Viola: Surviving and thriving in Haiti

Viola

This past week when I visited Haiti, I had the opportunity to meet Viola, one of the first patients at BRAC Haiti’s Limb and Brace Center, again.

Two year’s after the earthquake, Viola still has her roadside business. She purchases goods wholesale from a warehouse and sells them for a profit at a roadside stand she’s set up in the neighborhood where she lives in Port-au-Prince. When I asked her how she gets around to run her business, she smiled and tapped the knee of the prosthetic leg we made her, “With my new leg, of course!”

Her daughter, now 10 years old, is still in school and is thriving – the only subject she doesn’t like is math. Science is one of her favorite subjects, as she’s still hoping to grow up to be a doctor. “I’ll be happy with whatever she wants to be,” says Viola.