So, last Saturday, I had the opportunity to chat with a new friend who moved from Haiti to the United States when he was 11. We were talking about Haiti, about jobs, about the Hurricane, about whether charity organizations help or hurt, you know, typical chit chat, small talk kind of stuff.

So, not really. He said that he remembers being there in 1994 when the US had basically taken over Haiti (a story for another day) and he lived across the street from one of the major military installations. He said it was the most amazing thing.   What was?

Not that they felt safer because all of the US military were there. No, because the US military hired people all around them to do all sorts of things – cook, clean, wash trucks, sweep driveways and many other things. Suddenly, unemployment in that relatively small area dropped from over half to zero. That’s right, anyone in that area that wanted a job could get a job.

And then what happened? As unemployment dropped……

• Crime dropped to almost zero.
• Sickness, especially due to water-borne diseases dropped.
• Attendance in school increased.
• Everyone got along much better

And the list could go on and on.

Was his point that the US military was such a wonderful thing to have there? I think he would say and history would show that it wasn’t one of the US’s finest hours to essentially invade Haiti and install the dictator of their choice.

No, his point was jobs. Everyone in their area, in their little corner of the world, had jobs.

They made money.

They could pay to make their house livable.

They could send their kids to school.

They could feel good about themselves and their future.

Having a job changes everything. It changed everything for that neighborhood.

It changes everything for the artisans that The Apparent Project supports.

It changes everything for the AP kids.

So, when you make a donation to support either the Day Care or Preschool or when you buy Apparent Project jewelry, you are helping change everything.

One person at a time.

If you’d like to donate to the daycare and preschool – go to https://apparentproject.org/donate/ and select DayCare as the option.

Supporting the daycare and preschool helps our artisans while they work and that changes everything.

Thanks in advance for helping change everything……