Molver Desire, photographed in April, was forced to relocated her shop. A loan failed to materialize and her husband died after a long illness.Deborah Baic/The Globe and Mail
Project Jacmel update : Molver Desire faced a 'difficult time' after she was forced to move her dilapidated gift shop
The tenuous situation that was unfolding inside Molver Desire's dilapidated gift shop in downtown Jacmel on The Globe's last visit has gotten even worse.
Evicted by her landlord (he deemed the building unsafe), Ms. Desire moved her shop down the street to a stall owned by her sister. She spent much of the summer awaiting word on a microfinance loan that is not going to come through (she was deemed ineligible for funding from lender Fonkoze.
In early November, her 59-year-old husband died. Villanie Desire had waged a tough battle with diabetes - one of his legs had been amputated from the knee down and the stump caused constant pain. Paying for medication was always a struggle.
After a late night chat in bed and one last check of his blood sugar, which was low, Mr. Desire passed away in his sleep on Nov. 2, just two months short of their 25th wedding anniversary.
Mrs. Desire is having a "difficult time," she said in a recent interview.
"I'm still in mourning. I don't feel like talking much."
Her plan is to remain for now in Jacmel, with her sister and the rest of her family. She'll travel as often as possible to Miami to buy low-cost items for her store and visit her daughter and grandson.
Jessica Leeder