a young man learning carpentry

To choose boys for the home, outreach workers spend time on the street getting to know the kids, then invite them to visit the home. Finally, the staff selects for residence the youngest kids, those with no family, and those who have spent the longest on the street.

When they asked resident boys how to handle the new kids, one told them: "Be patient; don't throw them out the first time they mess up. Remember, it took us a while to learn the rules." The staff continues to work with the remaining boys on the street, and encourages resident boys to invite them in for meals.

For its 110 residents, Lafanmi Se Lavi provides meals, medical care, education, and vocational training, says Keogh. Eight years of in-house education begin in Creole, the language of most Haitians, and transition into French, the main language of higher education.

"The type of education we do is very concrete," says education director Lionel Étienne. "We read about something, say animals, in books that use pictures as well as words, then we take the boys out to see animals."

Lafanmi Se Lavi also offers vocational training in carpentry, cabinet-making, electronics, sewing, and cooking, useful survival skills in Haiti's largely informal economy. The home is about to reopen two enterprises that give work to kids still on the street and show society that the kids are productive members: a car wash on the road to the airport and a farm. The boys sell excess produce in poor neighborhoods at reduced prices.

Transitioning back into communities

While the home has relied primarily on private support from abroad, executive director Elien Joachim now hopes to receive some backing from a broke but sympathetic government.

Right now, says Keogh, Lafanmi Se Lavi is trying to acquire a neighboring house, which would allow them to extend schooling and health care to homeless girls, many of whom work as domestics in wealthy homes, and to non-resident boys. Demand for similar programs is tremendous around Haiti, and Lafanmi Se Lavi plans to open another home in Jérémie in 1996.

A radio station

Aristide remains active, often inviting boys to the National Palace, and his fiancée, lawyer Mildred Trouillot , does sessions with the boys on Haiti's constitution and on children's rights. The home's work continues to attract idealistic young Haitians.

Jean-Role Jean-Louis, a young law student, was threatened by death squads with a hand grenade for his work there. "My mother told me that we were victims of an unjust system," he says, "so we had to change the system to benefit everyone."

Peter Costantini is Seattle correspondent for Inter Press Service, a news wire based in Amsterdam. He has previously covered elections in Mexico and Nicaragua.