A story from World Wide Village supporter, Bill Brass.
“After our trip to Haiti in 2009 we decided to sponsor a child. During our walk through Archaia, a community near Williamson, a little girl in a white dress joined us and grabbed onto our daughter’s hand. We decided that we could sponsor this little girl. Her name was Adlana. We went to visit Adlana and her family. They were living in a mud hut. She had three siblings and was living with her mother and aunt, who also had a number of children. Two of these children were extremely disabled from birth [with cerebral palsy] and required constant care. The next time we visited Adlana we found that her family had moved and was living in a small cinder block shed with a partial roof. Adlana, who was 9 years old at the time, was watching her three younger brothers while her mother, Mirielle, was in the market selling goods. Later that day we visited Mirielle and explained that we wanted to sponsor Adlana’s education. If the family moved to Williamson, her children would have an opportunity to attend an exceptional school run by World Wide Village.”
“Mirielle agreed. We rented her a room in a house in Williamson and moved the entire family. When we picked them up they were wearing their best clothes and we packed everything they owned into the back of the Ford Ranger.” This move changed Adlana’s life. The Brass family, with the help of World Wide Village, has assisted her mother, Mirielle, in supporting her family and planning for the future.
“Mirielle first started her own business selling charcoal, but more recently began buying items in bulk and selling them from a vendor table in front of her home. She buys rice, beans, oil, pasta and tomato sauce – all of the goods that a typical Haitian family consumes on a regular basis. Mirielle has learned how to keep seed money separate from her profit so that she can continue to replace the bulk product when she sells out. She has now established herself as a local vendor and sells the food out of her rented room on a daily basis, not just in the market once a week. Mirielle earns enough with her business that she can pay for school uniforms for both Adlana and her brother, Adlai [and her younger son, Peguy]. She feeds her children and buys shoes and underwear so that they can attend school. They now have a chance at a better future.”
By God’s grace the cycle of poverty is being broken for this family. Now that Mirielle has proven to be capable, World Wide Village is giving her a tremendous new opportunity to oversee a family chicken business in Williamson. A team from Grace Lutheran Church in Minnesota came to build the chicken coop and we have some chickens! The house that Mirielle has been renting will no longer be available at the end of the year because the owner is returning to Williamson to live in the house. With your help, World Wide Village would like to build a house for Mirielle right next to the chicken coop and bless her as she starts this new endeavor. Please partner with us in making this a reality for Mirielle and her family.
DONATE toward Mirielle’s house
Come to Haiti and help BUILD Mirielle’s house
Did you know that Haiti imports 1.5 million eggs from the Dominican Republic each day? Did you know Haiti has the capability to raise their own poultry and supply their own eggs? The poultry business has great potential to provide a steady income source for many Haitians and help build the sustainable communities that World Wide Village seeks to create.
The poultry business will not only provide income for families, but the eggs sold will provide many Haitians with a good source of protein. Protein is an important building block of bones and muscle. Your body uses protein to build and repair tissues. Many Haitian diets lack adequate amounts of protein. Imagine every child in the World Wide Village schools having daily access to locally grown eggs packed with protein! Mirielle’s chicken coop is just one small step in building a sustainable community in Haiti. Imagine if the community of Williamson could produce enough eggs to feed the entire region? This is part of the vision for the City on a Hill project.
