Haiti Power Struggle
Our third class of students is now in their fourth month of sewing classes. This is a challenging time for Haiti, as yet another prime minister has resigned, violence and kidnapping continue and keep us from being able to visit, and the ongoing energy crisis has left the school without electricity for most of the time. Our teachers have been working with students to learn to make patterns and cut out and plan projects, but have concluded that we need a dedicated generator for the sewing school. This will require a one time expense of about $500 for the generator, power cords, and power strips and an additional expense of $100 each month for fuel, but it will allow our students to get much more practice sewing. This is the generator that we would like to provide them, which will be purchased in Haiti.
Our students have been learning quickly, and we have heard from our teachers that our recent graduates have been using their skills to help support their families. Junior tells us, “For now by the way the country is with problems, they have bread by doing the items we taught them.” Here are some photos of the some items made by our current students.
Here are some of the items that our graduates have been making.
We are grateful to In The Beginning Fabrics, who reached out to us to donate fabric that they were not able to sell as first quality for quilts but that could be used for clothing. We told them we would take 36 bolts, and they are on their way. So far donations have come in to cover shipping to Haiti for 19 of the bolts. I will be heading up to Missionary Flights soon with local donations as well, so we could use help with shipping costs. Here are pictures of the donated fabric.
I have been asked by some repeat donors if there is a way to make automatic monthly donations, and the answer is yes! There is a product in our online shop called “donation.” It will allow you to make a one time or a recurring donation, but you must have a PayPal account for an automatic monthly donation. The donation button on our main page is not currently functioning properly, so please look in our shop. It costs about $50 per month per student to support our teachers, supply sewing kits and fabric to our students, and purchase a sewing machine to give to them when they graduate. Donations of any amount are greatly appreciated, but I would like to kick off this initiative by offering a handmade quilt from Forest Beach Cottage Quilts to anyone committing to a monthly donation of $25 or more. Just let me know if you are interested when you make a donation.