Stories from the field
For Marie Carmel Pierre January 12, 2010 changed everything.
Marie Carmel's husband used to drive a taxi in Jacmel, Haiti until they decided to try and make a better life for themselves and their three children by opening up a small shop in their house.
But on January 12, 2010, when the devastating earthquake struck Haiti, Marie Carmel's house was destroyed and her husband trapped and killed in the wreckage. Within a few life altering seconds she lost her husband, her home and her livelihood.
Homeless and left all alone to take care of her three children, Marie Carmel resigned herself to the fact that she would have to move to the Dominican Republic to ensure their survival and, eventually, to try to start a new life. That is until the day she saw the Canadian Red Cross handing out food, water and kitchen sets in her neighbourhood. This small display of generosity gave Marie Carmel the hope she needed to make the decision to stay in Haiti and carve out a new life for her and her family.
And on Christmas Eve 2011 Marie Carmel received another gift of hope from the Canadian Red Cross; a new house. Until that day her family had been split up, with some of her children staying with her mother because the space in which she was living was only two square metres and not big enough to sleep all of her children.
Thanks to the generous donations of Canadians like you, Marie Carmel is now overjoyed to be spending her nights safe and secure in her new house with all of her children.
