Vassar Haiti Project

Christine recounts her meeting with the Women’s Co-op in Chermaitre, Haiti:

The meeting with the women’s co-op was invigorating. We opened the meeting with the women singing to us and bringing us into their community. As we delved into the meeting, it was clear this was not a soft-spoken group of people. There was an exuberant atmosphere as the women shared their thoughts on all of the positives and negatives about the work they were doing. Udbhav and I worked with Pere Wildaine to narrow in on exactly what we could do to improve their working experience and how they could expand their market and the products they sold. We discussed several possibilities about general adjustments to their daily experience, such as establishing a literacy class for the women and introducing baking as a skill the women could learn, with the hope of eventually opening a local bakery. To conclude the meeting we distributed Lucy Lights to each of the women to use in their homes and took pictures. I left the meeting feeling incredibly inspired by the women and all they have been able to accomplish and appreciative that I got a chance to spend even a small amount of time with them.