WORK Haiti

                                  Work + Opportunity + Resources = Keys

Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, with 80% of its population living in abject poverty. Unemployment is widespread, and most Haitians struggle to survive. Some Haitians live by subsistence farming, a poor means of living in a country plagued by erosion from deforestation and natural disasters. Those living in the city turn to selling items on the street, and children are often seen begging.

WORK Haiti is TLOT’s outreach program dedicated to helping Haitian families become self sustaining by teaching a marketable craft. The program’s goal is to help adult family members earn a living wage for their families. “Work, Opportunity, and Resources provide the Keys to making Haitian families self sustaining.”

Background
The idea for WORK Haiti began on a visit to Carrefour, an area of Port-au-Prince, in May 2004. Kathy and Tyler were a fact-finding trip for the purpose of starting a child sponsorship program (How It All Began). However, as they met each family, they came to realize the whole family needed assistance, not just a specific child in the family. Families were malnourished and lacked basic necessities such as clean water. Housing was beyond inadequate for the raising of children—no kitchen or bathroom, one bed (if there was one) for the entire family, and no refrigeration or running water. These families didn’t even have food.

They also saw that the parents, with no options or hope for something better, had given in to despair. It wasn’t that they couldn’t work or didn’t want to work. It was that work wasn’t available to them. These parents lacked the skills to get work, they had no opportunities for employment or improvement, and the country had no resources available to help them. What if The Least of These, could provide these?

As a result of that visit, God began changing Kathy’s and Tyler’s heart from one of caring for the children to caring for the family as a whole. As they prayed about which direction they should go, the Lord impressed upon them that they could bring healing to Haitian families through the parents.


The Beginning of WORK Haiti
“This new direction was very exciting!” Kathy recalls. “Instead of the children looking outside the family to strangers for care, they could look to their parents, and as a result, develop the confidence and self esteem that comes from knowing their parents loved them and were providing for them. In addition the children would learn by example the role of the parent as provider and also how to do it.” This simple idea could change the lives of these families for generation after generation.

The model for WORK Haiti was actually in place with a young man named Penel (Penel’s Story), with whom Kathy and Tyler had already been working. Penel had a talent for making necklaces, and the Kangases had purchased some of his work for TLOT’s annual Missions Bazaar. They also provided him with replacement supplies and new ideas for more projects. WORK Haiti would replicate this process with other interested Haitians, using different crafts.

In March 2005, Kathy and Tyler began teaching crafts to some parents in Carrefour. They started with five people, of which two were single mothers. Obenson, the young man who introduced the Kangas’s to the families in Carrefour, learned how to make witness bracelets, key chains, and luggage clips. Ketly (Ketly’s Story) and Marie Carmel focused on counted cross stitch. Penel began a safety pin jewelry project, and his brother Smith, hemp bracelets.

Once the crafts are completed, TLOT purchases them. The items are offered for donation at their Annual Missions Bazaar and when staff members visit area churches. Each craft item is available for a donation, and all proceeds go back into WORK Haiti for supplies and to expand the program. Additional crafts for the future will include crewel work, embroidery, and more elegant jewelry items.

To date each individual enrolled in WORK Haiti has been successful. “Everyone who started with the program is still working for us. And we’ve sold much of what we’ve purchased from them. We actually can’t keep up with them,” laughs Kathy. “It is such a blessing to see the enthusiasm and excitement on the faces of these parents as they learn a new skill and realize they now hold the keys to supporting their family.”