When Shelley and Corrigan Clay went to Haiti in 2007 to adopt a child, they discovered that every child in the orphanage they visited had living parents – mothers and fathers who could not provide even basic care for their family and had made the heartbreaking decision to give their child to an orphanage (or in servitude to another family).
In 2008 the Clays moved to Haiti with a 501c3 nonprofit in place. The Apparent Project is an organization whose mission is to help parents take care of their children and to make the needs of Haitian families “apparent” to the rest of the world.
A job creation initiative began in the fall of 2009 with four women. Today the Apparent Project employs over two hundred people who make beads, assemble jewelry, or provide office support. Some workers have gone from begging at the orphanage door, to earning money as employees, to starting their own businesses. They have their own homes, can take care of family needs, and fulfill the dream of sending their children to school.
Market Haiti began as the on-line
marketplace for the direct sale of Apparent Project products. But it
soon began carrying handcrafted goods from other Haitian resources as
well. Products offered include jewelry, metal art, purses and bags,
wood art, and other gift items.
For even more on this story - click here.
No comments:
Post a Comment