Several years ago, while her mother was about eight months pregnant with her fourth child, Mamoun’s father left their family.  He moved in with another woman, and returned only once to affirm he was abandoning them.  A few months later, he became very sick and passed away.

With a deceased father and a mother unable to provide for her, Mamoun needed to seek out a way to help herself and her family.  At age seventeen, Mamoun left her mother and siblings at home to move in with her brother and sister-in-law in Cazale.  Instead of relying on finding a man for financial assistance, she instead decided to take an approach less common for Haitian women in her circumstance: she began searching for a job.

Mamoun’s sister-in-law, Sonia, works for Real Hope for Haiti.  She is one of many ladies who wash a large assortment of clothes and linens each morning, six days a week.  Knowing this, Mamoun wondered if a job with Real Hope was available.  Mamoun asked Riclane, the head of the Rescue Center, if she knew of any job openings.  Even though Riclane thought Mamoun was rather young to have a job, she told Licia about her interest in work.  Soon, Mamoun was sitting beside little Darlens, filling in for an employee who was sick.  She sat with Darlens for two days while he was very ill and on oxygen.  She was sent home after her two days of fill-in work was completed, but it would not be long before she would return.

In a few weeks, she was called back again to RHFH to fill in for someone on vacation.  Mamoun worked hard.  This caught the eye of Licia, who then offered her a permanent job.  Today, Mamoun can be found lovingly taking care of children as a nanny in the ICU.  She changes lots of diapers, feeds hungry mouths, makes sure i.v.’s are dripping correctly, keeps the room clean and orderly, comforts sad hearts and hurting bodies, and makes sure everyone eats their respective amounts of Medika Mamba, even when they’d rather not.  When asked about the difficulties of her job, Mamoun said that it’s hard to work with a child for so long – going through so much misery with them, hoping so much for their life – only to see them die.  Caring for critical children has never been intimidating for her.  Instead, watching them suffer hurts her heart more than it scares her.

While there are tough moments, there are also more encouraging aspects of her life as an ICU nanny.  Her favorite things to do are feeding and holding the kids.  Nap time is also enjoyable, because, “Seeing them lay down for a nap – content, at peace, and not suffering – makes me feel like I’m doing my job for the day.”

With her paycheck, Mamoun does more than take care of herself.  Once a month, she treks for two hours to her mother’s house with money for food.  The house is made of rocks, weaved wood, and mud.  During her last visit, seeing the walls were beginning to fall in, she purchased 10 sacks of cement in order to repair the house.  She finds it more acceptable to help improve her mother’s house, because at the young age of 21, in Haitian culture it would be odd to build and live in a house by herself.

Mamoun is an incredible example for young women in Haiti.  “The work here helps me in every part of my life.  I don’t have to look for a guy so that I can eat today.  Having a job helps my family, too, not just me.”  She works diligently, and is able to hold her head high without guilt or worry about how she has put food on the table.  We can only hope that many young women will follow the example set by Mamoun.

Mamoun, on the left, always has a joyful heart as she works in the ICU.