Luciana Brice

Luciana was born 1979 in Anana, La Hoye where she grew up with five brothers and one sister. She is a single mother living with her six children and the father of her most recent child. She is very proud that all her younger children go to school.

Luciana enjoys making baskets and Zanmi dolls. She said this is the best way for her to make money to support herself and her children.

Luciana's oldest daughter is 26 years old and is living and working in the Dominican Republic. Magna, her 13 year old daughter is in the 7th grade. Magna tells that she loves school and wants to become a nurse so she can help her community like Project Medishare’s Zanmi project is doing, helping the ladies in Haiti.

In 2010 Nani Vincent was one of the first women Project Medishare chose to join our women’s project. The women were chosen based on ‘greatest need’ and Nani definitely qualified, as she had had one of the most difficult lives of any woman chosen to be in our project. Imagine life with no running water, no electricity and no means of transportation other than on foot and then add on no means of income, and one can then only begin to imagine Nani’s daily life.

NANI VINCENT

After Nani’s husband died 21 years ago, she became the sole support of her eight children. Today, five of her grown children no longer live nearby, although still living with her are her two wheel chair bound daughters, ages 20 and 25.

When ten years ago Nani's adult son died she was left alone with all the daily chores of transporting all water, washing clothes, providing and preparing food, and making the day long journey once a week to the marketplace to bring back needed supplies... just to name a few of her daily responsibilities.

For Nani, the Zanmi Project and the opportunity to create handcrafts has changed her life. Since Nani has been part of our project she has been able to earn enough money to feed her family. In this region of Haiti, food insecurity is a very real and an every day problem.

Jean Aneres

Jean has been a member of our Zanmi Project since 2016. Along with making beautiul baskets, she works at a primary school in Thomonde and also works part time at Project Medishare's Thomonde pharmacy facility. This is how she is able to earn enough money to pay for the school fees,uniforms and school supplies needed for her children to attend school so they can learn to read, write and do basic arithmetic.

Jean Anerese was born in the 8 June 1972 in nearby Thomonde, where she grew up along with her four sister and three brothers. Her parents could not afford the school fees to send their children to school, so Jean never had the opportunity to learn to read or write. her name.

Jean has four boys and four girls and seven of them are in school.With the help of one of her eight children she is now able to write her name. In 2021 Jean's oldest daughter gave birth to her first grand child in Project Medishare’s Marmont Maternity Center.

Leonne Guerrier

Now Leonne is using some of her Zanmi handcrafts income to plant a large garden to grow food for her family and also sell her some of her excess produce and she does retail selling of sodas once a week in the marketplace. For Leonne the Zanmi Project has provided the opportunity she needed to create a better life for herself and her family.

Leonne lives in the village of Tipelique which is so tiny it doesn 't even show up on Google Maps. She lives in a small house with her husband and four children. Although Leonne did not have the opportunity to go to school as a child, she has learned how to write her name. She is very bright woman and has works very hard so she can provide her children an education.

Once a month Leonne makes the trek to La Hoye with her baskets to meet with the other ladies and our project manager, Rezanord who purchases their crafts with Project Medishare Zanmi funds. Until this past year, Leonne’s baskets have been her sole source of income.

Joselene Louis Jacques

Joselene was born in the 4th of October 1972 in the village of Bento near Thomonde Haiti where she grew up with three sisters and five brothers. Joselene able to speak some English and she able to read and write her name.

Because most schools in Haiti are private schools, many families cannot afford to educate their children. So as a single mother of seven, Joselene has to find ways to afford to send her five children,who are still living at home, to school. .

Making Zanmi handcrafts is providing Joselene an income so she can afford to send her five of her children to school

Born in 1971 in Tipelique Lahoye near Thomonde.Marguerite was one of five children, two brothers and two sisters.

Marguerite gave birth to eleven children, including one set of twins. Sadly three children died leaving Marguerite with eight surviving children.

Marguerite tells that the Zanmi Project has helped her a lot and without it she would have no money at all and life would be even worse. She is grateful to be a member of the Zanmi Project.

Margerite's husband left the family, so she now lives alone with her children. Marguerite is now very worried because her one son helping her with money for food was recently in a terrible accident while working as a motorbike taxi driver. He was taken to the Project Medishare hospital in Port Au Prince and she has been told he is facing a long recovery.

Marguerite Benjamin

Olianette Fluerilus

When it rains Olianette tells that she cannot sleep in her home at night because the roof leaks so badly that her floor becomes a muddy mess. She hopes to someday find a stronger home,one that is strong enough to support a watertight metal roof.

Olianette is 58 years old and was born in an area near the Thomonde river called Rivage. Olianette is one of six children, having four brothers and one sister. She is married and has four children of her own; three sons and one daughter. Two of her children are still in school and she is working very hard to make it possible for them to finish school.

Olianette’s husband no longer lives in their home so she is the sole support of her family. Since both her parents are no longer alive, she has no one to rely on to help her.

She is depends 100% on the Zanmi Project to help her take care of her family and pay the school fees for her two children who are still attend school.

Benina Pierre

Benina and her family have been living in this one room house for the past two years.

Benina has two sons, ages eleven and fourteen and one daughter,seventeen, who currently living in the Dominican Republic.

Bernina has been chronically ill since giving birth to her youngest son in 2011. She has had a very hard life, even by Haitian standards and depends on her handcraft income to support herself and her two sons.

Benina Pierre was born in Tamarain (Thomonde). Though she was one of eleven children, only four brothers and four sisters are still living.

Odette Prospere

Odette has seven children; five boys and two girls and and ten grandchildren. Since her husband, Titon passed away in 2018 , she has been living with one of her seven children .

Odette was born in 1958 in a small town near Hinche, in the Haiti’s Central Plateau where she grew up with her six siblings. All her siblings now live in Port Au Prince while she chose to remain living in La Hoye.

Odette has been renting a piece of land where she hopes to some day to build a small house for herself. This is how she plans to use to her Zanmi handcraft income.

Denise Mondestin was born in Benaco, May 6th, 1992 not too far away from where she now , which is approximately fifteen minutes away from Project Medishare’s facility in Thomonde. Denise has eight siblings; four brothers and four sisters.

Denise is married and lives with her husband and their two children, one son and one daughter. Her little girl is in the fourth grade and her son is in second grade. Also living with Denise and her family is one of Denise's younger sisters as well as a cousin so their small home quite crowded.

Denise said she is grateful to be able to earn money by making baskets, and is now able to afford to pay school her children's school fees and buy food to feed her family.

This is Denise's kitchen. Kitchens are In typically separate structures and not connected to the home's living space.

Denise Modestin

Evelynne Charite

Evelynne was born in 1967 and had three brothers and no sisters. She now lives with her husband and they have one son and one daughter.

Evelynne has been a member of our Zanmi Project since 2018 and given this opportunity she has improved her life and the lives of her family.

Evelynne has been able to buy a horse which has made a huge difference in her life because she lives in a very remote area and walking to the market place and back each week used to her all day. With her Zanmi income, she has also been able to buy a goat that has twice had babies so she now has five goats. This is made a big difference in her life and made her very happy.

Clemantine Fenelon

Clemantine is married and lives together with her husband and a few of their children. Her other grown children are currently living in the Dominican Republic.

Clemantine Fenelon was born 1980 near La Hoye where she was raised along with her seven siblings; four brothers and three sisters.

Clemantine has been a member of our Zanmi Project since it began in 2010. She has learned how to make various handcrafts using repurposed fabrics, including Zanmi dolls and baskets. Clemantine most enjoys making baskets. She depends on the income from making handcrafts to help support her household and feed her family. She tells us she does not know how she would manage without the Zanmi Project.

Anniette Mercellius

Anniette was born in Thomonde in February 14,1974 and this is where she grew up with her eight siblings

She is a single mother of seven children and they all live together in the same house.

Her four youngest children are all attending school. Since Anniette joined our Zanmi Project she has been able to earn enough money making crafts to pay her children's school fees.