Haiti is currently in a state of political turmoil, making it difficult for residents to travel to the capital, Port-au-Prince. Assaults by paramilitary groups in Port-au-Prince have led to severe insecurity, forcing those who traveled into the city for work to rely on other options.
In 2020, the Raising Haiti Foundation began funding the provision of small loans ($25-$50) to 50 women clients in two communities: Medor and Sarrazin. By July 2024, the program had grown to a total of 426 beneficiaries who received loans in the $76 to $1,132 range. By the end of 2024, the program will expand to enroll 500 clients, with an increasing loan range. Raising Haiti Foundation’s partner, the Smallholder Farmers Alliance, implements the program.
Most of the women use their loans to become entrepreneurs, or to expand their current businesses, selling goods in local markets. Some use them to purchase livestock or crop seeds, improving their farming outputs. Besides loans, the women receive training on topics such as business management, customer satisfaction, how to avoid supply shortages, and the role of local leaders in community development.
Loans are repaid in monthly installments over six months. After repayment of her loan, each client may apply for a larger loan. To date, there is a 100 percent loan repayment rate in both communities, in part due to the beneficiaries organizing themselves into “families” of women, with an elected “mother.” If a member is unable to repay her loan, her “family members” come together to assist with the repayment.
The interview below with microloan recipient Marimène Tijuste exemplifies some of the achievements of the microcredit clients. Tijuste lives in the Haitian community of Medor, where the median annual income is $357 USD.
Tijuste is in conversation with filmmaker Jeff Kaufman, with translation support from Timote Georges, director and co-founder of the Smallholder Farmers Alliance, and Sue Carlson, M.D., executive director of the Raising Haiti Foundation.
This interview has been edited for clarity.
Jeff Kaufman: I’ve been to Haiti five or six times, but I haven’t been to Medor. I understand that it’s in the mountains 30 miles north of Port-au-Prince, with about 40,000 people. Can you describe what it’s like to live and grow up there?
Marimène Tijuste: There is no way to drive into Medor. You have to walk. If you are lucky, you have a donkey or horse to carry heavy items. Along the path to Medor, you will see trees and some farms.
We have several types of houses in Medor. Some are concrete. Others are temporary structures because they are made with sand. We have Catholic and Protestant churches. The children can go to school. That is very important. We have a Catholic primary and secondary school.
The public market operates three days a week, on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. There are a lot of activities on those days. Farmers come from different corners of Medor to exchange their products.
Kaufman: How frequently do you go to Port-au-Prince?
Tijuste: I used to go there often because I worked for a family in Port-au-Prince. I cooked and cleaned and took care of their children. They paid me for my work.
Right now, it is unsafe to go to Port-au-Prince because gangsters are all around there. I cannot take the risk. That is why I am happy that I have a business in my own town.
Kaufman: How long would it take you to travel to Port-au-Prince from Medor, and what would you earn?
Tijuste: I would walk for about three hours from my home to the base of the mountain, where I would find a vehicle to take me the rest of the way. All together it took five hours or more to travel to Port-au-Prince.
I worked every day, from Monday to Sunday, and received a salary of a little less than 12 U.S. dollars per month.
Kaufman: When you were growing up, what did your parents do?
Tijuste: I came from a very poor household. My father and my mother were farmers. Sometimes my mother did trade as well, selling things in the market. My mother died when I was 18 years old, and my father died when I was 23. I had five brothers and sisters, but two of them are dead now.
Kaufman: I’m sorry. You said your family was very poor. What was that like as a little girl?
Tijuste: Life was very difficult. When I was a child, I accompanied my parents in any economic activity they were doing. For example, if my dad worked on the farm, I went with him and helped. When my mom went to the public market to sell products, I went with her and helped. Our house had two bedrooms. My brothers and sisters and I slept in one room, and my parents in the other. We didn’t have running water or electricity. I could not attend school. As of today, I cannot write or read. That’s a result of my family’s economic situation.
Kaufman: I know I’m asking a lot of personal questions, and I really, really appreciate your answers.
Tijuste: There is no problem with that.
Kaufman: Is it hard to be a very smart and hardworking person, but not have the chance to read or write?
Tijuste: I live my life, and it is no longer that difficult. I have my business. It gives me a way to make a living, and support my family.
Kaufman: Please tell us about your husband and your children.
Tijuste: I first met my husband when I was walking back from a farm. He had been working on a different farm. We started talking, then we met again at church and in the public market. We fell in love.
I have four boys. We don’t have any girls. My oldest is Boulonson, he is 16 years old. Then there is Friznel, 15; Sadieufait, 12; and our youngest Wancky is 6.
Right now, I am able to send all of them to school. I would like them to finish high school and then go on to the next level, to the highest education level they can achieve.
When they were younger, most of the time my boys went to bed with their stomachs empty. I always cried when I didn’t have food for my children.
I remember one time as if it were today. It was a Wednesday. I did not have anything, not even one cent, to buy food for my kids. They were crying, asking me to provide something to eat. I did not have anything to give them. They were hungry for the whole day. It was terrible.
Kaufman: How did your husband treat you during this difficult time?
Tijuste: I was like a servant in our house. My husband did not consider me as a wife. He did not respect me. It was because I had nothing to contribute. I could not do anything to help the family. I was not doing my business at that time. My husband was the only one who brought something home. He was always angry with me. He spoke to me in a disrespectful way. In those moments, it was as though I was not a human being.
He didn’t hurt me physically, but he did hurt me morally and emotionally, because he used to be angry, yelling at me for anything.
I remember one time as if it were today. … I did not have anything, not even one cent, to buy food for my kids. They were crying, asking me to provide something to eat. I did not have anything to give them.
Marimène Tijuste
Kaufman: None of it was your fault. You were doing the best you could. Why do you think it is that the weight of the world so often falls on the shoulders of mothers?
Tijuste: I feel that some men think of their family as a burden. For me, as a mother, my children are a part of me. They are my soul. I cannot bear to see anything bad happen to them.
Kaufman: How did you start supporting yourself, or trying to support yourself, by buying and selling salt in the marketplace?
Tijuste: I started my business in 2015. At that time, I was only able to sell kitchen salt. As you know, salt is not an expensive commodity. It costs just a few cents. I went to a nearby region to buy salt and carried it back to my community and sold it to my neighbors.
Kaufman: There couldn’t be much profit between what you paid for it and what you’d sell it for.
Tijuste: It was not a lot. It was meaningless, next to nothing.
Kaufman: And yet there was a lot of pressure on you to bring in extra money. Describe what you had to do.
Tijuste: As you know, salt is very heavy. It comes in a large sack. We don’t have transportation in my community. I did not have any way to transport the salt that I bought. Each journey, I’d carry about 60 pounds. It was very difficult. I did not have the means to feed myself well, and I had to carry the salt on my shoulder even when I was weak with hunger. Sometimes, people would help me along the way.
Kaufman: How did you sell the salt in Medor?
Tijuste: I placed the salt on a plastic tarp on the ground in the public market. Then people would come and buy the amount they needed.
Kaufman: What was it like for your family when you started this work?
Tijuste: I remember the times when my kids were hungry. They were crying for food. I looked around and the only money I had was needed to buy salt so my business could survive. I had already spent my small profit from previous salt sales.
There were times when I was forced to decide whether to use my only money to feed my children and close my business, or let my children go hungry and keep the business going. It was a terrible choice, but I had to continue the business. As a mother, it was so difficult for me.
Kaufman: I’m so glad your boys are now healthy young men.
Tijuste: Thanks to God, I’m not in that situation anymore.
Kaufman: How did you first find out about the Smallholder Farmers Alliance microfinance lending program?
Tijuste: In 2020, I was speaking to someone who worked at a tree nursery in Medor. He was the first person who told me about this microcredit program. I learned more about it, then met the Smallholder Farmers Alliance microcredit agent, Jean Odel. He explained how the credit program works, and he registered me as a potential client.
When we finished speaking, I looked around and said, “Oh my God, I will get some money to finally do a good job with my business.”
It was a very great moment.
Kaufman: How did he describe the program to you?
Tijuste: First, Jean Odel explained it from A to Z, all the rules and all the requirements of the microcredit program. The next step was for me to come to a meeting to learn more. Then, I joined a group of about 40 women who all promised to help each other. We received training on working together and on microcredit and on how to run a successful business. I was asked to bring witnesses, who gave testimonies about me as a good and trustworthy person. After that, I signed the loan agreement paper. There was even more training, and at the end of the training sessions, I got my first loan.
The microcredit clients are organized into small credit groups, and we select a “Mother” to run meetings and help us communicate. Our group gets together the second Sunday of every month. When we meet, we have spirited conversations. We make jokes and we speak about our challenges. We discuss ways to improve our businesses, and our “Mother” gives advice. So, that’s the way we do it. If there is any problem, we try to find a solution among ourselves.
Having more and different types of products to sell in my business has changed my life. I have more clients. I earn a profit. I can feed my family.
Marimène Tijuste
Kaufman: What was the first loan that you got, and what were you able to purchase with it?
Tijuste: It was for 4,000 gourde. ($30.12 USD)
I used the loan to buy food commodities from a different community and brought them to Medor. It was about a four hour walk to get the supplies, and of course another four hours back home. I bought products I knew that the people in Medor wanted to buy—for example oil, flour and rice. I was only able to buy a little bit at first, but these items helped increase my income.
Having more and different types of products to sell in my business has changed my life. I have more clients. I earn a profit. I can feed my family. I can also pay for my children to go to school. Now, they attend school just like other kids in Medor. Everything is new! Everything has changed for me!
Kaufman: Going back to that first step with that first small loan, when did you first realize, ‘Oh my goodness, this is actually going to make a difference’?
Tijuste: It was little by little. When I paid back that loan, I am able to apply for another loan. In the last four years, I’ve had nine loans, each a bit bigger that the other. And I’ve paid them all back on time. My most recent loan was for 35 thousand gourde ($263.57 USD).
The microcredit program has really changed everything in my life. Last year, I was able to buy a small plot of land and now I also have my own farm.
In the market, I’m selling salt, rice, flour, oil and spices, and other things that people need to feed their families.
Kaufman: What kind of training did you get from the Smallholder Farmers Alliance to help you keep expanding your business?
Tijuste: They taught me about business management. I learned to do a market study so I can bring the right products for my clients. I learned how to manage my customer base, and price products properly, so they sell as fast as possible, but at a profit. And I learned how to attract new clients and how to market my products. All this brings more business, more revenue, and more income.
As part of the training, there are sessions where we exchange ideas with other women in the program. This allows me to meet new people, and benefit from their good ideas. This has been really helpful. I have new friends, and I am able to increase my profits.
The microcredit program allows me to be part of an amazing network. There are now over 216 of us in Medor—215 women and one man!
Kaufman: How are women a foundation for a healthy community, like Medor, and for a healthy country, like Haiti?
Tijuste: You are right. Women are the foundation for the economy in my community, and in the whole country. One reason for this is because women are the ones who are making the money work. We are the ones doing business and bringing goods and services to our communities. We are the ones getting paid for our work. We make life possible.
Kaufman: And do women get the respect they deserve because of that?
Tijuste: I think everybody understands how important women are.
Kaufman: Good!
Sometimes people are faced with how hard it is to fix the world or fix their country and they just say, “What’s the point? Why do anything?” They give up. But if you think of an actual life changed and actual children being fed—even in the midst of those wider difficulties—that’s huge. You know, there is a child who isn’t hungry today. A family that is fed and educated. How wonderful. That’s why it is so important to support projects like this.
Tijuste: I think it’s like in my credit group. We practice solidarity. That means if one person has a problem, everyone in my group gets together to help this person. We share our problems and our successes.
Women are the foundation for the economy in my community, and in the whole country. … We make life possible.
Marimène Tijuste
Kaufman: How do you feel about yourself now compared to how you felt before you joined this microfinance program?
Tijuste: I am proud of myself. I am a better person today. I am more important. I am a better mother and wife. I have more friends, and I feel very loved. I feel like I am a new woman.
Kaufman: What do you want going forward?
Tijuste: Life in Medor is difficult because it is such a remote community, but I want to make more progress in my business and for my children, so they can live a good life. After my children complete their education, I hope that they will invest in their own businesses. And I pray for that the microcredit program will continue to provide opportunities for more and more women.
Interview organized and translated by Timote Georges, director and co-founder of the Smallholder Farmers Alliance, with the assistance of Sue Carlson, M.D., executive director of the Raising Haiti Foundation. Editorial assistance and further transcript support from Livia Follet.
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