Interviews with families receiving new housing or repairs from WCH

The Cash for Work program includes building new temporary structures and repairing existing structures that were damaged in the earthquake but not severely. WCH works with local neighborhood organizers who prioritize who should receive assistance. WCH has or is soon to complete some new houses and the repairing of housing in at least three quartiers. (Quartiers are like the French Quarter in New Orleans but in Haiti’s case a much smaller area, serving 7-25 families.)

This is just some of the debris that the people living in this quartier, in the Dardean community, had to remove to allow new construction and space to live. Below is a picture of the quartier from the steps of the new structure pictures below. In the center of the photo are three structures repaired by WCH.

The new home, nearly complete, in the picture below will go to Samuel , the man on the left. He will live there with his wife, sister, brother and two children. He was with one of his children in the house and ran out when the earthquake struck. His entire home collapsed. None of his family were hurt but they lost everything. I asked him what he would say to the donors who gave to make this happen and he replied, “I would say ‘merci (thank you) for the new house and saving us from the rain’.” The man on the right is the Engineer responsible for designing, building and repairing the houses. The house is 4 meters (13.1 feet) by 4 meters or 16 square meters (172 sq.ft). This is the total space for a family.

The next home is occupied by Vaneta. She lives there with her children and cousins, 7 in all. She was in her house when the earthquake hit and ran outside. The one side wall of her home collapsed but none of her family was injured. They had to live in tents until their home was repaired. I asked her what she would say to the donors and she replied, “I would say, ‘thank you’ and that we could not do it without you. Thank you!” She and two of her children are pictured below. Below that is the repaired wall.

The house next door to the left is occupied by Orelus. (see below) She lives there with her husband, two children and a sister. She is a cleaning lady. She was in the house alone when the earthquake struck. She ran out of the house, and then to church. Then she searched and found all of her family and they were unhurt. They lost the front porch off their home and she lost her eating plates. WCH was able to repair her porch as a part of this project. I asked her what she would say to the donors and she replied, “I would say, ‘thank you very much’.” She is pictured with her two children.

Next door to Orelus, to the left, is Rosena. She lives here with her Mom, dad, 2 sisters, 2 cousins, and 2 of their children – 9 in all. When the quake hit, she was in the house and ran out as a wall inside collapsed, along with the roof. They lost a bed and a table. I asked her what she would say to the donors and she replied, “I would say, ‘thank you ’.” She is pictured below with her sisters and her cousins. The picture below this is the new wall inside and the new roof.

We went to the next quartier near Toussainte Brav . (see below) There appeared to be 7 or 8 families living here. Some of the debris had been cleared from this site.

The next picture shows a multi-story building next to this quartier and how precarious the surrounding buildings can be.

The new house built by WCH is shown above with Widzer, in the center, with his son and daughter. Widzer was at a neighbor’s house when the earthquake hit and injured his shoulder and knee as his neighbor’s house collapsed. His own house collapsed, killing his 5 year-old daughter, Bettina, and destroying all their possessions. They have been living since the quake without a tent! He will move in soon with his wife and his 5 remaining children, see below.) I asked him what he would say to the donors and he replied, “I would say thank you for building us a new house and I hope that other families will get help from WCH, too!’.”

The final quartier had about 25 families living there. Most of the structures were destroyed. They have cleaned up the site and built a “model” house, but the local organizer has not assigned a family, yet. The local organizer is waiting for an agreement from WCH to build other structures before he assigns families.

Hopefully this gives you a more personal way to pray for the people of Haiti.  We all need to be so very thankful for what we have because it is exponentially more than most people in Haiti have ever dreamed of.  Thanks for caring enough to read and pray!  TTFN     Steve