Vassar Haiti Project

On March 18th,  the second day that trippers stayed in Chermaitre, we had a meeting with the women co-operative, first with the executive board, and then with the general body. Thao Nguyen, as one of the representatives for the women’s initiative, wrote the following post about her experiences.

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It was a true honor for me to have been able to meet with the amazing women of Femme Chermaitre. Despite their difficult backgrounds and experiences, the women carried themselves with so much pride and strength. This was a surprising and pleasant difference from our previous meetings where the people were more shy and reserved. This meeting was lead by the women. They walked us through the challenges the co-op was facing as well as their vision and hopes to better Femme Chermaitre operations. After discussing among themselves, the women collectively decided on new changes and plans we proposed for the co-op.

We showed the women our video of Femme Chermaitre with footages from our last year’s meeting with them. We were filled with joy to see their smiles as they saw themselves the way we see them. From a certain point of view, these women have nothing, no riches, for most of them not even decent education. But from our point of view, they are the richest people. Their wealth comes from their pride (in themselves, their children, Chermaitre) as well as their kindness, love and care for the community. These women took responsibility upon themselves to work hard, create a business, support their families and Chermaitre. We’re in awe of their motivation and incredible strength. These beautiful women of Femme Chermaitre inspire and empower us everyday to continue the important work we do with the Vassar Haiti Project and also give us strength and faith to pursue our own dreams of caring for the world.