One of the first things you notice about Lucie is her smile. It seems she is always smiling, even - somehow - when she is describing the worst day of her life.

"On the day of January 12th, I was alone inside the house when I got a call on the mobile phone. I went outside for a better signal and then the earthquake happened. As you can see the house was destroyed and we lost everything, everything came crashing down. If I was inside the house, I would have died - we all would have died whoever was in the house, but thanks to God we are here."

75% of the approximately 700 houses in this semi-rural community were damaged or destroyed.

What you will hardly notice about Lucie is that she is mostly paralyzed on her left side. She is an animated talker, and you eventually notice that she is only making gestures with her right hand. She explains that it came on gradually during secondary school and it caused her to drop out.

Concern came to Galet Greffin about six weeks after the earthquake. The United Nations International Organization for Migration (IOM) had secured a 30-acre plot of land across the road from Galet Greffin which had been designated for the first planned settlement site for earthquake-affected families that had moved onto heavily congested sites that were at risk for flooding or landslides. Concern signed up to manage the development of the site, now known as Tabarre Issa.

Concern's approach would be to meet the needs of the people of Galet Greffin and Tabarre Issa concurrently. Galet Greffin's families were immediately provided with tents just as tents were going up across the road at Tabarre Issa. Similarly as Concern and its partners have instituted health, education, water and sanitation and cash-for-work programs in both communities concurrently and equally.

In recent weeks, the conversion from tents to transitional shelters has begun. Concern has designed sturdy houses built on concrete foundations made of high-quality timber frames reinforced to withstand hurricane-force winds. Built to last for at least three years, each will include two sleeping areas, a wash room with a latrine and a small porch with an eco-cooking stove. Small-scale construction started in July, and with the arrival of a large shipment of building materials in early August, a massive construction effort is now getting underway.

Among the first to receive a new house is Lucie's family. They were chosen by the committee of community leaders based on Lucie's disability - the committee decided to house the most vulnerable first.

When she learned of their decision, Lucie was "…so happy, very, very happy." She explains, "I was happy not just for me personally I was happy for my mother, for the whole family…because this house is going to be well-constructed. Now the whole family can be at ease because we won't have to worry about the heat or the rain."

"The committee told us that the houses Concern is building will be good for at least three years. So we know that for that time we will be safe, we can be at ease," Lucie says.

When asked about the future, Lucie gives a familiar refrain, "Only God knows." But she does have hopes. "I would like to go back to school and I would like to have a shop that sells more goods, different goods. I would like for my sister to go to school and for my brothers and my uncle to have work. Then we can have money to build a better house here."

Education, good health, livelihoods, permanent shelter - these are aspirations you hear again and again in Galet Greffin and Tabarre Issa. Providing the opportunity to attain them is Haiti's challenge. Concern has been working with Haitians toward these goals since 1994, and will remain in Haiti to continue that work as it recovers.