Wednesday, July 14, 2010

The Co-op Begins


Last November, before the earthquake, I met this family in the mountains of Haiti. I've written about them before because their impact on me was very strong.

This desperate father was trying to figure out how he was going to take care of his family when he had no job and no possibilities for work in the future. I talked with someone at the Rescue Center where we were working because I wanted to figure out how this man could find a job. The response I got was "there are no jobs." All I could think was WHAT is he going to do??? How are you supposed to feed your kids when there are no jobs and no food pantries or shelters to go to for help? It was one of those moments when reality hit me hard.


Marie-Lange, one of the children, was admitted to the Rescue Center because she was obviously severely malnourished. Seeing her little ribs sticking out made me realize that we needed to do something to help people in this area earn a living. It's so overwhelming to think of this problem as a whole. Our hope is that we can start to make a difference one little step at a time by providing outlets for people to sell the things they create and by teaching classes to people with an interest in the arts and a need for income to be able to support themselves and their families. We want to lesson the amount of families that have to suffer in this way.

We have started to receive items from Haiti and we will be listing new things in the weeks to come. We listed our first items last week and are very excited to say that most of them have already sold! Below you will see a few of the items that have/will be for sale. We will be also be sharing more about these items and the artisans who create them. We are so excited about the possibilities and the hope this will bring to families in the Cazale area.





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