Rough Terrain

[Tuesday, June 16th, 2009]
Interviewing CLM members



Mercilia Boni is a sixty year old grandmother living in Ti – Jeudy, Boukan Kare, Haiti with three children and five grandchildren. The eldest child living with her is seventeen years old and her youngest grandchild is three years old. One of her children lives outside of the home. For the past 10 months, she has not seen or spoken to her eldest daughter. Her daughter does not know her economic hardship and she does not know if her daughter is experiencing any economic hardship.

Before the CLM program, Mercilia and her children would eat one meal per week. When times were good, her family would eat twice a week. Otherwise, she would borrow food on credit from neighbors or hope that a neighbor comes along to help feed her family. Since her membership in the CLM program, Mercilia’s family eats daily. She will purchase a bottle of Clorox, [droplets of Clorox to purify drinking water obtained from open sources such as a river stream] for 25 gourde [$ 0.58 USD] so that her family can drink treated clean water.

Mercilia’s home has a porous roof. When it rains, her children have to stand because the house is wet and leaking everywhere. Within a few months, her home will be constructed through the CLM program.

Mercilia’s selected enterprises are small commerce and goat rearing. Mercilia has female goats. When her goats breed, she plans to sell the baby goats in exchange for a cow. If there were money left over from the exchange, she would buy goods to further her small commerce. She has a lifetime of experience with small commerce. She wants her children to eat and attend school on a regular basis.

[Wednesday, June 17th, 2009]
Interviewing CLM members





Rosita Vertilien lives in Belvue, Boukan Kare, Haiti with two children. She is thirty seven years old. In total, she has four children. However, her uncle has agreed to help her raise two of her eldest teenage sons and taken them into his home. Her uncle lives relatively close to her. As a child, Rosita did not attend school due to the obstruction of school fees.

During Rosita’s childhood, her mother and father passed away when she was young. She went to live with her uncle following her parent’s death. Her uncle raised her and treated her well. Today, her uncle is raising two of her children. Recently, her husband has kicked her out of the home.

Rosita and her two children eat three times a day. Her family’s diet consists of Pi timi and grounded corn. Rosita will treat her family’s drinking water through boiling water she collects from the river.

Rosita’s selected enterprises are chicken herding and goat rearing. When the

The CLM program constructs sturdy homes for each CLM member. Rosita has started to collect rocks that will be used toward the construction of her new home. Rosita hopes that her life will improve and that her children will have a safe secure future.