My name is Marie Gina Fleurvil. I was born in Les Cayes, which is a city South of Haiti and I grew up in Port-au-Prince. I have received a degree in Social Work. Before coming to Brit’s Home, I worked at General Hospital in Pediatrics and entertained the kids and parents to help relieve some of the stress they were dealing with. I played with the sick kids and made their families smile even when they were sad. A few months later, I worked in the city of Nippes in an orphanage as a social worker. During my stay in Nippes, I also worked as a part time Social Worker at Brit’s Home in 2015. I remember my first day at Brit’s Home as if it were yesterday; “Love at first sight”. The kids came up to me and asked a lot of questions. I felt so much joy because they were happy to meet me and their warm welcome made me feel like I was a queen.

As the Social Worker at Brit’s Home, my job is to assist the kids psychologically and assist them to function socially. I also make sure that by working with them as a team, their environment is functional to their needs. I observe and evaluate the children as a group and individually, making sure that they feel safe; listen to what they have to say, and I am always available for them. I prepare activities and training modules that empower them in their daily life. Many of them have suffered trauma in their past, and we are consistently working to help them grow in a loving environment, allowing them to be free spirited. I also pay very close attention with the day to day interactions between the kids and employees. My team also prepares training and meetings for the staff so that they too can have a better interaction with the children.

When I first came to Brit’s Home, the children called me Madame, which is a title to show respect. After a while, I became Tatie Gi, Tatie Gina or Tatie Gigi which translates to Auntie Gina. The title of Auntie Gina spread and now everyone calls me by the same title. How can I not feel good being a part of this great family? There is always a story to make you laugh and the kids are my friends. They always have something to share with me to make me happy. One of the things that makes me happiest is when I hear them advise each other on what they learned during a training session and how they want to do better knowing that the change will be gradual and not happen overnight. The key to making our children well rounded is to always work consistently with love, patience, faith, appreciation of their good deeds/behavior and just sit back and see the results.

 My dream was to always work in the social work environment because of my love for the youth. It was always my passion and I believe it was my mission. In Haiti, many children aren’t allowed or given the right to express their feelings, emotions, and freedom depending on the area they come from. My love for children began early during my childhood. I always asked a lot of questions related to the social problems I witnessed in Haiti. As a little girl, I was very concerned about domestic issues, hunger, and violence. It never occurred to me that I would become a social worker because I thought that my love was for pediatrics in the medicine field.

I have great experiences with the kids and I learn a lot about them. I have been working at Brit’s Home for two years now. This experience has increased my capacity to better understand the children’s world, which is important to me. Even though having to work with 66 kids who are very different from each other is a challenge, it’s also very enriching. By teaching and assisting the kids, we learn a lot about their innocence and spontaneity. They are the most honest to express their thoughts when they have the opportunity. My work at Brit’s Home with the kids and staff allow me to better understand human beings in its disciplinary and multidimensional dimension in order to achieve a better result.

Being here at Brit’s Home is not a chance, it was intended. That’s why I engage myself day after day not only because I love my job, my kids, and I share the vision of raising the next generation of leaders in Haiti in Britney’s memory.

Marie Gina Fleurvil