Ta Da!!! Georgia Mom's Making a Difference in Haiti & Africa

This is a video I did myself so it's obviously not as great as our video is going to be that we will add to our media kit but I'm still proud of it. Call it an Open Hand home video if you will :)

Introducing - Georgia Moms Making a Difference in Haiti & Africa

Just breathe

I have to try and remind myself of this. There is so much to get done in order to be ready for the opening of the marketplace in Haiti in April. I may have a small panic attack. Our training manual needs to be adapted to fit the Haitian culture, we need to figure out how much our director(s) will get paid, and yes, it is plural. Too many people to give loans too, there's no way one man can do it all. So we'll be hiring a Director and an Assistant Director. The director will collect the money (TBD as to how often he will collect) and the Assistant Director will do the training. Both men will need to take applications for the loans. We need to train our Assistant Director (A.D) and go through the whole manual with him to make sure he understands before he can begin holding classes. These men need bank accounts so we can pay them. We will need to train via Skype which isn't ideal but we don't want to use any more funds going back and forth to Haiti. We'd like to go again sometime in the fall to check on the training, say hi to everyone etc... and then again when we graduate everyone and once more when the marketplace opens.

Since the marketplace is a new idea there are still questions we need to have answered, for example, how many booths will there be and how much will it cost to rent a booth for the month. This factors into our loan costs. While we were in Haiti, it was told to us that Haitians don't believe anything is for free, they are suspicious and want to pay something or they feel what they are getting may not be the real deal so we have an application fee that must be paid before someone can apply for a loan. It won't be a huge amount b.c the average Haitian makes $2 a day, if they are lucky. We just need them to know we are serious, and we want them to be serious about the loan.

Alisha has been working on the training manual, one of our board members is working on our media kit and I've been trying to negotiate deals with apron companies but so far, no luck. We are almost ready to start calling on the corporations we have some level of relationship with and see if they be a sponsor - whether silver, gold or platinum.  Our board met last week and came up with some great ideas for more fundraising. There is so much money that needs to be raised it's overwhelming. Breathe, Lis, breathe.

I'm a tad bit giddy

WARNING: I have been known to be giddy about the most stupid of things and to act like a small child when I get excited about something even as remotely as a gorgeous full moon. But whenever I look at my car I get a huge stupid grin on my face. You know the kind - because I have always wanted one of these but never knew what it would say and now may I introduce to you....

MY LICENSE PLATE (crowd roars expectantly)AHHHHHHH...

For some reason this makes me feel way more official than the government status and the fact that we are starting to bring in money help women and children. ha! I told you, I'm a tad strange. My next secret accomplishments in life that make me feel as if I have "arrived" (and I kid you not) is a). to be "important enough" to have my own business card and b). to have my own cubicle. Sad huh? I know but seriously, the small things excite me! Every time I see this I want to laugh out loud because this whole journey is just incredible. I feel like we are on a wave and we have to just hold on and go with it! Surfs Up baby!!!

The Heart of the Generous

I'm trying to figure out how to write this post but I'm at a loss. So maybe I'll just write and you'll have to forgive me for not being more 'on'.

I just got off the phone with a woman who has an etsy shop. She's had it for years but only recently has it begun to take off. She has been donating a portion of her earnings to a local camp but yesterday starting thinking about Open Hand and what we are trying to accomplish in providing loans to woman so they can take care of themselves and their children. She said to me that since she has been blessed with her etsy shop and she is a woman entrepreneur that she can't help but want to make a difference in the life of a woman in Haiti. She told me she usually gives at the end of each year but she feels she wants to give right now. Not to wait. She says, "well... it's not much. It's only $100 right now." Que my silent tears b.c that is exactly how much we are anticipating one loan is going to cost in Haiti. And that one loan is going to impact immediately on average, 5 people and once the loan gets paid back another 5 and another..... and you get the idea :)

And this is exactly what we need. We need people who are generous, who hear what we are doing and want to jump in and help us make a difference. So thank you, generous giver. Your donation is going to change hundreds of lives.

**** UPDATE - as of today (6/19), Amanda's fun idea has gone viral and she has hundreds of orders she can't fill. Check out this article http://www.today.com/moms/cabbage-patch-kids-wigs-babies-go-viral-6C10350466  Here we go!  http://gma.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs/children-1980s-meet-cabbage-patch-kids-hat-190452507.html - The cover of yahoo. Can you believe it?? This is crazy. Cabbage patch kid hat crazy!!!

Our Trip to Haiti (what do you say if it's longer than a nut shell? And why is a nut shell even a measurement?)

Well here I was all set to write about our trip to Haiti but I opened our mail and was dumbfounded to find our DETERMINATION LETTER from the government. What went from a documented one year wait was accomplished for us in under 90 days. I'm in shock and awe right now. NOW it is time to bring in the big donations and the corporate sponsorships!

 These are the men who showed up to interview for the Director position for Open Hand's micro loans. One man came from as far as 6 hours away! This is how badly this country needs jobs.

 Upon arriving in Haiti we had a lot to accomplish in only 3 days but we did it! Sherry Burnette from Love a Child met us at the airport which was a big deal because 1) she normally isn't the one to pick people up 2) our plane was 3 hours late and 3) many fear for her life since she is so well known she may be kidnapped.
So with all that being said we felt pretty special to be picked up by this lady:

The Love a Child compound is incredible. From the armed guards to the gorgeous lush landscaping to the ever wonderful AIR CONDITIONED rooms... it was perfect. One of the many things we learned on this trip is that the generator turns off around 8pm and doesn't turn back on till 5am which means no air conditioning for the night time. But we managed :) We had the honor of spending a lot of time with Bobby and Sherry as they showed us where the market place is going to go as well as Miracle Village, the local market and the blueprint plans for the marketplace. www.loveachild.com

 I think the Bible says somewhere about 'wherever you put your feet He will give to you" or something along those lines - well here I am in all my glory claiming the marketplace land for Open Hand to be a part of!

Once we were able to see the market place, interview potential directors and then speak to over 600 women who came to hear about our loans (gasp) we had some down time to help Sherry in the medical supply room doing something we found to be funny - putting together deworming medication. Now the reason this is funny is because in our quest to give every orphan/child a pair of NEW shoes specifically Crocs™ we found that the two leading causes for getting worms was contaminated water and walking barefoot. So here we are having raised over 200 pairs of Crocs so far only to be in Haiti getting the medicine together for those who have worms b.c they dont have shoes. See how funny that is? Ok. Maybe it's more funny when you're exhausted. I dunno. 

Something else we learned while in Haiti is that Haiti has families whereas Burundi doesn't. Most of the men in Africa have been killed from war or AIDS or walked out on their families. This is not the case with Haitians and therefore if Open Hand is wanting to do micro loans at the LAC (Love a Child) marketplace we need to broaden our scope of influence to include men. Another huge eye opener is the loan amount. We were told it would be $25 dollars but when we got to Haiti it was apparent $25 was not going to be enough - we had committed to providing 300 loans but our loan amount needed of $10,000 isn't going to cut it. At.all.

Which found us in this awful place as we returned to the States wondering question: how the heck we are going to raise the tens of thousands of dollars we need to make these loans happen. The answer: we need corporate sponsorships. The problem: corporations wont give large amounts of money unless they can be tax deductible. Solution: get your determination letter in the mail the day after you get back from a trip where you promised to fund a ton of loans. Ha!  

One of the best things about Haiti is the fact that the people are descendants from Africa. So unless you actually knew what country or continent you were on you would think you were in Africa. We were told by some missionaries that Haiti is called "Little Africa". 

I think the biggest and most gut wrenching, cry inducing part of our trip came when Sherry took us to this village:

This is Lilette (Lee Let) or what was left of it. The LAC people call it Old Layton. What you can't tell is those are the roofs of cement homes built by LAC years ago and the lake has risen so much that it flooded the homes. If you were to turn around from this picture you would see what was left of this village and I think village is a loose term,  we're talking small huts made out of sticks and mud and thatched roofs. We're talking children running around without any clothes. We're talking absolute mind boggling poverty. I'm sure you know where I'm going with this - 

The images of children without clothes haunted us. The little boy in the front of this picture was completely naked. And probably about 5 or 6 years old? Anyways the point is that it was obvious to him that he wasn't wearing clothes b.c the other kids in this picture were. And we were too. I kept picturing my 4 year old son and thinking "oh no... not on my watch." And if you know anything about Alisha and me, and the fact that Open Hand is founded on being generous you know that we can't allow the children of this village to live without clothes and shoes. Sherry says the village has about 100 families. It's far enough off the beaten track that I hope we can make a difference in the lives of these villagers but not attract attention to them by having others come in to reap the benefits we hope to provide for them.

So before I sign off let me leave with you with some awesome Creole French I picked up in my three days. Now granted, it's totally spelled phonetically b.c otherwise how the heck would I learn it?

Me: Coma ooo rayla? Translation: What is your name?
Me: Maway rayla Lisa. Translation: If you can't get that then you are in trouble.
Me: Coma oo yah? Translation: How are you?

And the best one we learned from one of our potential directors "Sac pa say" means what's up!? Then when someone asks you that you answer "Na boo lay" which means not much or I'm cool or something of the sort.

All in all it was a wonderful, wonderful trip and the opportunities set before us are far beyond what we could have dreamed. I think God has a sense of humor because we wanted to start in Africa with women and instead we are starting in Haiti (which if you know your geography is NO WHERE near Africa) and we'll be giving loans to both men and women. Oh God, you are so silly!!