Haiti Housing

Your gift for housing will not only help build homes, it will provide much-needed jobs.

Elise Pierre is terrified her children will drown in their own home.

Her family lives in Rue du Fort Prolonge, an oozing, muddy swamp in northern Haiti. Thousands of families live here, trapped by poverty. When torrential rains flood the houses, water can rise to chest level. Elise and her husband must grab their children and flee for their lives.

“I’m so afraid. I pray and ask God to get us out safely with our children. The children want us to leave here, but we can’t afford any other land. We have nowhere else to go,” she said.

Some of their neighbors drowned in floods. Your help is urgently needed to save lives by relocating these families and building them safe houses.

With trust in God and hope that He will answer their prayers, Elise, her husband Wilson, and their children endure each day. The tin shack is brutally hot in the summer. But flooding in the night causes the greatest fear. There is no light in the dark swamp to warn them of the steadily rising water outside. When water starts seeping beneath the flimsy door, the children weep in terror.

“The water comes at night, and when it comes we gather our little things and by that time, the water is high. We put the little children on our shoulders and feel our way out. The older children hold hands. The children are all crying and screaming,” said Elise.

During one of those times, the Pierre family and their neighbors waded through chest-high water, sinking up to their knees in the thick, hazardous mud. Those who escaped to dry land formed a lifeline of voices in the pitch black swamp.

And when the flood waters recede? They return to dry out their meager belongings, knowing it will happen again. The children beg them to move, not understanding that their parents are too poor, and safe shelter is out of their grasp.

The gift you give today just might save a child’s life tomorrow.

Food For The Poor has pledged to rebuild communities for our poorest brothers and sisters. To make these homes a reality, we need your help. We are asking you now to be part of a miracle that will keep their children safe from the floods by helping us to build new houses through your gift today.