The Daughters of Charity prepare Haitian women for business ventures.
There are 120 sewing stations at the Daughters of Charity compound in Citè Soleil, Haiti, buzzing with colorful fabrics. Women who live in this ultra-poor neighborhood pay 75 cents daily for access to supplies and sewing machines so they can clothe their children and make products to sell as street vendors. Nearby, women sit on folding chairs arranged in circles performing delicate embroidery on
The Daughters have been teaching Haitian women to sew and embroider for nearly 40 years.
Now, the Vincentian Family Haiti Initiative (VFHI) is launching a for-profit business that creates an opportunity for the women to improve their circumstances.
The VFHI is currently matching all donations on Zafèn to help get the business up and running. The goal is to raise $50,000.
The women will work in a clean, safe environment and receive a hot meal every day they work. The business is designed to share income with the workers and support much more than Haiti’s
$5-a-day minimum wage, all while introducing the women to the professional business world.
“The women I have met in the Daughters sewing shop are highly skilled,” says Regine Theodat, national director of the VFHI. “The back of their embroidery looks as beautiful as the front.”
Women from the Daughters’ shop will be invited to contract their services to the new business. Their first project is to embroider about 167 flags for government buildings to celebrate Haitian Flag Day. It is an order placed by three Haitian Diaspora organizations who hope to generate national pride when flags fly above small municipal buildings across the entire country, not just in Port-au-Prince.
Theodat is seeking to hire an international business development and marketing specialist to secure orders and expand the new business beyond the initial workers.
If you have a potential job for these women, such as school uniforms, hand-made products for fundraisers, embroidered linens, embellished notecards or other products, please contact Theodat at regine.theodat@gmail.com.
Support a business to employ Haitian women the Daughters of Charity taught to sew
Tags: Daughters of Charity, Haiti, Matching grant, Zafen
