runs her fingers through the little bit of hair on his head. It is her last few moments of calm before the day really begins.

Grandma heads to the market to sell produce while Grandpa ventures into the fields to farm.

Fabienne drags Kristmath and Tayna from their beds, and shouts to Charles to wake up. The kids run to the community shower to rinse off quickly before pulling on their school uniforms—yellow collared shirt under a jumper or dress shorts, white socks and black school shoes. The girls pull each others hair up into a few ponytails and grab their backpacks. Fabiola gets herself ready while making sure that Orons, who recently learned to walk, stays out of trouble.  

The four walk to school together, Fabiola intervening now and then when the younger girls argue or tease one another. On the way, they drop Orons off at his in-home daycare. When they arrive at school they part ways, each head to their respective classroom.

For 7 hours, Fabiola learns math and science, history and writing.

She loves to learn, she loves the opportunity to go to school, something she never thought she would have. She sometimes daydreams of what she is going to be after she finishes school, leaning toward being a nurse because she loves to take care of people in need.


Fabiola remembers when her family was falling apart.

Before her mother passed, when she was very sick, the director of an orphanage down the street approached Mrs Pierre offering to take in Orons and Tayna. They were certain that they could place the youngest two children in families somewhere outside of Haiti. For the older three kids it would be much more difficult. So there was no space for them in the orphanage. 

When it was clear that the children’s mother would not live much longer, Jamie and Ali, met with the family.

In their native language of Kreyol, they asked the entire family what they wanted to do.

Did Tayna want to go live in an orphanage? Where there was promise of a bed to sleep in, two meals per day, education inside the walls of the orphanage? Tayna said she was scared, and that all she wanted was to be with her grandparents and her sisters and brother. Fabiola spoke up, telling Jamie and Ali that she could help take care of the baby, and that none of the kids went to school so they could all pitch in and help.

Mrs. Pierre explained that working full-time to support the family still left them short many days, and that she noticed baby Orons was not growing the way he should have been. That perhaps giving up the younger kids would leave more on the table for the older three? Fabiola cried listening to her grandmother explain what she planned to do.

She was losing her mother, and now would lose her baby sister and brother.

The McMutrie sisters explained that Haitian Families First wanted to do whatever it would take to keep the family from suffering any more loss.

They would provide powdered formula for Orons, along with training Mrs. Pierre and Fabiola on how to prepare and properly use it. They would provide a supplemental stipend for extra food for the older children.  They would help to identify a local school and enroll the kids immediately.  And they would organize child care for Orons during the hours when he needed care.

To Fabiola, it seemed too good to be true.

What do we have to do, she asked, for you to help our family so much? Jamie replied that all they had to do was promise to work hard in school, and to take care of one another.

Fabiola, Charles, Kristmath, and Tayna walk home from school at the end of the day, careful to stay out of the way of passing cars and motorcycles which, in Haiti, always have the right of way. They pick up Orons who excitedly tries to call Fabiola’s name when he sees her. Together the five children walk home where they find Grandma preparing their afternoon meal. They change into comfortable clothes and sit down together to tackle their homework. Two days per week a tutor comes to help them in the subjects they struggle with.

They help one another, and of course at times they argue and fight, and bicker with one another.

They kick a soccer ball, braid each others hair, read books, color pictures. When Fabiola lies down in bed with Tayna on one side of her and Kristmath on the other, she feels happiness she wasn’t sure she would ever feel again. Her homework is finished, her belly is full, and most importantly her family is close.

She knows she does not have to fear losing someone she loves again.