Steven Werlin has been a faculty member at Shimer College, in Chicago, since 1996. That same year, he also began traveling to Haiti. He started working with Fonkoze in early 2005 and continued to help with various projects for its communications, grant writing and education teams until March 2009, when he became the manager of its branch in the southeastern town of Marigot. Since 2010, he has been working for Chemen Lavi Miyò (CLM), Fonkoze's program for the extreme poor. He started as a regional director and is now the communications and learning officer.

Foreword by Dr. Paul Farmer 1
A Note About The Text 7
Maps 8
Prologue 11
part i: getting started
1 Chemen Lavi Miyò 25
2 Finding Alta 33
3 Sorting through Index Cards 36
4 Final Verification 48
5 Walking with Elie 55
6 Micheline 60
part ii: regular days in the field
7 Pascal and Louisimène 71
8 The Turkey's not the Problem 77
9 Manie's Goat 85
10 Mòn Dega 92
11 Not Copying 99
12 Matlòt 105
13 The Importance of Santiague 109
14 Judge and Jury 115
15 Jean Manie's New Home 125
16 More about Marie Paul 133
17 Josamène Loréliant 143
part iii: challenges to overcome
18 A Reasonable Chance 156
19 Martinière and Ytelet 167
20 Franck Laurore 171
21 Rose Marthe and Cholera 175
22 Memène and Chiver 181
23 Jacquesonne's School 195
part iv: better lives
24 Jean Manie and the Cabecita 201
25 Ytelet's Success 209
26 Guirlène and Chimène 215
27 Rose Marthe 229
Afterword and Acknowledgments 240
About the Author 244

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