And then there were nine… GROCKISANZ pt. 3

It’s been a few MONTHS since my last post… and a LOT has happened. We now have 9 artisans (Grockisanz: glass and rock jewelry makers) who are working hard and producing some new, beautiful jewels. Biju Ayiti (Haiti’s Jewels) has four new talented artisans:

Johnny: Wilnes’ twin brotha-from-anotha-motha

Johnny is about 6’7″, as skinny as a bean pole and has a smile that is two times too big for his face. Alice in Wonderland’s Cheshire Cat aspires to Johnny’s smile, which stretches beyond the confines of his face. Wilnes taught Johnny everything he knows. They both have young children and wives to care for; they work with vigor and incredible attitudes. Last month, when he began working and earned his first paycheck, he almost seemed surprised that he was being paid to work. As we were walking down the mountain he whispered, “Thanks.” I whipped my head around macro-fast and said, “You worked hard, you earned this!” He smiled until corners of his mouth kissed his ears and said, “Yeah, you just wait, I’m going to make a bunch of zanno, yo (earrings).”

Vanessa: Ti Blag

Vanessa taught me perhaps the most important word in my Haitian vocabulary, Blag (comedian, joker, goof-off, silly kid). I’ve never had side-splitting laughs anywhere in the world like I’ve had in Haiti. In a place that’s so… (okay let’s be honest)… desolate. Perhaps Haitians must compensate with laughter. Vanessa is one of these blags, almost everything that passes through her lips is either uncontrollable giggles or words aimed making the entire team of artisans fall off their chairs laughing. I’m honestly becoming concerned that she’s an artisan just for the sake of hanging out! Should that be the case, however, I don’t think it would be a real problem. We all need some hearty laughter in this life. Vanessa quickly adapts to any challenge and has participated in making and designing some beautiful rock jewelry. March on ti blag, you bring us laughter!

Robenson: Donald’s Twin

Towards the beginning of March and I was sitting with Donald, showing him how to make double tier glass earrings, he had just wrapped his first pair perfectly when I saw a shadow pass in front of the light coming in the door. I looked up and all the blood drained from my face, because standing five yards away from my was Donald, the same spitting image of the Donald right in front of me. I stared for a few seconds and then turned my eyes over to the boy standing in front of me.”Donald,” I asked, “Why is there a Donald clone standing over there?”

He laughed.

“That is my brother, Robenson, most people think we are twins (marasa).” Donald said, introducing his brother. Robenson took a few steps closer and I began to notice small differences between them, thankful that they wouldn’t pull a parent trap on me! He sat down and before I even had time to protest he had wrapped a pair of perfectly matched earrings.

“What…How? Where did you learn to do that?” I asked, completely shocked.

“I’ve been watching my little brother do this every night for the past 3 weeks, I should know a thing or two.” He said, smugly.

“You’re hired,” I said.

Robenson is a reliable worker. He’s still in school but spends an hour or two working on jewelry every night and creates between 10 and 15 pairs daily. More than enough to save up for important things like university and school necessities.

Michel Ange: Girl Power

There is a movement, growing in developing countries and non profits, of investing in women. The female race is vogue right now. It’s cool to hire women, it’s cool for women to be in power, and it’s not so cool to hire mostly men… especially for a jewelry business. So, despite the fact that I care very little about what’s “in” or “out,” I can’t help agreeing that employing women is a fantastic thing to do, especially in Haiti.

I had expressed this desire to Megan and within a few days she recommended Michel Ange. She’s the mother of a kindergartner in the Respire School and had come to Megan looking for a job. Respire (Megan’s org.) already employs half of Gressier so there really wasn’t a convenient job for her working at the house or school. Megan instantly mentioned her and said that she didn’t have a lot of confidence but has made an effort to search out work. Michel Ange came over the next day, she is a curvaceous woman with a high pitched voice and very little confidence. When I tried to give her a hand shake she touched my hand lightly and didn’t make eye contact. I invited her to come to class the next day and she showed up at 4:00 sharp, unlike all of the other artisans who are continually between 30 minutes and an hour late. I was delighted to have time with her to work specifically on what she could do. Boy, could she DO! She made a rock bracelet in 30 minutes and then demanded that I give her another project. A few weeks ago, before I left for the states, I taught her how to make glass earrings and she has been working with Victor Richard regularly to improve. Out of all of the artisans, I expected the least from her. I suppose this is God’s way of redefining my first impressions.

I was in the states for a few weeks to renew my passport and donate my head to a friend’s hair dying competition… random, eh? I’ve only been back in Gressier for a few weeks.

I would like to send a shout out to my new hero, Bonnie Kate. She was an intern at Respire this spring and essentially MANAGED Haiti’s Jewels while I was away. Despite health problems, starting a bakery, babysitting, and saving the world, she has been an invaluable addition to our team. She takes inventory with Chrismate every week, communicates with the stateside team, and meets with the artisans to give new assignments and fill them in on new orders. She recently had to go home due to some undiagnosed health problems and she is greatly missed. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers because we can’t wait to have her back again. As a Haitian would say, Big thanks “BONNIE CAKE!” We love you!

GROCKISANS

Grockisans: Artisans, particularly Haitians involved in Haiti’s Jewels, who use rocks and recycled broken glass bottles as their premiere artistic medium.

I can’t tell you how proud I am to begin to introduce them to you. For simplicity, I will translate our conversations into english.

Madame Vil Franch: Queen of the Recycled Plastic Feathers

(woah. that’s a great movie title) ^

The first week I was in Gressier, in early February, I was walking home from visiting one of the students in Bellevue when a woman shouted out to me from her front step, “Yo, white girl, do you have a little gift for me?”

This was nothing new. I sighed and said, for maybe the fourth time that day, “What do you think I have to give you? What would you even want that gift to be?”

She laughed and my spirits were lifted a bit “White girl, you know I’m just joking- but if you still want to give me something, I trust your judgement”

and wham. Just like that, we became buds. She offered me a chair and we sat on her front step talking about life for the next two hours. I had to make her repeat herself all the time, as my creole is still cave-man-esque, but it became very clear to me in those hours why I loved Ayiti Cherie so much. We talked until the sun went down and the rain began to fall and I still didn’t really want to leave. She was such a bro. Madame Vil France, has five children, a husband who’s no longer around, and strong desire to work. “Sitting is no thing to do in Haiti,” she told me, “no matter how hot it is, we almost all want a job.” Madame Vil sends her five children to school everyday, three go to Carrefour (10 miles to the east) and two go to Leogane (10 miles to the west, and the epicenter of 2010 earthquake). This woman, with next to no income, spends every dime she gets on her children’s education. She is empowering herself and her children and investing in the future. I’d be crazy not to invest in her!

The next day, after visiting another Ti Moun at the Bellevue school, I stopped in again and invited her to come to a little jewelry class up at the school. Madame was the only one, out of the four parents I invited, who showed up. She wanted this, I could tell. I struggled, at first, to find jewelry that she could do well despite her shaky hands. I really wanted to find something that could be her specialty, her territory.

Plastic Feathers. What? Yes. 

They’re really quite simple to make but quite time consuming and require someone with gentle hands and patience. This was Madame Vil.

In two days she made 150 feathers and discovered beautiful red bottles to make HIV awareness earrings with red feathers. I’m very excited about the future with Madame Queen of Feathers.

Wilnes Pierre: Rock Extravaganza 

I first met Wilnes when he came into our jewelry class and invaded three of my most sacred pet peeves: he stood right over my shoulder, breathed down my neck, and blocked 90 % of my light. After about 15 seconds I whipped my head around and said, “Do you want to SIT down?” He laughed and grabbed the chair right next to me saying, “That looks fun.” I welcomed the idea of a new student and handed him a tool set. Wilnes didn’t even need me to show him how to wrap a rock. Those 15 seconds of standing over my shoulder were enough. He wrapped the little white stone and then started making spacer beads with the scraps of wire. WHO IS THIS DUDE? He’s Wilnes. And he’s our official rock wrapper. He’s got a tiny baby and is engaged to be married this month. He gave me a wedding invitation the day after he met me. We have a line of rock bracelets and necklaces that is operated by him.

Donald King of the Zanno.

(Zanno is the Creole word for Earring).

Donald is a 17 year old boy who walked into class two weeks ago and asked to try making earrings. I showed him a couple pairs of glass earrings and he quickly and easily recreated them. Donald is in 11th grade and lives for education and the dream of studying in the states. Unfortunately his English is horrendous and he knows it! We practice English every day at 4 o’clock while we make earrings and learn new techniques. He’s really good at making earrings. In two weeks he has made over thirty pairs of glass earrings in class alone. I normally factor in two weeks for training alone, but Donald is the king.

Last wednesday I handed him an envelope of cash to pay him for the beautiful earrings he had made. Donald opened the envelope, peeked inside, and then handed it back to me saying, “I didn’t think we were getting paid for this! I just wanted to learn to make jewelry! If you give me cash like this, I will only spend it on things I don’t really need. What I need is to study in the states”

I was stunned. What? Who turns down cash? After 20 minutes of convincing him that he would eventually need money if/when he went to the states and that saving for university, whether in Haiti or in the US, was a smart idea, he finally agreed that we should create an account so that he can save up all the money he gets from jewelry making and not spend it until there is something truly important for his funds. He’s a smart kid.

So there, you’ve met them… the TREMENDOUS THREE!

I feel so unbelievably shocked and proud to know these three talented, diverse people. It was certainly not me who discovered them, yet somehow we all found each other. I’m so grateful for how quick, simple, and… beautiful this process has been. I was expecting to spend three months looking Grockisanz… But within two weeks we have three superstars! It’s DIVINE.