To quote them from their site:

“Our name reflects our passion: We want to see Haitian families stay together. Skill development and employment addresses the needs of families before they are at the point of desperation, driven to give their children to an orphanage because of extreme poverty. After all, the vast majority of Haiti’s “orphans” have not been orphaned by parental deaths, earthquakes, hurricanes, or floods, but are children of living parents who gave them up simply because they knew that an orphanage could feed their child. Lagging adoptions, overcrowding, and lack of accountability has made many orphanages less than adequate homes for children, who often develop severe emotional problems such as reactive attachment disorder. This is why we think of our artisans’ guild as an “un-orphanage.” We are finding creative ways for Haitians to be self-employed so that they can take care of their own children with dignity and joy. To read more about our mission click here, or explore our artisan program here.”

What a beautiful and inspiring organization. While in Haiti this past summer, I lost count of the times Eric and I went to their shop off Delmas. We toured the store, purchased handmade smoothies and coffee from the Coffee Shop and spent time relaxing and reading in their Book-nook. Outside you can even watch the artists work, creating beads and other crafts and take a look at the handmade decorations that line the walls. Everything is recycled, turning glass and bits of trash into beautiful creations. Needless to say, its an amazing and beautiful place.

One of my many purchases from the store was 4, 8-inch strings of handmade beads. When we returned home, we decided to create gifts out of those beads for some of our Interns who worked 5+ weeks in Haiti this summer. Thank you Cresent Moon Beading and Joanna for the help! “Aren’t these beads just beautiful?” she said over and over while Eric and I worked in her studio. I loved being able to gift her a strand I picked out in Haiti, knowing that for all the joy those beads were bringing her, they were helping a brother or sister in Haiti.

So what does this have to do with anything? Well, we are starting our Fall fundraising push and we decided to offer an item from the Apparent Project for sale!

The item of choice is a beautifully crafted and handmade bracelet. (as seen in the large picture above). All bracelets are made from recycled materials. I can testify first hand, these are some of the most interesting and beautifully coloured beads, they are the go-to souvenir for our mission teams (if they can get a hold of them in country). 

What you pay: $10 per bracelet.

If you want it shipped, it’s an additional $1.50.

If you want more than one bracelet, we can combine your order and you only pay for shipping once!

What you get: A hand crafted, beautiful bracelet made in Haiti. You also receive a card with the artists name, picture and story.

How you help:

Each bracelet provides $4 to the artist in Haiti and $6 to our fundraising.

We have a large stock available, so order in bulk for the whole family!

To look at pictures of the bracelets and place your order, either click the link on the sidebar or visit our online store!

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Pictures from the Apparent Project store near Delmas 75 in Port-au-Prince:

-Bethany