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| September 5, 2008 |
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Christmas ornaments are ‘just’ businessWomen in Haiti learn and earn through a jubilee year fair–trade project sponsored by diocesan social agencies. 
Women in Bombardopolis, Port-de-Paix, embroider designs on fabrics used for making Christmas ornaments. The women do their work outside because they have no electricity. Ornaments are still available for purchase by calling, 305-762-1226. MIAMI | Veronike Verne and her co-workers in Port-de-Paix, Haiti, couldn’t believe it. How could people pay $10 for one of their embroideries? That was the Haitian women’s first reaction when they were asked to participate in a jubilee year fair-trade project co-sponsored by the lay missionary group, Amor en Acción (Love in Action), Catholic Charities’ Office of Social Advocacy and St. Thomas University. 
COURTESY | AMOR EN ACCIÓN “We wanted to come up with a commemorative item for the 50th anniversary of the archdiocese, something that had meaning and that would strengthen the relationship with our sister diocese,” said Teresita González, executive director of Amor en Acción. The jubilee fair-trade project was created as a way to generate a steady income for the Haitian women, promote their crafts and create a sentiment of solidarity between the archdiocese and its sister diocese of Port-de-Paix, the poorest diocese in the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. “The product had to be easy and fast to produce and it was very important for us to spread the work and its benefits throughout the diocese,” said González. The details of the project were finalized in August 2007 and that same month the women in Haiti went to work. They would produce 3,500 handmade Christmas ornaments embroidered with different Nativity scenes in the front and the jubilee logo stitched to the back. Once finished, the ornaments were to be distributed to parishes of the archdiocese and sold at $10 each. “The women had been learning these techniques for three years in shops run by religious sisters and couldn’t work for lack of buyers,” said Monica Santos, mission coordinator for Amor en Acción. The first batch of ornaments arrived in Miami in October and the rest in November, just in time for Christmas. “At the beginning we had trouble selling the ornaments because some people found them expensive, but this is the only way we can pay these women a just wage,” said González. Each woman earned between $5 and $6 per ornament, with some of them making as much as $600 from the project. The rest of the profits went to buy materials, and improve and maintain the shops where they work. “They were so efficient and dedicated, they didn’t let their situation affect their work,” said Santos. “Most of them have to walk four hours each day to get to the shop.” The project was more than a source of income: It provided the women with a shot of self-esteem and pride. “They realized that people care about them, worry about them and love them,” said Santos, who traveled to Haiti in January and saw the positive results of the project. “They are excited and hopeful that they will get more work, and feel useful because they are providing for their families.” Most of the women who work in the shops are single mothers or young women who are responsible for their orphaned siblings. “They had plans for the money they were going to make. Some were going to send the kids to school, repair or rebuild their houses and even set up a stand in the local market,” said Luis Barzana, an Amor en Acción volunteer. One of the women wanted to use the money to install doors in her house, but had to use it to bury her husband instead. “These women have a harsh reality and the purpose of the project was to instill a sentiment of social advocacy in our society. We as consumers have options and what better option than to buy something that has life and that will give life to another person?” González said. “This project is very meaningful. It is a project of mutual partnership and solidarity. This is not a charity. It is a collaboration to help them put an end to the cycle of poverty,” said Anthony Vinciguerra, director of the Center for Justice and Peace, which is part of St. Thomas University’s School of Theology and Ministry. “We don’t want them to depend of our charity, but to become independent through their work.” Making the ornamentsThese are the steps involved in making the Christmas ornaments that were sold in the archdiocese for the jubilee fair trade project: • Hand wash the fabric Leal writes for La Voz Católica, the Spanish-language monthly newspaper of the archdiocese.
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