Profile of CLM Participant Ludie Petit-homme

A widow with three boys, Ludie lives in Sperye. When her husband died, she was left with two young boys and she adopted the baby of Ludie’s deceased cousin. Her aging parents live with her, but her father has been sick, and he can no longer lend her a hand.
“When the program [Chemen Lavi Miyò] took me, I was at a low point,” Ludie said. She was constantly trying to figure out how to keep her children fed and in school. She had no steady income, just occasional wire transfers from her brother. She had no assets: no livestock, not even poultry. Ludie needed income, so she turned to another CLM program member who makes liquid soap.

“I watched her make it once. Then I watched her again. The third time, I did it myself.”

A friend had given her 1,000 gourdes (the Haitian currency), and Ludie spent half of it to buy soap ingredients. Soon she was spending 1,000 gourdes each week and selling homemade soap for 2,000. That meant she could support her family of four, plus her parents, on the earnings of 1,000 gourds a week (equivalent to about $7.70 USD).

With the earnings from making soap, Ludie was able to buy two goats and a sheep as an investment. The goats each had a kid, and the sheep had a lamb. “My case manager, Cherinel, really kept after me to take care of them, and it helped. If he had been more easy-going about it, I would have been easy-going too. His pressure really helped.”

By reinvesting her profits, Ludie has been able to expand her business. She once produced two gallons of soap each week, now she produces eight. She sells soap from various businesses in the area.

Ludie can now use her soap earnings to repair her home. She and her family had been living in a shack with walls made of coconut leaves and sheets. The home was so fragile that she lost two water filters from the CLM program because they were destroyed in heavy winds. Ludie finally was able to buy rocks and the construction sand she needed for more solid walls. The CLM program hired a builder to repair Ludie’s home.

As she was finishing her home, Ludie thought about her sister Madelène, who is also a CLM member. Madelène, her husband, and their five children were living in a room in Ludie’s shack. Madelène had nowhere to build, so Ludie gave her land to build on.

Ludie has plans to move forward. She is part of the CLM program savings and loan association as well as another savings group that started in her neighborhood. Between the two groups, she saves about 1,000 gourds per week. One account reached maturity in April, and Ludie had plans for the pay-out. She will use it to pay a balance she owes at her younger boy’s school, and the rest will buy another goat.

The livestock are very important to Ludie. She hopes the goats and sheep will continue to reproduce. “If they produce males, I can sell them to buy more females. As the females reproduce, I can save up to buy a cow,” she said. The point isn’t just to own a cow or cows; Ludie is looking ahead. Owning smaller livestock has been enough to send her children to school, but it won’t send them to university after they graduate. “I want to send them farther so they can help me someday when I need them.”

Ludie with her case manager, Cherinel