Four years ago, a young nurse called Fredelyne went into a particularly difficult labor at the Heartline Maternity Center. The midwives called her Frede (pronounced “Fred”). Eventually, the Heartline team had to rush her to the hospital for a C-section. She’d delivered babies before, handled difficult births, comforted mothers. But now she was experiencing the realities of pregnancy and motherhood in Haiti firsthand.

Today, Frede leads the Heartline Maternity Center as our Clinic Administrator. Her son is three years old.

But Frede’s journey toward providing compassionate, high-quality healthcare to the women of Haiti started way before the day she met Heartline. It started with her family.

In Haiti, we don’t often hear stories of happy childhoods, living parents, and treasured memories. But those are the stories Frede tells us. Born and raised in Cap-Haiten, Haiti’s second largest city, Frede tells us: “I had a beautiful childhood where I lived with mom, dad, and two brothers.” Her father was a bookseller, a man who instilled a lifelong pursuit of knowledge in his children. Her mother was a nurse at a government hospital – a heroic profession anywhere, doubly so in Haiti. Today, we can see Frede carry their influences with her, in her leadership style and work ethic.

Frede reflects on her father: “He taught us to love church, school, and play. He always said, “You have two months of school vacation in June and July. June is for playing, and July is for studying and preparing for school to open. He loved books and bought us many. He would say, ‘knowledge is waiting in the books.’” 

Frede credits her parents for her healthy, happy childhood and her good education, which she attributes in turn to her happiness as an adult.

It’s a reminder of the power of family. In dark times, Frede carries the light of her family with her.

Frede’s Journey to Maternal Healthcare

Around the age of 11, Frede decided she would become a nurse like her mother. Years later, when she had an opportunity to pursue higher education, she hadn’t wavered. As a young student, she did clinical rounds in pediatrics and maternal healthcare, where she discovered her passion for moms and babies. It was beautiful, but it wasn’t easy. She witnessed a mother die when transportation and good care wasn’t available in time. She saw countless others suffer at the hands of a broken, uncaring system. 

So Frede worked harder. She studied longer.

Like the majority of Haitians, Frede frequently went without electricity for long periods of time. She tells us a story, about asking her mom to wake her in the night if the electricity happened to flicker to life. If the lights were on, she could fit in some studying. Often, her father would help arrange a tap-tap to take Frede to her clinical rotations, always calling after a while to make sure she arrived safely. 

Frede’s success was her own, but it was borne out of the passion and commitment of her mother and father.

Where would Frede be today without them? We have no doubt she’d be doing something incredible, because that’s just who she is. But would she be leading Heartline’s Maternity Center? If Mom hadn’t stayed up at night so her daughter could study? If Dad hadn’t instilled the love of education in his children? 

A Family Fondasyon

In Haitian Creole, fondasyon means “foundation.” When we think of Haitian families, we think of fondasyon: the strength we can draw from someone who believes in us, who’s invested in our success because they love us.

That’s why our mission is to invest in Haitian families. Healthy moms and babies, good jobs, and unified families create powerful fondasyons. They create stories like Frede’s. When you give to Heartline, you’re investing in more of those stories (and directly funding Frede’s work at the Maternity Center!)

We’d be honored to have you as part of our Heartline family.

We’ll be back December 15th with more of Frede’s story (UPDATE: Read Part 2 by clicking here!) – be sure to keep up with us on social media (Facebook, Twitter, & Instagram) so you don’t miss out! You can also follow along via email by clicking here.