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The Breakdown- A new HDC update

Click above for a super important post about the needs, cost, and importance of the Crowdtilt campaign we are doing over at Haiti Design Co-op. There are only 10 days left in the campaign so please spread the word!

Mesi anpil!

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New phase

So we haven't written here in a while.... The past few months have been filled with ups and downs trying to figure out what this next season was going to look like exactly. It feels super vulnerable and scary writing about something you aren't quite sure of, so while we have been working hard, seeking, praying, and deciding, we have just stayed a little quiet in this space. 

Here is the scoop....

Back last spring Josh and I dreamed up an idea for a brand we wanted to start that would have more high-end products from Haiti. It would feature leather goods, accessories for men & women, and home products. This brand was going to represent not only our group at Haitian Creations, but other artisans groups around Haiti as well. We named it Fait La Force and it was going to be our small, fun, creative outlet that hopefully would help support our living here and working with Heartline. 

We had previously had some conversations with Heartline about the idea and need for Haitian Creations to separate and be on its own. We felt this would be best in order for the business to grow and better support the women, just had no timeline in mind. Then in October Heartline decided to restructure and made the decision for Haitian Creations to go ahead and transition out on its own. Josh and I committed to lead this transition, we just weren't sure exactly what it would look like. While we felt extremely passionate about the importance of the work we were doing and the purpose of Haitian Creations, as well as extremely committed, to be honest we were quite overwhelmed. The idea of starting a new brand was exciting/scary. Taking over a full production center that employed around 60 people in a country we had only lived in over a year was, well terrifying. But, we felt in our gut that was the next step and that was what we were supposed to do. 

So then we got to work. The path has changed courses a few times, but we are both extremely thankful for the people God has dropped in along the way to help guide us in this process and figure out what this new business was going to look like. It is amazing how confidence and fear can still go hand in hand very strongly together. But I would say the confidence in our gut has obviously outweighed the fear and we feel we are right where we are supposed to be. 

Back in December we worked some events back in Texas to launch our new brand Fait La Force. The response was super encouraging and exciting. We are stoked for what is ahead for Fait La Force and plan to launch a full collection come this fall. We are partnering with an extremely talented girl in New York, named Emma, to make this new venture a reality. For now, we have been working hard to keep the artisan workshop running and relaunch the new Haitian Creations.

The new artisan workshop is called Haiti Design Co-op. 

In order to really make this happen and relaunch the program, we are in big time need of support. We just launched the website and a Crowdtilt campaign that lasts for one month. If in that time we raise the funding needed, we will be able to keep everyone employed, purchase the machines and supplies needed to get started, and purchase the equipment needed to run our center at the new location we will have. You can click the links below to find out more information and join the campaign. 

Thanks for your support along the way. We are extremely appreciative and excited for what is ahead!

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The website isn’t quite ready to launch just yet, but you can follow along on this new venture of ours on the new tumblr page. Stay tuned (if you wish), good things ahead!

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One of the jewelry ladies who has been with Haitian Creations from the beginning has 3 boys that sometimes come and wait for their mom to finish working when they get out of school. Today I walked out to say hello and joke around with the boys a bit and the youngest (5) was pouting. I asked the oldest brother (12) what was wrong with him and he said he doesn't want to read. The older brother was sitting with the younger brother making him do his homework and practice reading. The older brother persisted and finally the younger started practicing pronouncing the words in front of him.  He knew all the words on the page and said them with a big sheepish grin on his face, looking over to make sure I was listening.

The surreal thing about sitting here watching this was that the mom didn't know how to read when she first came to Heartline. And now she has these 3 beautiful, smart, mischievous little boys teaching each other how to read.  

If that doesn't make a heart swell I don't know what does.  

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She is 3 years old. Her mom passed away when she was a baby. Her dad is about to pass away too. Her aunt, godmother, and grandmother have no money to care for her. But they love her. Her other aunt continues to worry and worry about her sister's child and what will happen to her. While worrying about her own young child. 

What do you want for her? 

"I want her to live well. I want her to play. I want her to eat and be strong. I want her to go to school. I want her to be happy always" 

How can you get that for her? 

Silence. And worry.     ....."She should live with me." 

But she doesn't have money either. The other aunt and godmother do not want to give the child up, although they have no means to care for her. The other aunt knows the girl has the best chance if she takes her in. But it isn't easy. It's so so so very hard. 

So what is the solution? We aren't supposed to create dependence. Giving money every month gets frowned upon. But my goodness taking that girl from the family that loves her to a culture that isn't her own, isn't her language, isn't her roots. Taking her away from the ones that worry constantly for her. Well that can't be the fix either.

So what do you do?

I guess at some point you say "Screw you" to the idea of dependence and you find money and you get that aunt what she needs to get that belly fed and that child in school. And I guess then you just pray you can lighten the worry a bit and that God will do things from there.  

The stories are so much more freaking hard to find "solutions" for once they aren't just stories and numbers, once they are people planted in your heart.   

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changing seasons

 As of last month, Josh and I have been living in Haiti for one year. What started as 6 months, drifted into a year in the blink of an eye. How does so much happen in such little time, yet feel like an eternity since the phase before it?

For as long as I can remember my life followed along in phases according to the weather and the school calendar.  Hot summers turned into fall semester, which started slow then darted to winter break, which in Texas just meant start wearing pants and light jackets, and then spring semester rolled around and the next thing you know it is boiling summer again. The clothing I was wearing and the upcoming project I was working towards more easily categorized life seasons. I feel like I spent the majority of college working to get to Haiti, the last year of college planning a wedding, and then BOOM… no more school, married, living on an island that can feel like a million miles away.  But it was easier to gather my bearings, so to speak, based on the seasons; being able to tangibly see what season I was in and what season was up ahead, both in the weather and in life.

Living in Haiti can feel like a time warp. It is always hot. Everything always looks the same. There are no more school semesters for me. So much is focused on getting by day-to-day, week-to-week, and the next thing you know months fly by and you forget where they went. This was a tricky adjustment for me, gathering my bearings in a place where the signs of changing seasons were so different than I had ever experienced before. I feel my seasons in this place have more followed along with the phases of my heart than anything else. And to be quite blunt, the more recent phase has been a long dark one. It has been one of faith questioning, one of searching for purpose, one of numbness. This phase is nothing new to me, it comes and goes a few times yearly I think, as it does for many people, but something about having it in Haiti made it a little darker and a littler harder to shake. There is something beautiful though about when that cloud starts to lighten up and leave. When God gives us those little random blessings of joy, little by little, like little hugs for the heart and reminders to slow down and stop taking things so damn seriously.

One year came and went so fast. I realized the other day it is fall because the streets are now filled with bundles of kids in their school uniforms. Little girls with crisp white bows, a blue and white plaid shirt tucked into a navy pleated skirt, all walking along and giggling. Then I know winter/holidays are coming because at night the idea of having a cover when I sleep is actually because the weather is nice and slightly cool, the sheet isn’t just a protector against the mosquitos like it is in the summer time. The holidays will come, the temperatures and mosquitos will be more bearable, and then before you know it the big Haitian holidays start off the new year, the anniversary of the earthquake after that, and then Kanaval rolls right in. Then spring passes and it starts getting bloody hot again, and the kids are no longer wearing uniforms on the streets. It is funny how now the seasons are indicated by what fruit is falling off of what tree in our yard and whether or not I have a love or hate relationship with the idea of sleeping with a cover on or not. In rainy season we have to remember to hurry and get the laundry off the line AS SOON as it is dry, or else we will have to do it all over again, learned that the hard way too many times. I know it is almost holidays or time for school to start by the desperation in the air. There are always needs here, but the need just feels more desperate, more urgent at these times of year. My head has such a new and unique calendar these days.

Although Josh and I don’t know exactly what the next season will look like, we do sense quite a transition coming on. We are busy trying to find clarity on what this will look like, but we do feel things are at work, or more so God is at work, even if we fight him.

We will be spending the month of December back home in Texas getting much needed head clearing time, launching our new business, and really just soaking up the precious little time we get with those gems of wonderful people we get to call family and friends. They are extremely patient, supportive, and generously loving and kind people and we are in need of some time with them. They are so patient with us even if our current lifestyle can make us awful friends as times. And come end of December we are headed back to this beautiful, bi-polar, endearing little island we call home.  For now, we are seeking out clarity and working away. We are confident in where God has us right now, the work we are doing here, and the direction we are headed, just currently figuring out what that path will look like. 

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Why do you put your self esteem in the hands of complete strangers?

Helena Bonham Carter (via h-o-r-n-g-r-y)

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We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give. W. Churchill

(via mimilin)

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Have less, be more.

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In the depths of my soul, I longed to be a part of something large and good; something that required all of me; something dangerous and worth dying for.

John & Stasi Eldredge, Captivating (via takemetomountains)

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Stolen from my wise sister

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bone & horn beads in the making

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Aya Bombe

On my first trip to Haiti the kids in the village would always sing this cute song over and over with the chorus being "Aya bombe, bombe, bombe! Aya bome, bombe!" There were cute dance moves and everything. 

Over 3 years later, I just learned tonight that "Aya bombe" comes from the phrase "Aji Aya Bombe", which means "better dead than a slave".

The adorable song that children always sang to me meant "better dead than a slave".

This place is always blowing my mind.  

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Bummer of today: 

Had another mom on the street ask if I knew where an orphanage was for her 3 year old. It is almost time for school again and people are more stressed and pressed this time of year looking for money for their kids.  I asked her why she wanted an orphanage if her daughter had a mother, she said she thought the orphanage would help her. I said it wouldn't. 

Hummer of today:

An 18 year old that has worked at Haitian Creations for the past couple of years is preggo and I convinced her to join the maternity center program instead of going to the countryside and delivering in a home with no help. This particular girl is always heavy on my heart, the underdog, misunderstood type. She always acts really tough, is a young punk, and has always had an attitude like she's giving the world the finger, which is understandable. So I always pester her like she's a sister and love her big time. Seeing her excited and even tear up about join this program and understanding that there will be many people looking out for her and genuinely caring for her was huge. Huge.