Beaumont, Haiti, October 2017 --- When asked how their year has been since Matthew, Ysmaille responds that it has not been an easy year for them. They received help from the Town City Hall following Matthew but really they have no money and no means to support themselves. The parents of Ysmaille run a small business in Beamount and give them money for food.

Janine had a C-section at the Hopital Saint Antoine in Jeremie on December 6th and remained there for 8 nights. It all began on December 5th at midnight. Janine was in pain so Ysmaille went in search on foot of a professional midwife. She delivers babies for women in Beaumont also went to find his wife’s father at the same time.

The midwife told her it would be a normal birth. Janine was in tremendous pain. Her grandfather had also died on the same day, so they were dealing with that as well.

The midwife tried to help relieve Janine’s pain in the bedroom by doing different maneuvers and breathing exercises. Then told them they needed to get to Jeremie (a two hours drive from Beaumont) as it would not be possible for Janine to deliver the baby at home.

Ysmaille went to find someone with a car. He paid a friend 2,000HTG to put gas in the car and they went, along with the midwife, Janine’s mother, stepmother and cousin, to the hospital in Jeremie. When they arrived the doctor told Janine, it would be a C-section. He immediately gave her a prescription but Ysmaille was not able to find the medication because the pharmacy at the hospital was closed.

They sent someone out to fill the prescription in town. At 8pm that evening, their daughter finally was born. Ysmaille was in the room, along with Janine’s mother, stepmother and cousin. Ysmaille returned the next day via moto to Beaumont to find money which he got from his mother.

She was in so much pain that she could not put her feet on the ground for 3 days. She shared her room with 8 other women and their babies and her family slept on the floor.

Ysmaille works at times as a school teacher and Janine as a kindergarten teacher. He is paid around 5,000 gourdes, just under 100 USD for a month of work. He is by profession, an agronomist but there are no jobs in Beaumont, in his field.

Photo and story: Nadia Todres - UNFPA HAITI