.png)
Youth Center
Mr. Ycule Bréus is the proud father of three YWCA Haiti beneficiaries, aged 16, 13 and 10 respectively. He has been raising his daughters alone for the past two years, with the help of a close family member. He looks after his daughters, picks them up from school, spends some time with them, and drops them off at their aunt's house at the end of the day. The girls have been part of the YWCA Haiti family for nearly 2 years. Mr. Bréus has been a professional tailor for many years, and his small shop is very close to the YH building. He spends his days either seated behind his sewing machine or standing in front of the table cutting out his creations, scissors in hand. “I'd known about the Y for a long time, because the director's mother is one of my customers. I don't know why it took me so long to enroll my daughters. I think that if I was fully aware of the benefits this community would bring to my daughters' lives, they would have been Y members a long time ago. That said, I think they would have been much more fulfilled. However, I'm more than satisfied with what I've been able to enjoy so far, and I'm very grateful to have seen my daughters evolve among other children for nearly two years.”
As a father raising three teenage daughters, Mr. Bréus relies on the YH to help him instill values in them. Despite his long days, he still finds time to attend parents' meetings and keeps a watchful eye on his daughters' academic progress and personal development. Mr. Bréus says that bringing up his daughters alone is a heavy task for him, and the fact that he is accompanied by the Y's instructors and administrative staff in supporting the girls' academic success through the “Supervised Study” program during the week takes a weight off his shoulders. “I have a lot of dreams for my girls,” says Mr. Bréus with a straight face. And he's glad that these girls find successful female role models within the YH to inspire them to become model young ladies.
“I am Ernso Louis, engineer and math teacher at the classical school. My two daughters have been members of the YH family for 1 year”. Mr. Louis was invited by another parent whose daughters are both YH beneficiaries and attend the same school as his daughters. He is the father of three children, two girls and a boy, whose daughters have been attending the YH for only 1 year. He is one of those parents who greatly appreciate the work of the YH, and who testifies to the benefits of the institution's guidance both in the lives of these children and in his role as a parent. “There are things I don't teach my daughters, but they know and put into practice because of the “Espace Sur” training sessions they receive at the YH. Also, my daughter's participation in Youth Center activities reinforces the values I instill in them at home. With the help of the YH, I'm proud to see that my daughters are learning to speak in public, becoming more open-minded and able to interact with other children. They are becoming more responsible young children than they were before.”
Mr. Louis is deeply involved in the life of his community, both in terms of his neighborhood and his church, where he supports the mentoring of young boys who can easily fall into delinquency. “I know what it takes to mentor young people, and for my part, I wish I could have done more,” he says thoughtfully. Working with these young people is a way for him to offer the guidance he would have liked to have enjoyed as a child and young boy, but also a way of giving back what these girls benefit from at the YH. That's why he wishes there were programs like those offered by the Youth Center for Young Boys. “I wish my boy could have found a space like the YH so he could blossom like my girls are blossoming.” After 1 year with the YH family, Mr. Louis wants to get more involved. That's why he's offered to help supervise the girls, especially in the arts and crafts club during the 2024 summer camp.
Comments