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Father Tim Atkin
July 2004
I am the Provincial Superior of the Haitian branch of Missionhurst CICM. My name is Father Tim Atkin, and I’ve been living and working in Haiti for 24 of the last 30 years.
I guess it’s been about 7 years that we’ve been using Fonkoze’s services. I had become the Treasurer of my congregation. In Haiti at that time, the banks really didn’t have many branch offices. When we wanted to change U.S. dollars into gourdes, it was an ordeal. We’d have to go across town to the bank, stand in line for an hour or more, and then carry cash back home with us.
We turned to Fonkoze because it offered so many convenient possibilities. Fonkoze’s branch was close to where we were. They were happy to come and pick up our check from us and then deliver the gourdes back to us. But more importantly, when we learned of the work Fonkoze was doing, we wanted to support them. We understood that we were helping Fonkoze – a young, struggling institution – at the same time that we were receiving excellent, convenient service. It was a win/win situation.
We like the fact that Fonkoze gives everyone – rich or poor – the same exchange rate. We recognize that we might be able to get a slightly higher exchange rate if we negotiated independently with a commercial bank, but we want to stand in solidarity with Fonkoze and their clients, who are not able to negotiate a higher rate because they have so few dollars to exchange.
Over the years, Fonkoze has demonstrated to us that we can place our confidence in them. They are a solid institution that we know we can rely on.