Wednesday, January 13, 2010

What You Might Not Know About Haiti


Photos from Time Magazine


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The lines on her face and hands defied the way she walked toward me, eager and snappy, happy to take my hands in hers, thanking me for coming. She wanted to know if I could help her market her idea in America. We sat in a back booth at the S & S Deli in Porter Square and this is the the story I heard from her:
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I was 65 years old, a retired Nurse when I first came to Haiti. I’m older now than you would think. I’ll be 72 next month. I intended to stay one year working in a health clinic. I did not expect the level of poverty to be so massive, so commonplace. Unemployment is almost 80%. It cost $ 40 to send a child to school for a year and most families could not conceive of ever having that much. The poverty is so deep you almost cannot believe it.
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First I started a library, thinking that this could encourage reading skills. Then an education initiative to send children to school, then a family-planning clinic, and then a very successful micro-lending program to help local farmers buy tools and supplies.
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But one of the best things is the Cooperative d'Artisanat--the Sewing Cooperative. I went to Haiti to do my nursing thing for a year, and then I was supposed to come home and sit in a rocking chair and say that I'd done my bit for the Third World. That's not what happened.
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"I met these women who just wanted to send their children to school. They had so little but boy could they sew. So we started a cooperative, sewing and embroidering linens, napkins, tablecloths. Some knitting too: the most beautiful baby hats and sweaters and socks. I started looking for places in the States that would buy what our cooperative made. Pretty soon we had twenty women, most would walk ten or more miles at a time to drop off what they had done and pick up new materials. There's no stopping them now. "
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Sarah Hackett is no stranger to adversity: widowed in her 30s with four children to raise, she learned to pull herself up by her own bootstraps.
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How many years has it been since I sat with her that day at the S & S and her eyes glistened and her hands danced in midair when she talked about these wonderful Haitian women? I remember her so clearly: her face and smile so passionate, kind, determined. I wonder how she is today, how the now fifty-strongwomen of the Cooperative d'Artisianat are today, they in their country that has blown apart.
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18 comments:

  1. prayers and love for them all and special sweet thoughts, love and prayers for your friends.... i hope beyond hope that they remain safe.
    xxme

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  2. Its a terrible thing kj but they will survive and revive. I hope too that her little community are OK and able to help those who are not. This reminds me of the Tsunami in our neck of the woods five years ago. But the phoenix did rise from the flames.

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  3. sweetsweetmango, i hope they are safe too. i agree with baino: from this, perhaps, haiti will be rebuilt so its people have a chance to live without poverty all around them

    baino, i agree. but the suffering now must be unfathomable. when i was in new orleans, that was devastation, but not the loss of human life like this. still, i think you are right.

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  4. There were already so many orphaned children in that country. I'm sure this disaster added to that number. Perhaps they'll take on the creed of Renee's family: Together Strong.

    I hope they rise from the ashes.

    xoxo

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  5. There is a store in town that sells crafts by women in developing nations. I think educating women and helping them with small businesses is one for the most useful things to do for a community.

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  6. lo and cs, yes, we need more people like sarah hackett. all over the world.

    over eggs and toast, i admired her so much....

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  7. It may be that this is the catalyst that will cause the eyes of the hemisphere to focus on, help to stabilize and set long term goals for Haiti. I am in my heart hoping for the best possible outcome.

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  8. same with me, mark. what a price to pay for long term gain, but it seems this might be the way out.

    then again, new orleans got rebuilt to the tune of increased rents and gentification. with its beautiful ocean and beaches, that could happen to haiti too.

    i am sitting here wondering whether to tell the red cross i could go....

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  9. Thank God for amazing people. Thank God for real people who don't try to act like they are speaking for him. But do act like they are like him.

    Love Renee xoxo

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  10. Lovely post and story Kj, That first photo made me cry. I have been crying a lot the last few days for the wonderful people in Haiti. I hope like sweetmango that your friends are safe. I have to trust that God will help them rebuild a better world for themselves. xoxo ♥

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  11. Thank you for sharing these photos and this story, makes something so overwhelming, so very personal. And Renee, your words, ring so true!

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  12. I have such sad, and angry thoughts about that country. How did they get like this...what could have been done in a preventive measure to save all this suffering - this is like a biblical story of destruction. I feel so so badly for the people there, yet am finding all this outpouring of love and support from our country to be...so sudden maybe? Reaction from guilt? I don't know. All I do know is that we can't do good things only when bad things happen, and need to be more like your friend - living a true life, doing good in the world.
    I pray for her and her friends yet I know it's not enough just to pray...

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  13. Ahh,kj, I have also been wondering if I could go at some point to help. So many people missing or dead. I have a friend who is presumed dead, but I hope against all hope in his case, that somehow he made it and just can't get to a telephone. There are so many people waiting to hear.

    My prayers and blessings to your friend; I hope she and her Cooperative are alright.

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  14. KJ, such a sad yet loving post. As many here have said, Haiti WILL rise up from the ashes of despair and poverty.... the will to live is a great force. We must all do what we can - even if it is praying - to help the people there and also to ensure that when a new nation emerges, there will be homes, food, water, hospitals and schools for EVERYONE. It is daunting - but not impossible.

    Love,

    Robin

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  15. Oh KJ
    This is a story of hope...
    Pattee

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  16. Oh what a touching story. Please let us known if and when you learn of the news of the people of whom you speak here. It is hard enough to feel ripped apart inside watching news of total strangers in a distant land...but to hear first person stories of them, to hear from someone who spoke with someone who helped/worked with them...it just makes it all that much more real...scary...and personal.

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  17. my heart breaks. i am so saddened. it's really not fair. i'm praying kj. for everyone.

    the news is frustrating to read, makes me feel so helpless. i hope you are okay and will be able to reach your friends soon.
    xoxox lori

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  18. I agree that it is such a wonderful story of hope. Prayers and love for them. So much desperation.

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