She walked to the Hospital to find Nannette Canniff. It was about 100 degrees, but she couldn’t tolerate this situation one more day. Her husband would be angry because she had asked for help, but it was too important to wait any longer.

So here she stood, waiting to see the woman in charge of St. Boniface Haiti Foundation. Perhaps Nannette wouldn’t be too busy to talk to her for just a moment. As she told her story, she began to cry. It had taken too much to get to this point. The frustration and the desperation showed on her face. They had no house to call their own. She, her husband and two children were living under a tree.

Nannette, the Work Retreat group and Briel, SBHF’s community liaison, headed out to see exactly what was going on with this family that was living in such absolutely deplorable circumstances. Soon the truck arrived at a small path leading up to where the woman once lived. She pointed out the skeleton of a house they had tried to build, but had run out of money. Then she showed everyone the 10 x 12 mud hut they had been living in. Unfortunately they had been evicted because they could not pay the rent.

The group then followed the woman down the path to see where she was staying now. “Surely this can’t be it, ” said one group member. Her children and husband were sitting under a huge tree with their meager belongings. She explained that everything was wet from the rain. Each night they listened in fear to the noises, praying that the evil spirits would not come and steal their children or their souls. If they had been living in a house, they would have tightly shut the windows and doors to keep the spirits away.

One thing was certain; this family had spent too many nights worried about whether they would be safe until morning. It was decided that the family should not live one more night sleeping under a tree. It took a very long time, with confusion and head shaking, but when all was done Briel had found another house to rent. The Work Retreat group pooled their money to pay the Clermenceau family’s rent for 4 months, about $40. To finish their partly constructed house, it will cost about $6,000.

As the group was leaving, Mdme. Clermenceau, who had been so desperate, now had hope. Her family would be safe tonight.

St. Boniface Haiti Foundation continues to help the people of FdB get the very basic needs of life: food, shelter and healthcare.

Linda Canniff