Life Without Safety Nets

Mark Coughlin is a musician/photographer/videographer who has spent lots of time in Haiti. He is fluent in Creole, which has greatly helped him understand the difficulties ordinary Haitians face in daily life.

If there is one thing I want people in the US to understand, it is that millions of Haitian people are, at this very moment, walking a very fine line between survival and catastrophe. Imagine what it means to live without a safety net, such as financial savings or health insurance. Imagine a loved one getting sick and health care not being available. Imagine having to care for your sick family member and not being able to work and support the family financially. That is the reality many Haitian families have to deal with day after day. I would like to tell the story of just one such family:

In December of 2007, I came to Hinche in the Central Plateau, with my wife, Suzanne, and our two teenage daughters. We spent the week working at a small, unequipped hospital run by the Missionary Sisters of Charity, caring for a ward full of tiny, sick, malnourished children. One child in particular, a tiny, gaunt boy named Djarnel Tousaint, immediately caught Suzanne’s attention, because it was obvious he was in deep trouble. Suzanne did her best with him, and we enjoyed chatting with his mother Jocelyne, who seemed hopeful that he would recover. Unfortunately, the next morning we learned that he had died during the night. We were crushed, but felt even worse when we learned that Jocelyne had lost another child just six months before. The stress of the illness and death of their fi rst child had completely disrupted the family’s lives, leading to the severe malnutrition and illness Djarnel suffered. Jocelyne’s husband, Jegra, came by later with their last remaining child, a beautiful girl named Jelenn. I knew that we had to stay involved with this family, so that she would not suffer her brother’s fate.

Two months later, I was back in Hinche and Jegra showed up with a very sick Jelenn. Her stomach was bloated, probably with a parasite infection and she was unable to eat. It was high time for a house call to discover what was killing this family. Jegra led me to their home in a very poor neighborhood on the outskirts of Hinche. Jocelyne was there and she too was quite ill. Their tiny wooden dirt-floor shack had a second-hand corrugated roof that was full of holes, so they would get wet every time it rained. They lived on a slope, with no latrine available, so the rain would wash fecal matter right through their home. Because their house is a long walk from any decent water source, they had been drinking untreated water from the nearby river. This water is loaded with coli form and e-coli bacteria, plus a host of parasites. It is easy to understand why the family has suffered so much illness. Neither Jocelyne nor Jegra have ever been to school and they cannot read. They simply did not understand the most basic tenants of health and hygiene.

Things have changed a lot for the Tousaint family since then – in great part thanks to HERO. Jocelyn and her family are now regulars at the HERO-constructed Whitney Clinic in Hinche and they’ve been able to overcome their health issues. They are now able to sanitize their water and many improvements have been made to their home. Jelenn is the fi rst member of her family to attend school. I was in Hinche last week and Jegra came by to see me. He brought Jelenn so that I could see her in her immaculately clean, pressed school uniform. He was absolutely beaming with pride.

We all can make a difference for families like the Tousaints in Haiti. This is why the work of HERO must continue. We must continue to create the venues for healthcare, safe water, and education that the Haitian people deserve and need so badly. We have the means – all we need is the will. Please help – your donations is what enables HERO to go on with this important work.

Written By: Mark Coughlin