Meet Bernadette Joseph, a mother of six living outside Port-au-Prince in Masissade, Haiti.
To earn a living and care for her family, Barnadette spent years buying and reselling charcoal, barely earning a profit from the risky and laborious work. Thanks to support and loans from WE partner Fonkoze, Bernadette was able to expand her business to selling used goods, including clothing. But she still had to travel too far from home and wasn’t earning enough to support her children.
That’s when Bernadette became a Community Health Entrepreneur (CHE) with Fonkoze’s Boutik Sante program. For three years now, through Boutik Sante, Bernadette procures over-the-counter health products from Fonkoze that she resells in her boutik, or community health store. She no longer has to travel long distances for her inventory and is filling vital needs in her village for health products, malnutrition screenings for babies and children and even educating her community about health practices. As important, she is incredibly proud to be a life-saving resource in her community.
“I’m helping to reduce malnutrition in my community,” says Bernadette.
“There are children who would die if they were not treated.”
Your donations help empower women just like Bernadette. In the aftermath of the recent earthquakes in Haiti and on-going political instability, now is the time to make a difference for Haitian women. If you can help, please contribute on WE’s website today.