The necklaces will be given for a minimum $25 dollar donation. It’s a
great gift and every bit of the money you give goes toward bringing
beauty from the ashes! People will also ask about your necklace because
it is so unique and that gives us all the chance to keep Haiti active in
conversations among your communities.
Shortly
after returning from a trip to Haiti in mid-2010, Kelly brought me a
piece of rubble. It was from the destroyed neighborhood where Lovencia
(who Kelly is adopting) used to live. I took this piece of rubble and
turned it into a sun-catcher and gave it to Kelly as a gift.
Kelly-being-Kelly, wore the
sun-catcher around her neck. Next thing you know people were constantly
asking her, “What is that?”. As she explained to people where the
necklace came from, conversations about Haiti grew within her circle of
friends and among strangers. Bobbie, who also had also picked up rubble
from Lovencia's neighborhood, soon requested that her piece be turned
into a necklace as well. Of course I was glad to do it! She started
sharing stories from Haiti with her co-workers, friends and strangers
who became intrigued with her necklace. People were not only asking
about the significance of these necklaces, but were also interested in
how they could have one of their own. Long story short, that first
sun-catcher-turned-necklace evolved into the idea of making jewelry out
of rubble.
Hence, the birth of “Rubble-Wear”.
The next thing you know, we
were asking our friends at Maison orphanage to send us a suitcase full
of rubble from their streets so we could make jewelry. We heard later
that they laughed and said that Kelly must be crazy! Pierre, the
director of Maison, visited the states in December 2010, and delivered
the rubble filled suitcase to us. I began to train our local community
of inner city single mothers, volunteers, friends and family to make the
jewelry. Two months later, I was on a plane to Port au Prince to train
the caretakers of Maison Orphanage on how to do the same.
When I first got to Haiti
it immediately became clear that I would not be able to teach everyone
all of the skills they needed to know in the short time that I had
there. Most of these ladies had never even held pliers before, much
less considered making jewelry. I had to quickly determine who had
natural skill and who I could train to later train the other nannies.
By the end of the second day I knew who that would be - Glorieuse.
 |
| Kelly |
While I was teaching I had
an excellent translator, but communication was still a challenge. This
is another reason why I picked Glorieuse. She and I seemed to click on a
deeper level and we responded exceptionally to each other
non-verbally. I could touch her hand or re-position a tool and she
would totally understand. She was a very quick, willing and skilled
student. I left Haiti hoping she would be able to teach the others and
keep working. Glorieuse proved to be a very diligent and faithful
worker. She trusted us even though not all of the financial details
were worked out. Even when others thought she was foolish for continuing
she kept working.
It has been an amazing process to help empower another person and see hope return to their heart. Leadership is a new role for Glorieuse, but I strongly believe in her and her ability, vision and perseverance. I greatly treasure her trust in us as we continue to work out the many details for the growth and success of Rubble-Wear.
Rubble-Wear has so much potential. Our dream is that it would initially help sustain the nannies' jobs at Maison Orphanage, which are endangered due to the financial hit and long term devastation of the earthquake. The next step would be to provide special grants to help the caretakers with their number one desire - schooling for their kids. Our ultimate long term goal is to build an apartment complex for the nannies and their families on the orphanage's new property.
My heart is to keep hope alive in these precious women of Maison and to bring some sustainability to their lives. I believe that Rubble-Wear can do that, but we have a long way to go to make this happen. This is where YOU can enter the Rubble-Wear story. By purchasing these unique pieces of handmade jewelry, you have the opportunity to be an advocate for our Haitian friends.
