Elvire “Elvie” Francois will never forget the surreal moment last October when the most powerful person in Christendom reached for her hand, a warm smile on his face. She was in Rome, standing before Pope Francis in the Vatican, a world away from her home in Fellsmere and her life as a migrant farmworker.
Francois leads a life many would consider harsh. And rightly so. The petite single mother escaped the poverty and turmoil of her native Haiti 18 years ago, eventually settling in Fellsmere. A Catholic, she has attended Our Lady of Guadalupe Mission in Fellsmere, which had a Haitian priest for a time.
As a farmworker and migrant day laborer, Francois must follow the harvest to support her family, leaving her Fellsmere home to work in nearby citrus groves or joining 100 or so other migrant farmworkers aboard buses headed for New Jersey, Michigan or wherever the apples, peaches and blueberries are ripe for harvest.
Picking citrus, Francois explains, she routinely rises at 6 a.m. and is bused to the grove. A canvas bag slung over her shoulder, she climbs a 14-rung ladder and begins to fill the bag. She descends, empties the bag and climbs back up to repeat the process. When filled with oranges or grapefruit, the bag weighs about 65 pounds. Francois receives $7.50 for nine bags.
Accommodations are typically provided for the workers, often in big trailers, separate for men and women, and workers usually pay for their own food. Transportation to the work sites is provided. Conditions vary from location to location. ”New Jersey is a good place,” she says.
But Francois is not one to plod grimly along; harboring resentment at the hand she’s been dealt. She is one of those rare individuals who possess a special spark, a quality of hope, determination, even joy, which impels them to not only see limitations and injustices, but to envision how they might be rectified, and to summon the courage to take action.
To that end, Elvie became a respected, outspoken community leader with the Farm Workers Association of Florida (FWAF) in Fellsmere, where one of FWAF’s five offices is located. FWAF is a member of La Via Campesina, an international movement of peasants, farmworkers, small farmers, women farmers, indigenous farmers and those who have lost their land, working to defend their rights to food and seed sovereignty.
Earlier in the year, the Argentinian-born Pope Francis, noted for his humility and his concern for the poor, called a meeting at the Vatican in Rome to discuss and reflect on the relationship of the church to popular movements for social justice, including global farmworker groups. “Terra Domus Labor” was organized by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace and the Pontifical Academy of Sciences in collaboration with various organizations around the world that work toward social justice and stimulating social change to allow a more just world to be built.
La Via Campesina North America, representing the United States, Canada and Mexico, was invited to send three delegates and Francois was chosen to represent the U.S.
“We selected Elvire because of her ability to represent well the issues of immigrants and farmworkers here in Florida,” says Holly Baker, FWAF Grants Coordinator. The other members of the delegation included Carlos Marentes, Director of the Border Agricultural Workers Project, from Texas, and Dena Hoff, farmer member of National Family Farm Coalition, from Montana.
Francois proudly showed the official envelope and invitation, sent to her personally from the Vatican.
Except for trips between Haiti and Florida, Francois, who speaks her native Creole and some English, had not traveled abroad. As she packed and prepared to leave her daughters, 18-year-old Tamicha and 16-year-old Emline, and grandson Jeremiah, 4, in good hands, she pondered the adventure before her. She found herself excited but unafraid, even though she’d be addressing large groups a couple of times to deliver messages about the conditions of immigrants and farmworkers in Florida and the U.S.
With no traveling companions, Francois boarded a plane in Orlando for a flight to Philadelphia, then the international flight to Rome – and the adventure of a lifetime.
After arriving at the airport in Rome, she says, “They had told me to look for the flag of my country. I saw it and I was so happy to see the lady (waiting to greet the arriving representatives). I gave her a big, big hug! Everybody came to the hotel.” After resting a bit, the group, about 100 in all, attended a special mass. Later,” she recalls, smiling at the memory, “I visited a farmers’ market. I spent all day by myself, exploring!”
The three-day gathering allowed Francois to meet people from all over the globe and share experiences, similar and diverse. When it was her turn to address the crowd, she boldly ascended the stage and stood before the microphone. “Good morning, everyone!” she greeted them in English, and with confidence and conviction told them about the lives of farmworkers in the U.S.
Finally the big day arrived. Everyone boarded buses for the brief ride through the Eternal City into the Vatican City State, a 110-acre walled enclave within the City of Rome, ruled by the Bishop of Rome – the Pope.
At last, Francois found herself standing before the Holy Father himself. He wore not the rich adornments of past Popes but simple white vestments and the same pectoral cross he wore as a cardinal. As he read her name tag, he exclaimed, “Haiti!” and, smiling warmly, grasped her hand. Francois had brought a gift for the Holy Father – a picture with her group’s logo. From him, she received a rosary she will treasure all her life.
Back at home in Fellsmere, Francois continues to follow the harvest, to advocate for her fellow farmworkers and to raise her children. She is also busy helping tend to the Fellsmere Community Garden she loves dearly.
“My father always had a beautiful garden in Haiti,” she says. The family had to abandon it when conditions grew so intolerable that no one could afford to buy their produce. Francois has certainly inherited her father’s passion for growing vegetables, a gift she lavishes on her new home.
As Elvire Francois continues to move through the daily tasks along her life’s path, she will forever hold in her heart the memory of a kind face and a warm handshake.
