Marie Sovereign is a 50 year old married woman and mother to her adopted niece, Josephe Linda. She and her family reside in the community of Ba Leroux, located in the municipality of Trou-du-Nord, a Northeast department of Haiti. Those who know her describe her as very wise and honest. Additionally, she is very dedicated to the flourishing of her family and works hard with her family to grow coffee to provide for their needs. Given that agriculture is the main source of their income, they require even more water than they need for personal use. 

Marie shared, “My husband and I used to collect water from a well at a neighbor’s house because our community’s wells were broken. It was there that we gathered our water for laundry, cooking and to water the coffee we had planted in our garden.  Unfortunately, that well also broke down and was out of order for more than 12 months which left us in big trouble. We lost our coffee crops because we couldn’t water them. As a result, our income declined immensely. Some days we could not even afford food for our family.”

 

Marie and her husband discovered an organization called Haiti Outreach who could help them repair the broken well. They were delighted by this news! She exclaimed, “We learned that there is an appointed committee who attends all meetings. During this meeting, we found out all the conditions required to obtain a new well for our community. I told my husband that this seemed very interesting!” 

The community of Ba Leroux appointed their leadership committee and worked diligently to complete the training and write their management plan. They inaugurated their well last December and could not be more pleased with this sustainable water source that is so close to home!  “Now that the well is fixed,” Marie shared, “we have water without any problem.  My husband can water our coffee crops, and our gardens are becoming more beautiful than before! Our coffee sales allow us to buy food and other necessities for our home. We also are able to save some money too, and our goal is to purchase and to start breeding oxen thanks to the small savings we are making on coffee.”