Stories from the field
Marie-Andrenise Silvius: "I helped to build this house."
By Gennike Mayers, International Federation of Red Cross Red Crescent Societies, Port-au-Prince
December 15, 2010
After Marie-Andrenise Silvius’ house was flattened in the January 12 Haiti earthquake, the single mother of three was living in a tent near the home they had been renting in Lafferonnay, a community close to Leogane. Silvius thought she would never have a home again, however promising news came when the Canadian Red Cross shelter team conducted an assessment in the area. “The Red Cross told me that I would get a house for me and the children,” she recalls. “They promised my brother a house too.”
Once the Red Cross verified the ownership of the land and pre-empted other issues that could hinder construction, production of Silvius’ new home began. “They started building at the end of August and I realized that it was real,” she says. “I would really have a house.”
Now, partly hidden behind a patch of banana trees you can find her small blue house. After a recent visit from the Red Cross, Silvius was found standing on a wobbly chair with a paintbrush in hand. “I helped build this house,” she proudly exclaimed. “I brought the gravel from outside to make the foundation and now my son and I are doing the painting.”
