Featured Project

HOPE for some of Haiti’s Most Vulnerable --

the “Fatima House” orphanage, home for Fondwa’s “at risk” children

Here in Haiti’s southern mountains, Jed could easily have been a sad statistic.

Haiti, the third most hungry country in the world, poverty and hunger are epidemic. Kids like Jed die every day. He was lucky, though. The Sisters of St. Antoine, a Catholic community of religious women affiliated with the Association of Peasants of Fondwa (APF), who live and work among the very poor, got to him in time. The sisters care for the sick and hungry in these rugged mountains. And when kids like Jed are in danger, the sisters find a place for them at the Fatima House Orphanage. There, they feed and clothe these kids, educate them, care for them, and – most important of all – love them!

Jed’s story is all too familiar. He was born into poverty, his parents too sick to care for him. It wasn’t long before he was malnourished, too weak to move, near death. Some of the younger sisters – those “in formation” – who regularly visit the poor, looked in on mother and baby from time to time and brought them food. During a visit just days before Christmas 2003, they realized time was running out for the baby. “They saw ants starting to eat Jed’s eyes,” says Sister Carmelle Voltaire, who helped found the community of sisters a decade ago along with Sister Simone. “He was very small.” Reluctant to take children from their parents, the sisters nonetheless brought Jed to their center to clean him up, clothe him and feed him until his health was regained. He was two months old and weighed two pounds.

“God said to me: ‘If you send him back he will die quickly.’” reports Sister Carmelle. So with his parents’ consent, the sisters made a place for him. They named him Joseph Emanuel David – “Jed” for short. (Joseph was for Father Joseph Philippe, C.S.Sp., who founded and coordinates APF. Emanuel – meaning “God is with us” – because it was Christmas and David for David Williamson , a former Fondwa volunteer with Family Health Ministries of Durham, NC who is much loved and admired in the mountains of Fondwa.) Ten days after his arrival he weighed 8 pounds. In a month he was up to 12 pounds. His mother died three months later. His father died after that.

Like other very young children, Jed stayed with the sisters at their center until he was two years old. He then moved to the orphanage down the hill. Today, he is one of 47 children, aged three to 27, who call Fatima House “home”. They all attend the Saint Antoine School , also operated by the sisters and funded through Partners in Progress (PIP) and Family Health Ministries (FHM). Unlike Jed, most of the orphans still have parents. They turned their children over to the sisters because they were simply too poor to care for and feed them. Like Jed, many were near death when brought to the sister’s health clinic.

At the Orphanage

At the orphanage the children live in concrete block dormitories, built in recent years with funding from FHM and PIP. Meals include such Haitian staples as beans and rice as well as macaroni and spaghetti. But the children also have meat occasionally, dumplings, fruit and vegetables. Some food is donated by US-based Food for the Poor. But some also comes from gardens tended by the children and youth of Fatima House.

All the children have chores. Some plant and harvest the gardens and feed pigs and goats. Some do the laundry. The older girls help care for the younger children. Sister Simone, who lives at the orphanage and oversees it, is also the principal of the St Antoine School. She made sure that the children have an area with a blackboard to do their homework! They also have regular religious instruction.

The cost of operating Fatima House is about $1700 a month. Partners in Progress provides a quarterly subsidy to defray some of these expenses. Family Health Ministries, which has volunteers in Fondwa working with the sisters, provides additional support. In collaboration with APF both FHM and PIP have provided funding for the construction of the “new Fatima House” that replaced the former, two room wooden house that once housed 50 children sharing seven bunk beds! The new Fatima House boasts “a bed for each child”! A final phase of new construction, expected to cost $50,000, will include a cafeteria, new kitchen, chapel, bathrooms and – for the first time – electricity!

For the children of Fatima House, life offers a measure of hope in a world that once seemed hopeless. They can grow to adulthood equipped with the tools they need to join in the struggle against overwhelming poverty.  

The Story of “Lulu”

Ludson Lafontant, or “Lulu” as he is called, 26, was one of the first children to enter Fatima House when it opened 14 years ago. He shares his story in his own words:

I was born in Port Au Prince on August 13, 1981. For the first few years of my life I lived with my mother’s sister. My mother was unable to take care of me, because she did not have any money. We also did not have a very good home environment, because my father beat my mother often. I actually have never met my father and have no idea who he is or where he is.  

I lived with my aunt in a small house in Port Au Prince until I was 6 years old. Then my aunt fell ill, and I returned to my mother and lived with her for a year. She beat me often and for no apparent reason. I was very unhappy. The only thing I liked was that my neighbor had several goats, and I always ran after the goats and played with them. During that time I was not going to school. Then my mother became very ill, and I was placed in sister Simone’s house. Actually Sister Simone saw how I lived, and she took me in and send me to school. Sister Simon’s house was very small, and there were 4 of us living there, Sister Simone, myself, and two other children.  

At the age of 12 I moved to Fondwa, because Sister Simone started an orphanage in Fondwa. I continued going to school there. I really liked Fondwa, especially the mountains. And once I began meeting the peasants and saw how they lived, I really wanted to stay. I was happy in Fondwa, much happier than in Port Au Prince.  

Once I had reached 10 th grade, I began working at the school as a teacher. But not only did I go to school and work at the school, I also worked at the orphanage. I took care of the pigsty, I planted and helped bring in the crops, and I carried materials for new construction at the orphanage.  

In addition to this I also participated in a two year training course in agriculture. This training was organized by the peasant association of Fondwa (APF), and directed by a local agronomist. The course stressed community development. Studying and learning about community development made me realize how important it was to have a group for the young people of Fondwa. I helped organize this group and was its president for 5 years. The young people in our group helped the visitors, and showed them around the community. We organized workshops on health and HIV/AIDS education, we captured a water source, and with the help of our friends from the US we were able to construct our own meeting place. Our latest project is the installation of 3 public toilets, two of which are already finished and functioning. Once a year we also take a trip to another communal section of Haiti , so that we get to know our own country better.  

My dream has always been to help other people. Because when I look at my own life there have always been people who helped me along the way. I feel like I want to pay back and help others.

Lulu is now on a scholarship studying agronomy abroad. “He’s a good person,” says Sister Carmelle, underscoring the real value of Fatima House and the work of the Sisters of St. Antoine. By God’s grace and the continued collaboration of Partners in Progress, Family Health Ministries and similar friends of Fondwa, the Sisters will leave their mark on many like him in the years to come!

Note: The above is an edited version of an article provided for Partners in Progress by Meredith Barkley, a Family Health Ministries volunteer in Fondwa. “Mesi anpil” (“thank you VERY much”), Meredith!

Print this report -- available in .pdf format: Fatima House Update 2006.