Meeting Marline and the family members who were home at the time of our visit.

Marline Fils-Aime is married and has eleven children and fourteen grandchildren. Many of them were at her house when we visited. We were not able to meet her husband. He is a fisherman and was out on the water.

It was difficult to pin down the exact number of family members living with Marline. If we understood correctly, a total of eleven people live in the house. ELEVEN! “How do you fit eleven people into a 12’ x 24’ house?” I asked myself. The question answered itself when we toured the house. There was next to nothing inside the house, which left lots of room for sleeping.

	Marline and her family have very little, but they are grateful for what they have.

In the living room, there was a large bag filled with clothes and perhaps a few blankets. Other than that, all three rooms were essentially bare. There were no beds. There wasn't even a chair in the house.

For this family, they were thankful just to have a safe, dry place to sleep. “Even sleeping on the floor is better than sleeping in the rain and the mud,” they told us.

On behalf of Marline and her family, I want to thank everyone who has supported the Village of Joy. You are changing lives!

Paula Mueller

Help 40 Families Escape Extreme Poverty

All donations are tax-deductible, and 100% of all money donated goes directly to the Village of Joy project. All donations received through 12/31/16 will be matched up to $50K.