A Christmas letter from Kym Meehan of The Hope Alliance in Haiti:
Dear Gino of Sew Much Hope,
On behalf of The Hope Alliance and our partners I want to tell you a simple Christmas story. Four months ago a man arrived with his four children, pleading that we take his girls into our care at Camatin Orphanage. His wife had been hit by a car and lay in a hospital fighting for her life as infection ravaged what was left of her legs. We had no funds for additional sponsorship, but we accepted their eldest daughter, nine-year-old Dieunita.
Last week we returned to Haiti with an expedition for water systems, medical relief, and Christmas for the girls and our school kids. Dieunita was one of the 30 orphans at that celebration. She wanted us to meet her mother, who had returned to her shack in a wheelchair and without her legs. Our doctors treated her and sent her home with food, medicine for her pain, and the love of our team. She is a beautiful 34-year-old mother of four who could not work, cook, or care for her children, and she believed her life to be hopeless. Her husband Ditunet was left with the total care of the kids and his wife, and the sole support of the family.
Sew Much Hope had given The Hope Alliance two hand-crank sewing machines for our sewing school, where graduates in turn teach the next session (eight to date). The current session had only begun, so we had use for just one. The other was hand-carried with a “lap tray” that Gino said was for someone who did not have a table. We planned to store it until January.
Together with a translator and nine-year-old Dieunita, I visited Madame Manise, and it all came together. After an afternoon with her, the excitement over her new machine, and the freedom she would have in contributing to her family again, was plain in her smiles. Our sewing instructor Jilus will travel to her home two days a week for the next two months, until we return with crafts, fabric and patterns for her to sew. Her older children will sell them in the local market.
The rest of the story is still to be told, but for now I humbly thank you, Gino, and Sew Much Hope for your vision, dedication, and love of the sewing machine as a life-changing vehicle. Madame Manise wanted me to tell you, as the tears streamed down her face, “merci anpil” and “may God bless you.”
Have a wonderful Christmas, and my personal love to you.
Kym Meehan, The Hope Alliance–Haiti
