Below are just a few of the words to live by from Grann Selie (Grandma Selie), the incredible Haitian mother of 15 children who also raised her granddaughter, Ti Maille Moore, one of the co-founders of this charitable organization. The Selie Foundation celebrates her love of life and reveres her never-ending care for family, friends, and neighbors. Our small, street level foundation is lovingly dedicated to her memory. We sincerely hope to live up to her example.

“Espwa fe viv.”
Hope makes life.

“Pa manje pou kont ou. Le ou genyen manje, toujour manje ak moun parske si ou manje ak moun, manje’w pa jamn fini.”
Don’t eat alone. When you have food, always eat with other people because if you eat with others, your food never runs out.

“Le moun mande’w d’lo, cherche pi bel kup ou genyen nan kay la pou by d’lo a”
When someone asks you for water, find the best cup you have in the house to give the water.

“Chante, danse”
Sing & Dance

“Le’w malad e ou relle l’ajan, l’ajan pa repond. Relle yon moun e moun la repond. L’ajan bon, mais moun pi bon.”
When you’re sick and you call on money, money doesn’t answer. Call on a person and the person will respond. Money is good, but people are better.

“Pa jamn kite.”
Never give up.

“My Grandmother Selie was a person who always found a way to feed or serve a cup of coffee to anyone who came to her house. In the old days, sometimes bad people came, but the way she served them always made the outcome different from what they had come to do. In those times, when people had been beaten or were sick, she always took care of them, treated them, and healed them. Everybody in town and everyone who visited L’ Akil (a small town outside of Gonaives) called her Grann. She was everybody’s grandmother. That’s why our family is big, because everybody is in our family." ~ Ti Maille Moore