To Fool the Rain thoughtfully chronicles Steven Werlin’s journey with Fonkoze, but it is also the story of Fonkoze itself.

Presented in vivid detail are the lived experiences of Mirlene, Micheline, Ti Rizib, Monique, Rose Marthe, Alta, and other Chemen Lavi Miyò participants, who have benefited in many ways from this remarkable program. As Werlin makes clear in To Fool the Rain, there is no single pathway to a better life. The stories of each of these women are the stories of Fonkoze: individual beginnings, challenges, and successes bound together by the themes that pattern life in rural Haiti.

Lacking social safety nets, the poor in Haiti and elsewhere face ongoing and catastrophic cycles of poverty and disease. Fonkoze’s pioneering work in solidarity with Haiti’s poor has been a crucial step in disrupting such cycles. Fonkoze’s model, particularly its Chemen Lavi Miyò program, offers a path to security and hope for marginalized women. — From the foreword by Dr. Paul Farmer