Restoring livelihoods can be one of the most complex aspects of humanitarian work after any disaster.

In Haiti, particularly, opportunities for employment are extremely limited. They were limited even before the 2010 earthquake. More than one year on, people in camps for the displaced are doing their best to take care of their families while living in inadequate shelter, most burdened by the absence of stable incomes and increasingly uncertain futures.

World Vision has been working in the semi-rural community of Pernier to assist earthquake-affected families with small scale agriculture activities, boosting opportunities for sustainable earnings. As part of the program, an animal husbandry project has seen representatives from 300 vulnerable families, including widowed Melisiane, receive a brood of six chickens and a small supply of chicken feed.

Melisiane has been taking care of her chickens for two weeks. “World Vision gave me training before I received the chickens. I learned how to identify when they’re sick, how to take care of them, how to take care of their eggs,” she explains, standing outside the chickens’ coop. 

Melisiane has lived in Pernier all her life. When her house collapsed on January 12, she moved with her eight children into one of a few tent camps that sprung up on empty patches of land throughout the community.

“Before the earthquake, I worked in a garden,” she says. “It was my own garden. I sold vegetables, like spinach. My home collapsed and this is why I’m here in the camp. I lost my house, I lost my garden. I lost everything,” she says, repeating: “Everything.”

Since moving into the camp, her family has been able to earn some money through small trade but it is not nearly enough.

Six chickens, of course, will not provide a cure-all for families such as Melisiane’s. What such projects can offer though, rather than a mere ‘hand out’, is the possibility of some regular income or a food source that is sustainable.

“We could sell the eggs or raise more chickens,” says Melisiane, as her son-in-law changes the water in the chicken coop he helped her to build. Before the chickens arrived, several friends and family members assisted Melisiane to gather the materials and construct the wood and tin henhouse, which now stands in a narrow street near to the camp. The location provides shade for the chickens and is close to a community water source.

The training provided by World Vision to those involved in the Pernier chicken project included advice on maximising egg yields, as well as tips on how best to sell eggs or offspring in the local market. Unlike in many camps in urban areas of Port au Prince, the population of Pernier has remained relatively stable since the earthquake. The sense of community that comes with this may increase the chances of success for those who decide to launch small businesses with their eggs, as they will be selling in a known market among neighbours and friends.

”I am happy,” says Melisiane. Smiling, she adds this message for the World Vision donors abroad who have supported this project: “Thank you,” she says. “They are helping us.”

 “I think that God can help us.” For now, at least, a half-dozen chickens may offer something of a ‘hand up’, as she continues working hard to help herself.