Artisan Highlight: Yvrose

We are partnering with Pure Charity in this year's She is Priceless campaign, raising support for our Wellness & Educational programs at Haiti Design Co. 

Every dollar that you give will go directly towards providing a daily nutritious meal, monthly educational seminars, quality health insurance, micro-business & personal mentorship, and support our artisan savings program.  

Your support will help our artisan communities to not only survive, but to thrive. 

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Yvrose, Sewing Team

A staff member that has been deeply impacted by the holistic employment and education of HDC is Yvrose, of our Sewing Team. This is a snapshot of her story:

“The programs that Haiti Design Co offers me as an employee have helped me in so many ways, and I am very thankful for them in my life. This past year I was living in government housing and out of nowhere they came to evict me. I had been working on building my own house in a different area, but I still had a lot to do in order to be able to move in. Thankfully, Haiti Design Co had started a program called Saving for Tomorrow before this problem arose and I was able to save up enough money through this savings program in order to finish my house quickly to move in once I was evicted.

I am also thankful for the health insurance provided through Haiti Design Co. I went to see a doctor because I was in a lot of pain, my back was hurting me constantly. When I was younger I worked in a factory, and the work I did there really took a toll on my back. The insurance that Haiti Design Co provides pays for 80% of hospital care and medicine. This is amazing because there is no way I would have the total cost in order to see a doctor in those needed times. The doctor was able to help me and give me good advice of how to deal with my back pain when I’m working.

“The programs that Haiti Design Co offers me as an employee have helped me in so many ways, and I am very thankful for them in my life.”

— Yvrose, HDC Sewing Team

Haiti Design Co provides a meal for us to eat every day, and this isn’t only great for me, but for the entire team of ladies I work with every day. I have to leave very early to get to work on time because of transportation and city traffic. I don’t have enough time to make a meal. Even if I begin preparing something, someone in my family would need to eat it and I would have to wait until I get home in the evening to eat. Without this meal, I would be eating some crackers or a cup of coffee to get through the day.

I try to attend all of the trainings and seminars that Haiti Design Co offers. My favorite by far was the business training I attended last month. I learned so many things, and the session was packed with helpful information. When I am finished with the projects remaining on my house, I want to focus on starting a side business. The training really motivated me.”

Social Programs Report: Business Seminar

This month, we held a seminar for micro-business and entrepreneurship, and our goal was to train our employees on how to manage a business well. We have many employees who have their own side businesses and others who are interested in starting their own business. We wanted to focus the training on how to manage a business in order for it to grow and flourish, how to make a profit in the correct way, and how to manage personal expenses and business expenses separately. Our hope for this training was to motivate people to start their own businesses to further support their families and to grow the local economy, and to offer helpful skills and knowledge for people to grow their own business.

Every participant that I spoke with following the training had nothing but great things to say about the training. Many of our employees were so inspired and motivated to start their own business and apply everything they learned, and those that are already managing their own business spoke of the many things they learned and how they would change the way they manage their businesses in order to run them more effectively. In fact, every participant said yes to doing the second half of this training

From here, we will follow up by having each participant make specific goals after the training to see if the apply what they learned in their businesses, and to see if it is worth continuing to offer business training like this one.

““This training has given me a lot of motivation for my business, along with different strategies I can take to improve and grow. I learned how essential it is to reflect on my community’s needs in starting a business and not to simply create a business for my own needs.””

— Fedras

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About the Author

Courtney Sanon lives in Port au Prince, Haiti with her husband Jimmy and their two adorable dogs. Courtney is the Social Programs Coordinator at Haiti Design Co. and is also the founder and director of Ansanm Haiti, which supports family preservation and community development in rural areas of Haiti. 

Golden Hour

Every hour is golden hour in the Haitian hills and coastlines.
We strive to create collections that convey that beauty,
the beauty of Haiti as a whole.

Photos by Caleb Morris.
Shop the collection.

HDC in Action

Haiti Design Co is passionate about providing quality employment for our workers, which also means that we strive to help them lead quality lives.

We try to provide an educational opportunity for our workers each month, so that they can receive training to be motivated to apply some helpful skill to their lives. We also think it’s important to provide them with fun activities, as the more time I spend with our Haitian friends, the more I hear them talking about how so many problems exist in Haiti (unplanned pregnancy, violence, etc.) simply because there are very little outlets for people to have fun and spend time doing something good and constructive.
But we don’t want all of these opportunities to stop with our workers. We want our workers to go back to their neighborhoods and talk about what they are participating in. We want our employees to introduce kids in their communities to healthy ways of spending their free time.

 

Earlier this month, a team from Haiti Design Co. decided to take a trip to an elderly care home. As soon as I stepped into the home, my thoughts began wandering back to years before when I was serving in a few orphanages here in Haiti. At a first glance, it seemed so open- seeing the yard and trees, but of course the first glance never ceases to deceive, and the sunlight doesn’t ever seem to last longer than those first moments.

Our HDC in Action team immediately did what their name asks of them - they jumped into action. Before I could even soak up the realities of what my eyes were seeing, our female workers, who normally spend this day making HDC jewelry or sewing bags, were now bathing elderly women in wheelchairs with the utmost tenderness. Our leather team, who would normally be sanding, beveling, and sewing bags, were now giving haircuts, making people smile with their jokes, and were hauling water from the well.

There were no hesitations, no complaints. I was serving right beside them, but couldn’t help staring at our team. I watched them the whole day, as they loved and served, and put their whole selves into what they were doing. I couldn’t help but feel this amazing pride sweep over me at how they were so selflessly giving themselves, and honestly I was blown away.

I honestly don’t know a lot of people who could handle that kind of experience- both foreigners and Haitians alike. In the few hours we were there, we had managed to see firsthand the kind of abuse, neglect, and wrongdoing that usually takes months or years to discover elsewhere.

When we got in our taptap to head back to the workshop, all of their voices broke out at once. They mourned over the sick and hurt. They ranted over the newly discovered injustices they had just seen with their own eyes. They laughed in joy over the relationships they had made. It was as if all of a sudden, this new kind of passion was bubbling up in them all at once.

“They are already planning what they can do next - how they can make a difference”

— Courtney Sanon

Afterwards, Wideline, on our jewelry team told me, “I learned a lot about the kind of mistreatment and poverty that exists in those places, and learned how important is it for us to continue serving our community, and to keep giving more. I know God is always with me, but He was with me in a different way that day. He gave me strength to lift those from their wheelchairs and bathe them.”

“When I was helping an older woman bathe, she was telling me that her family doesn’t ever come to see her, and was overjoyed that our group from Haiti Design came to see her. I felt like God was right there with me at that moment.”- Cassan

All of them were so overjoyed to have made some connections with people, and to have had the chance to serve. But even more so, the injustices and wrong things that they had seen stuck with them. They began to talk about the sick they met who should normally be just fine, they talked about the supplies not being distributed but disappearing instead. They mourned over the abuse, and were angry about the reality of the kind of suffering that exists in these kinds of places.

When you see things with your eyes, meet those who suffer at the hands of others, experience the reality that is happening right around you, it changes you. You become different. You can’t just forget.

I already see this happening with our team. They are already planning what they can do next, how they can make a difference. And now that they are aware of what’s happening, I hope that this generation can prevent the mistakes made by the generation before them.

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About the Author

Courtney Sanon lives in Port au Prince, Haiti with her husband Jimmy and their two adorable dogs. Courtney is the Social Programs Coordinator at Haiti Design Co. and is also the founder and director of Ansanm Haiti, which supports family preservation and community development in rural areas of Haiti. 

Meet the Makers: Spring 2018

The first of the Maker's Box 2018 lineup, The Spring Box, brings not only handcrafted goods from our Metalworking and Woodworking teams' studios in Haiti, but stories about the makers' lives. By ordering your Maker's Box, you lean into the connection that we all have with the makers of every product we buy, and step closer into the Haiti Design Collective family. 

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Meet the Makers:

Louissaint Silfran
Woodworking

I have been crafting with wood since 1977. I have always loved art, and so from a young age I began to learn how to work with wood. Being from Jacmel, one of the things I most love about Haiti is the atmosphere you experience when Haitians come together to celebrate, and all of the creative art that is presented during these celebrations. I really want those who purchase our products to recognize our work for our creativity, style, and quality. I am very proud of what we create and of each style we design. I never sell anything that I don’t personally like and am not proud of.  I want our customers to see that we are experienced in our art and can clearly see that in our products. My team works really well together, and I really appreciate the way that they respect me. As the leader of our team, I want to continue moving forward, to grow, and to lead my team well.

What is your favorite:

- Haitian proverb: Yon sel dwet pa manje kalalou (You can’t eat okra with only one finger)
-Haitian artist: Roody Roodboy
-Haitian food:
Breadfruit with plantains, and millet
-Place to visit in Haiti: Bassin Bleu and Citadel
-Activity outside of work: Gardening
-Describe yourself in 3 words:
relaxed, easy-going, loves people

Franklin Saint Jean
Metalwork  

How did you learn this type of work? How long have you been doing it?
While I was doing odds and ends for Josh when I was younger, I always really desired to learn . When I was hired to come onto Ekip Solid, my manager taught me everything.

What is your team like? What is the team spirit and environment like? 
My team really believes in what we are doing. We refuse to be discouraged, and whenever a problem arises, we always choose to search for a solution instead of letting ourselves by overwhelmed by it.

What is your favorite thing about Haiti?Besides the wonderful breeze, Haiti has many great things. My favorite thing about my nation is that Haitians are very proud of their heritage and aren’t afraid of hard work. Haiti is full of creativity and imagination, I want everyone to know about the wonderful products that are designed and made here in Haiti.

Fun Facts:

JOINED HDC: 2016
TEAM MEMBERS: 20
FAVORITE PRODUCT: Snowflake ornaments
FAVORITE HAITIAN FOOD: 
Rice and beans with Haitian vegetables
FAVORITE PLACE IN HAITI: Delmas
DESCRIBE YOURSELF IN 3 WORDS:
Chill, helpful, polite
FAVORITE HAITIAN ARTIST: BIC