Summary

“Everybody in my family is not healthy. People get sick in the area, because there are a lot of mosquitoes, the water is dirty, and there is a lot of garbage in the area. Some times, we just drink water with salt and go to sleep. I don’t feel comfortable when I see the other kids are going to school and I can’t. I like school and would like to go.” Judeline Joseph

Household

My name is Judeline Joseph. I was born in 2000 in Cite Soleil. I am 8 years old. I stopped going to school when I was in 1st grade.
I have three sisters. There names are:
Nadine is 14 years
Jinette is 15 years
Jenise is 4 years
Jinette and I don’t have the same mother. Only one of my sisters, Nadine, goes to school. My mother’s name is Nancy Nicolas. She is 38 years old. She is from Les Cayes. She has been living in Cite Soleil for ten years. She is not doing any money making activity.
My father Jesumord Joseph is 40 years old. He comes from Les Cayes. He is a fisherman. He goes to fish every day. He has two other fishers with him. After having sold what they caught, they share the money together. For example: when they sell for $ 100 Ht [$14.30 US], they share it as follow, $ 40Ht for my father, $30 Ht, for each one of the two others.
The materials that they use to fish don’t belong to them. My father rents them for $100 Ht per month.
My mother and my father are not living together. They are separated. My father can’t really take care of us. I have an aunt living nearby. Her name is Laurette. She sells fish. She is 28 years old, and has two children. She is been living in Cite Soleil for 7 years.

Living conditions

Job Opportunity
The house in which I am living belongs to my mother. The roof leaks. Whenever it rains the rooms start to fill up with water. There is not enough space for us to sleep, because the house has only two little rooms. I don’t have a bed, so I sleep on some pieces of clothes on the floor. There is no safe place to put garbage. We throw them a piece of land. The house has a lot of rats, mice, and bugs. Sometimes the rats bite me, when I am sleeping. Sometimes they eat my food. And some other times they tear our clothes. There is electricity in my house; my mother pays $ 30 Ht [$4.28 US] per month. When the power is out, my mother uses candles. A candle cost $1Ht.
Education
I used to attend school, but I stopped when I was in 1st grade. I haven’t been to school for two years. I stopped going to school not because I didn’t like it, but because my mother could no longer afford to pay for my education. In fact, only one of my sisters, Nadine goes to school. I don’t feel comfortable when I see the other kids are going to school and I can’t. I like school and would like to go. I would like to know how to and write.
Health and Food
Everybody in my family is not healthy. My mother always has fever and my grandmother has eye problems. People get sick in the area, because there are a lot of mosquitoes, the water is dirty, and there is a lot of garbage in the area. A lot of people have fever, or cold.
I don’t eat regularly. I eat when my mother gives me. Whenever mother has a chance to cook the food is never enough for us, because the amount of food is not enough for 6 people. Sometimes when she does not cook, her neighbor share food with her. Some other times, we just drink water with salt and go to sleep.

Community information

There is a cistern of water nearby to my house, but the problem is, we don’t get water from it regularly. In a week it comes one time, and there are too many people who want to take water at the same time. That is why we sometimes we go without water. A bucket cost 5 gourdes [$13 cents U.S.] in the public cistern but in the tank it cost 7 gourdes. The money isn’t easy to find. Sometimes my mother can’t afford even to buy a bucket.
Legal political
Here, in this area we are not but we try to survive because we don’t have any choice to move another area. But if we could we would move. There are stealers, thieves, and kidnaper. Now, we are a little bit safer than last three years ago.
Celebration, Holiday, party
We don’t know what is call party and there are no holidays, because we don’t have any possibilities to celebrate it in the area.

Personal qualities

I am a little girl who is polite. But sometimes I am a little bit lazy, and shy. I am sincere, respectful, and I am, a little girl who is kind, and who loves the other kids.
My mother always says that I am obedient, and intelligent. I love to do house work, such as do the dishes. I would like my partner to know that I don’t go to school because of the financial situation of my mother. I would like him or her to know that I would like to go to school. I would like to know how to read and write. I would like to go back to school.
Dreams
The thing that bothers me a lot is the fact that I don’t go to school. So the most important for me now is to be able go to school. I want to become a doctor. I would like to have my own clinic. I would like that my mother have her own business to be able to take care of the family members.  I would like my two others sisters to go to school. I believe that if I go to school and work hard I will be able to reach my dreams.

Life Plan

Sponsorship plan

Immediate needs:
Send Judeline to school. Food for the family.
Fix the house for them.
Development:
Send Judeline to vocational school
Help mother have her own business
Her mother wants to become a dress maker
Dreams:
Judeline wants to become a doctor; she wants to have her own clinic build a house for her mother

Interview details

This Interview conducted by Jean Marcel and Corrected by Evenel ST-VIL.  Date: August 11, 2008