Four years later long-term recovery continues in Haiti
[Episcopal Relief & Development] As the anniversary of the Jan. 12, 2010 earthquake approaches we are reminded of people’s painful losses as well as their long journey toward recovery.
M. Vernet, 63-year-old man, widower, looks through the window of his hardware kiosk in Carrefour, Haiti. Photo/Episcopal Relief & Development
Monsieur Vernet sells hardware from a kiosk he made out of shipping container parts. “I used to sell from a ‘real’ shop,” he sighed. Then pointing across the dirt street to one of the many walled off and vacant Carrefour lots where collapsed buildings used to be, he continued, “Right over there is where I rented a shop, before the earthquake, that is.”
Vernet has been selling hardware for “years”. Before the earthquake he had not only hardware tools and parts, but also electrical supplies, car tools and car parts. He built up his inventory over time with the help of CEDDISEC (the relief & development arm of the Episcopal Diocese in Haiti). Vernet is a former client – “in good standing,” he says with a smile and pride – of CEDDISEC’s microcredit service. Prior to the earthquake he had taken and paid back in full several loans that permit him to build his business by increasing and diversifying his stock.
But on January 12th 2010 he lost it all.
He recalls the day and the months that followed, with an expression that masks his deep pain – pain from not the loss of his store, but from the loss of his wife.
When the earthquake hit, Vernet’s wife was at their home in Gressier. Gressier is a border community to Carrefour that was at the epicenter of the quake. Vernet’s wife was in their house when it collapsed. She managed to escape, but in the process was hit from a falling block, and seriously injured on her head. Vernet, amidst the chaos in Haiti, put her in a car and took her to a hospital in the neighboring Dominican Republic (DR).
While in the DR, Vernet received several calls from his family and friends informing him that his hardware store in Carrefour had also collapsed, and that his merchandise was being looted. “My wife was more important to me than that store” he shared, “I just hung up… what else could I do?” Shortly thereafter, Vernet’s wife of 40+ years passed away.
M. Vernet and Dol Jean Estervall, Micro-credit Program Manager, discuss his 2014 application.
Photo Credit: Episcopal Relief & Development
Last year Vernet restarted his business. He pieced together his kiosk and bought his initial stock with small funds he borrowed from close friends. He has chosen to restart in Carrefour right across from his prior shop because this is where “his” customers are.
As a former client of the church’s pre-earthquake microcredit program, Episcopal Relief & Development has prioritized Vernet’s application for a new 2014 loan. Vernet’s plan is to once again build and diversify his inventory. Vernet is one of 43 potential clients in line to receive loans in 2014.
When asked why he has not applied for a loan from one of the many loan agencies in Haiti today, he replied, “Because the people of the church were there for me in the past, and I know they will be there for me now and in the future.”
He then added with another smile, “And because they have the best [lowest] interest rate in town!”
Tammi Mott is a program officer with Episcopal Relief & Development.