Notes from “From Aid to Trade”

From the back cover: Why do poor countries remain poor? Why, after receiving billions of dollars, do poor countries remain poor? Why are failing foreign aid models utilized over and over again? After the devastating 2010 Haiti earthquake, authors Daniel Jean-Louis and Jacqueline Klamer observed first-hand the negative consequences of donations provided with the sincerest of good intentions donations that …

Two Years Down

  Bagay Ki Bon started two years ago as an attempt to help move people out of poverty by empowering them to be a part of their own solution. We actually got our start as a vocational school in the community. We were teaching people job and language skills. But as we were working with the people in the community, …

A Grinding Halt

Imagine showing up for work this morning and being greeted by your employer telling you to go home. Not only could you not work today, or this week, but they were unsure when you would be able to come back to work. That’s the reality at our sewing center in Calabasas right now. Last week the industrial generator fried the inverter …

Rock The Wall Crawl

Here’s a great opportunity for you to have a blast and help us raise some money for the work happening in Haiti. On Saturday April 25, you’re invited to be a part of our “Rock The Wall Crawl”. This event will be a blast for the whole family. This is NOT your average race, so it doesn’t matter if you Run, Walk, or …

The California Quilting Ladies and Superior Threads

A huge box showed up on my door step today. It’s the second of it’s kind. The giant box was filled (completely filled and I’m talking a big box) with large spools of beautiful thread. It started with an email one of our team members (who also happens to be my mom) fired off a couple months back. It was …

Sewing Center

An unexpected adventure that was not a part of the initial plan for the school sprang up in my time there. Some of our volunteer staff did some searching around for business or organizations in the States who would like to be a part of what we were doing here. One of the organizations we contacted was the Keep Me …

School of Blessings

Late June in Callabasse Haiti, on the same grounds of The House of Blessings, the doors were open for the first time to The School of Blessings. The School of Blessings is a vocational school in partnership with the House of Blessings. The goal at the school is to partner with people through business and education to break the cycle …

Another beautiful day…

The school is moving along amazingly well. The sewing center is ramped up and is going full steam ahead. The three ladies are fully trained at this point and are cranking out bags like crazy. They were producing 5 a day, but yesterday set a record and produced 12-15 bags!  A group from Texas was in earlier in the week …

If a picture is worth a thousand words…

Chris, Sam, and Esther have been hard at work!  The ladies are working on the beginnings of some really cool projects.  We’re excited to see where this path leads with regards to possible income for the ladies and their families, and the start of something beautiful for their community.       

A Big Update

I haven’t updated in a couple days and thought I should sit down and fill you all in about where we are. At this stage of the game, things change so quickly. I couldn’t have dreamed we’d be where we are now even 3 or 4 days ago. The school continues to grow and evolve. We are working and listening …

Stories.

I forget so often that everyone has a story. With every life a story is being written. I get so caught up living mine that I forget that everyone else is living their own. Everyone has a plot line with twists and surprises – romance, comedy, tragedy, drama… My time at the orphanage has been really different this trip. I’ve …

Beach day – and – Chikungunya is the worst!

Just a quick update. School was canceled today as the House & School of Blessings were closed. We took all the kids to the beach. Very beautiful! Awesome time to relax and get away. On another note – Chikungunya fever here and is every bit as relentless as you may have heard. It’s infecting so many of our staff, students, and …