Eliane is a saint walking among us. She would never agree with me, but when you come to know her, you can see God’s pure love manifested in all her actions. She is never first; she is always last. She has always tended to others in need, whether they are poor neighbors, women with elephantitis, or her own girls.
I met Eliane in 2002 when she was working as a translator for Father Tom
Streit, who was running a research program for Notre Dame to find a cure for
elephantitis. I don’t know where she learned English, but on my 2003 mission,
she served as one of the translators. Little did I know then that this chance
meeting would change lives. In 2004, I learned that Eliane had taken in about
five kids off the street, and was caring for them in her own home. Eliane and
these children formed the nucleus of what we now know as Notre Dame de la Charité
Orphanage and School, -a dream that was realized mostly due to this amazing
In 2008, Kathy and I watched Eliane graduate from nursing school. Since then, she has simultaneously been working as a nurse to support the girls while also directing the orphanage. She serves as the irreplaceable mother to 50 girls. Eliane has incredible faith and perseverance, even in the face of disaster; I actually witnessed this in the wake of the 2010 earthquake. She is a pillar of strength, both to the girls of Notre Dame and the community of Leogane, as well as to the Holy Spirit Haiti Mission. I have no doubt that God will greatly reward her for her work.