Handiwork

The Apparent Project is a non-profit organization whose goal is to create work for Haitian parents so that families can stay together and children can grow up at home rather than in orphanages or domestic servitude.  The ways that the Apparent Project supports families is by employing artisans and selling their beautiful handiwork in their shops in Port au Prince and in the States.

This week we took the girls from the children's home to the Apparent Project.  Like many young girls, they thoroughly enjoy the opportunity to go shopping and admire beautiful things.  Each of the girls was able to buy something special (using money from donations from friends back home.)  Although the purchases were small items, jewelry and notebooks and hair ties, the experience was invaluable. The girls were so happy just to be out and about. When we arrived, they were full of exclamations about the beauty of the art they were seeing.

A sweet moment was when we saw a collection of crafts and artwork from Jubilee.  Very similar to the Apparent Project, 2nd Story Goods, is actually run by a missionary who is familiar to many of the girls who were born and raised in Jubilee.  There was a sweet sense of pride and excitement when they saw beauty coming from their hometown.

It was an afternoon of fun and laughter and beauty.  Beauty found in precious girls who are able to enjoy simple delights.  Beauty found in moments of lightness in lives that are often filled with burden and hardship.  Beauty found in creativity and handiwork... the handiwork of mothers and fathers who are able to keep their families together by mirroring their Creator and forming beauty with their own hands.  

Much love in Christ, Jessie