Being a single mom and abandoned is hard in any country

I have known this woman for a little under a year and a half because she comes every Monday to pick up food for an elderly in Global's elderly program. Everytime I see her, her little boy is with her attached to her breast or her hip. I think he is about 18 months old. I never really paid much attention to her except to notice that she is an older mom, her clothes are always tattered and she always asks for something extra. 

I recently spent some time talking to her to find out her story. Her name is Cadelt. She is about 40 years old, she has one adult daughter and her surprise baby, Lilou. She said that this last baby was not planned because she is not married. The father is not involved in either of their lives. When people found out that she was pregnant, she was evicted from her home and it appears that help was mostly cut off. She told me, "God knows. I could have thrown this baby away but I chose to honor God and keep him. But this life we are living is not good for my baby."

Since we are considering Cadelt for a micro-loan, I visited her at her home yesterday. She lives in a depot, a place where merchants store their goods, which means that people are in and out of her room constantly. She doesn't have a bed, she has borrowed a pot from her mom to cook her food, and she has very few items of clothing. Her little man clings to her side whenever I am around and yet she so obviously loves him. Despite what she doesn't have, Lilou is always relatively clean.

After visiting her, I know we are going to be starting a micro-loan with her this Monday. However, I don't believe she can succeed unless some of her living situation is improved. We have decided that we are going to help her rent a room for the next year to provide a safe place for her and her baby to live. We are going to provide a bed, her own pot and small charcoal burner. We are also going to start giving her a small allowance for food and clothing each month for the next year. 

We are praying that through Elevate's micro-loan, supplemented with monthly support, we can help her find hope again. We are praying that Cadelt will step up to the task and take this opportunity to provide for Lilou and that she will be able to succeed. 

I'm writing this to ask you to pray with us. 

If you want to help, please go to imslands-in-Haiti.com and press the donate button. (Put Cadelt in the notes).