RSSMacilia's Story - Caring for Extended Family in Disaster's Wake
Macilia lives in Guilloux, a small town in southwestern Haiti near Les Cayes. Guilloux is far enough away from the epicenter of Haiti’s January 12th earthquake that on that day, Macilia only felt the ground tremble. While most of the area’s homes withstood the tremors, the quake still impacted Macilia and her neighbors.
Since the disaster, the number of people living in Macilia’s house has more than doubled. Like many of her neighbors, Macilia has taken in family members who fled Port-au-Prince in the quake’s aftermath—she is currently hosting 12 relatives whose homes were destroyed. However, the situation of Macilia and her neighbors is not unusual. Many communities outside the capital have been affected by the influx of displaced family members. In February, an estimated400,000 people were seeking refuge in communities outside the quake zone.
Hosting additional family has but a lot of strain on Macilia. First and foremost, it is difficult to feed everyone. In Macilia’s words, “12 people are not 12 stones, they need to be fed.” Providing nourishment for the entire family is complicated by a few things. Since farming is the main source of food, the increase in the number of people to feed has put tremendous strain on the community’s resources.
In addition, less food is being transported to sell in Port-au-Prince and the extra food in local markets has caused the selling price to drop. This has been especially hard on Macilia, who sells food to support her family. For instance, she used to sell one papaya for 50 gourdes ($1.29), but now, she can only charge 20 to 25 gourdes ($.55).
Simultaneously, the price of goods transported to rural communities from Port-au-Prince, such as oil, candles, salt and other items, has risen. The combination of these factors makes it difficult for Macilia and others like her to provide their families with everything they need.
While she admits that each day is a struggle, Macilia is grateful for the support she has received as a member of the community-based association GROSO FANM. This group, which is supported by the Episcopal Diocese of Haiti and Episcopal Relief & Development, is composed of 30 local women who grow cacao and use it to produce chocolate products, including chocolate bars, drinks, powders and cakes.
The women of GROSO FANM also run a trading business – until the demand for goods from Port-au-Prince decreased, they bought locally-produced goods to resell in the capital. To help members struggling to cope with an influx of relatives and also solve the problem of decreased demand for goods in Port-au-Prince, the association liquidated its stock of corn, dividing the profits among members. Although GROSO FANM experienced losses because of the low market price of corn (corn previously purchased at 15 gourdes ($.39) had to be sold at only 10 gourdes ($.26)), the liquidation provided association members like Macilia with up to 1,560 gourdes ($40). This enabled them to buy goods to feed their families like yams, oil, meat and spices.
GROSO FANM is just one example of the more than 1,500 community-based associations and micro-finance groups that the Episcopal Diocese of Haiti has helped create over the years with support from Episcopal Relief & Development. Macilia tells us that CEDDISEC, the development and relief arm of the diocese, hasn’t just been “throwing stones at the sun.” Rather, the organization has intentionally developed the capacity of GROSO FANM and other groups to sustain members in troubled times such as this.
