The Blog

HFF Employee Profile: Jeta

i Jan 30th No Comments by

When we met Jeta in April of 2010, the mother of two was struggling. Her partner and father of her children had left her, she had lost her job, and she was struggling to feed her eighteen-month old son, Kervens. Jeta knew how painful a separation from Kervens would be: she’d already placed her daughter Gloria with another family member an hour away in Port-au-Prince. After talking with Jeta, it was clear to us that this was a mother who was willing to work hard to take care of her family, but who needed a hand up, a little bit of support to achieve self sufficiency.

We went to work trying to assess what skills Jeta had to help her achieve that goal, and soon discovered that she was the perfect HFF jack-of-all-trades: someone who could help others in many of the ways HFF does.  Jeta serves as a nanny to the children we take into care temporarily and as a cook for families who stay with us while they’re in Port-au-Prince getting medical care, etc. for their children.  She visits the families of new babies who need encouragement, and she spends many hours in the hospital – comforting abandoned infants until a solution can be found for them, holding the hands of sick children, and helping their families advocate for their children’s care.
Having a stable and steady income as an HFF employee, Jeta no longer struggled to feed her young son, and was even able to enroll him in his local pre-school. When we asked Jeta what her most important goal was, she of course responded that she would like to return her daughter Gloria back home, and have the opportunity to parent both of her beautiful children once again. We helped Jeta make arrangements for Gloria to travel home from Port-au-Prince, and she settled back into her home where she belongs – as a big sister to Kervens, and a daughter to Jeta.

Gloria is flourishing in the first grade, proud of the chance to go to school, something she never thought would be possible. She is a responsible big sister to 3 year old Kervens, and it is clear that she enjoys having the rambunctious, loving little guy around. Kervens loves his mom more than words can describe. Sometimes when he is upset he calls her ‘Jeta!’ which always takes people by surprise – he has a BIG personality . He will beg to take a ride in the car with us, but if it takes him too far away from Jeta, he is no longer interested. He wants to be close to his mom.

Jeta, Gloria and Kervens are a beautiful HFF family, one that supports countless families in their community by being a shining example of what positive change can come to those who are struggling  with a little bit of support from a caring neighbor.

 

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