Haitian Inspiration

Thursday August 26 2010

I’d like to introduce you to an incredible person: Marthe Merveille, a close associate of PAIDEH, CAWST’s in-country partner organization, she shines with a unique, inspiring light.

Olivier raved about her before we arrived in Port-au-Prince, so by the time we got to Cap-Haitien, we were dying to meet the famous Marthe. As I shook her hand in greeting, she looked me square in the eye and said her name. Immediately I felt Marthe’s presence: a mix of kindness, strength and intelligence that would be reinforced every time I saw her in action.

Marthe has been working with women’s groups voluntarily since she was 18 years old, more than twenty years ago. She started her career as a school teacher, but she became frustrated with gender inequities that had already taken root in the children by the time they reached her classroom. Boys are treated with more respect than girls in Haiti, she told me. It’s a cultural reality she experienced not just in homeroom, but in her home growing up.

Several years ago, she decided that addressing the imbalance at school was simply too late in the game – the message that boys were more important and valuable than girls had already been solidified in the children’s minds. She decided to work with women – mothers – to empower them and to encourage equality and respect in their children from birth.

Read more...