
Is Hope a Choice?
One morning last fall in a rural village in Haiti, a woman who we'll call Esperanta bathed and dressed her five kids, locked them into her tiny house, and then walked away with the intention of ending her life. Life had not treated Esperanta gently. Her husband routinely got drunk and beat her and their kids. He had recently left her for another woman in the community. While his departure brought relief from the abuse, he was the family’s only source of income. She was already poor. Now she couldn’t afford to regularly feed her kids, much less pay for their schooling. Her interior life was no easier. Esperanta felt humiliated and helpless, and she blamed herself for everything that had gone wrong. These weren’t new feelings for Esperanta. When she was a girl, her parents sent Esperanta away to live with another family. Instead of caring for her, though, this family abused and exploited her. They constantly told her that she was worthless and blamed her for everything. Esperanta had become trapped in a modern form of slavery that Haitians call restavèk. Now, many years later, her abusive husband’s departure brought all these emotions back. She felt abandoned, alone, and worthless. Ending her life felt like her only choice. About this same time last year, Beyond Borders decided to expand our work into more than two dozen new communities in rural Haiti. The decision to do this could have seemed pretty ambitious to an outside observer given the expense and the growing complexity, violence, and chaos in much of Haiti. We were driven to take this leap though, because of people like Esperanta.The approaches we bring to communities like Esperanta’s equips them to systematically bring an end to the restavèk practice, prevent violence against women and children, overcome extreme poverty, and ensure that children have all their basic needs – safety, food, and education –...
Impact Report: Spring 2023
Thank you again for your generous support for Beyond Borders. I am so grateful. You are supporting a growing movement of women and men in Haiti who...
Research Results: Intimate Partner Violence Cut in Half
There is exciting news to share! A just-completed multi-year research collaboration with the Global Women's Institute at the George Washington...
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December 2022 Impact Report
Thank you again for your generous support for Beyond Borders. I am so grateful. You are supporting a growing movement of women and men in Haiti who are working tirelessly to overcome poverty, prevent violence and abuse, and develop leaders. You can read the latest on...
Spring 2022 Impact Report
Thank you again for your generous support for Beyond Borders. I am so grateful. You are supporting a growing movement of women and men in Haiti who are working tirelessly to overcome poverty, prevent violence and abuse, and develop leaders. You can read the latest on...
BB Staff at UN Trust Fund to Prevent Violence Against Women
In case you missed it, my colleagues Emanuela and Sara were recently invited to join a UN Trust Fund to Prevent Violence Against Women webinar. Emanuela and Sara share how the team has adapted empowerment programming for girls living with disabilities during difficult...
More Than a Survivor
Mireille transformed her trauma in to strength to become a leader. We’ve all been wounded in some way. Thankfully, we’re not all survivors of something like child slavery that threatened our very existence. Today Beyond Borders is launching the More Than a...
It’s been nearly a month —
It has now been almost a month since the devastation of Haiti’s most recent earthquake which killed 2,207 people and injured over 12,000, on August 14th, 2021. The earthquake which shook Haiti’s southwestern provinces, was followed shortly after by Tropical Depression...
After the rain: Haiti update
photo by Jean Paul Saint Fleur Drenching Haiti with over 10 inches of rain in some areas, Tropical Storm Grace, triggered mudslides and complicated rescue efforts in the most earthquake devastated areas on Monday evening into the early morning on Tuesday, August 17th....
When it rains . . .
Well, when it rains it pours. And now as I write this update to you, thanks to Tropical Storm Grace, it is pouring in southern Haiti on the multitudes made homeless by Saturday’s earthquake. And even those not made homeless are staying outdoors because of the...
The deeper reality headlines on Haiti don’t reveal.
If you’re following the unfolding story in the news about the assassination of Haiti’s president, you know a few things: Haiti is in an ongoing struggle with violence and lawlessness -- one that began long before the murder of the president.This assassination further...
Update from Haiti on the Assassination of President Moise
Early this morning the President of Haiti, Jovenel Moise, was assassinated at his home near Port-au-Prince. This Miami Herald article provides more details. We are deeply saddened by this act of violence and the broader wave of lawlessness that has gripped...
Recent Violence in Haiti
We at Beyond Borders are heartbroken and enraged for what we are witnessing today in Haiti, more specifically in and around the capital of Port au Prince over the past few weeks and days. Armed and vicious gangs are fighting for control over several neighborhoods,...
Overwhelmed with Gratitude – The Impact of Your Support
Click on the image to read the Winter 2021 Impact Report How could I read this newsletter and not be over-whelmed with gratitude for you and what you are making possible in Haiti? Families brought back from the depths of poverty, isolation, and despair through new...
166 Children . . .
I’m feeling both distressed and hopeful as I write to you now. We keep a running list of children who we believe are enslaved in domestic servitude in Haiti. Last month colleagues added the names of 166 children from eight Port-au-Prince...