HAITIAN WOMEN

Having worked in Haiti for over 15 years with both medical clinics as a pharmacist and now with families and education, nothing has impressed me more than the strength of the Haitian women. The heavy loads they carry without complaint never cease to amaze me. A very large number of Haitian homes are headed by single women, sometimes with many children who may be fathered by one itinerant man or several different men. Because there is such a high rate of unemployment, it is very likely that the woman is the major wage earner, selling items in the market.

Haitian women are proud and carry themselves with their heads high, as well they should. They raise their children to be respectful and polite. I often watched mothers with sick children all wait quietly for hours to see a medical practitioner. In one clinic a woman sat a long time with a sick child to see one of our nurse practitioners. We discovered eventually that she was in labor the whole time. When asked if she was going to the hospital from there, she answered that she was going home where her husband would deliver the baby.

My favorite family in Haiti is headed by a wonderful woman of 5 sons and a daughter. She and her mother raised them alone in a small 2 room house where she provided for them by selling in the market. All of the older boys have college educations and one is studying out of the country for his doctorate. Truly, this woman is my role model.

 

Madame Paraison and her Mother