Confession of a Haitian working for an American non-profit organization in Haiti

My name is Myrlande Charelus, commonly known as MC. I am a native Haitian. I just thought this was a proper way to start writing this blog. While I was interning in Washington D.C last year, I made a vow to God that I was going to dedicate three months of my life to volunteer either in Haiti or Africa, specifically Rwanda. Not knowing lots about out-of-country internships, I decided to ask my colleagues about it.

Although Haiti was at the top of my list, Rwanda was my number one choice. I knew I wanted to go somewhere I was not familiar. I just wanted to blend within and do what God’s intended me to do. As I spoke to my colleagues about my goals for the next summer, here’s the exact answer I got from one of them, “how do you expect people to help your country when you’re not doing it yourself?” “How do you expect to go clean other people’s home when yours is unclean?” for days I thought about his comments; at first I really didn’t like any of it. I was offended and I didn’t really need others to make my decision anymore. I donated money when I needed to, I prayed about Haiti; I thought to myself that was it. I prayed about it and think about it every single day. Then one day God spoke to me about it and then I finally realized that I needed to do more. There, choice was made. Haiti was my final decision.

Thirty-year-old orphan Haitian woman become loving mother to 29 children

Myrlande “M.C” Charelus

mcharel@eagle.fgcu.edu

Port-au-Prince, Haiti

Martine Decius, a 30-year-old orphaned Haitian woman, became the loving mother to 29 young children in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

Decius was born in Port-au-Prince, the country’s capital, in1981. Her father passed away when she was only 12 years old, leaving her to be raised by her mother and her three other siblings. During the devastating 2010 earthquake that struck Haiti, Decius lost her mother and lost contact with her siblings. She has been on her own ever since.