Meet Our New Sponsored Family in Haiti

Posted on March 10, 2021

The following update came in from Beyond Borders, introducing us to the new family our donation to their Family Sponsorship Program is empowering.

Julande Exilus, 41, and her husband and six children live in the village of Tipalmis. Your sponsorship will ensure that she and her family escape extreme poverty for good.

Jarrett --

I am so grateful to you and the people of St. Martin's for so generously sponsoring another family in Haiti. It means more than I can say -- especially in these extremely uncertain times.

I’m pleased to introduce you to the Exilus family, headed by mom Julande (pictured above).

Launching this work with all 110 families in this fourth cohort last year was an act of faith itself, because we’ve not yet secured sponsors for all the families.

Even in ordinary times, families like Julande's that are living in extreme poverty face hunger, illness, and homelessness. In times of crisis like this however, these families are even more at risk, so the decision was made to use some rainy-day funds to get started, and then to work hard to raise the remaining funds needed.

Julande and the goats she selected as one of her income-generating assets when she began the Family Sponsorship Program.

Julande and her family live in the village of Tipalmis on Lagonav Island. Here are a few details about the family:

• Julande Exilus, 41, and her husband and six children live in a tiny, dilapidated house.
• Before joining the program, Julande and her husband struggled to feed their children. He sometimes worked as a day laborer to earn a living, but it wasn't enough to provide for even their most basic needs.
• The family's caseworker shared these notes from a visit during the selection process: "Julande and her family are living in extreme poverty with no way out. They need to be part of the Family Sponsorship Program."

Your sponsorship will give Julande and her family a path to a much brighter future, one that is filled with dignity, hope, opportunity, and self-reliance.

Your generosity will allow her and her husband to repair and enlarge their home, and to begin earning the money needed to ensure that their children are well fed and in school, and that they can provide for them long after your sponsorship ends.

The tiny home where Julande and her family live in the village of Tipalmis. Your sponsorship will ensure that they can repair and expand their home so that they can live in dignity.

Because of the Coronavirus, right now in Haiti gatherings of 10 or more are prohibited. The Family Sponsorship Program continues, however, because it doesn't require any large group meetings.