Sandal Delivery to Orphanage

Yesterday when we arrived in Haiti we were hounded by men wanting to help us with our bags, even after a constant refusal of services ,they then held the handle of our luggage with us all the way until we reached Julie and our ride, where they insisted that we pay them and held on to the car while we drove away. 

Leaving the Port-au-Prince airport

We went straight to the RG shop where the artisans make the sandals. We spent a couple hours getting to know the artisans and understanding the sandal making process. We immediately saw the challenges the artisans take working in such hot cramped conditions. Julie had an impromptu meeting because RG partner Sogucedes, who are responsible for making the macramé sandal strap, showed up without notice, which I'm finding is very common. Julie spent two hours attempting to explain that RG need to decrease the cost of the strap while maintaining livable wages for the students that make the straps. It was very difficult to communicate the specific needs because she could not speak directly to the head of Sogucedes, an interpreter was used to translate into Creole. Although RG has a great relationship with Sogucedes, there's always a question in what is being communicated. 

The day got much better when we were rewarded by taking the sandals that were custom made for each child to a local orphanage that has close ties with RG. When we immediately walked into the orphanage all eyes were on the 5 white Americans. It was amazing to see how easy it is to communicate with kids with hugs and kisses and high fives, the language barrier was broken. We handed out the sandals and each child was ecstatic to have a pair of shoes made just for them, where as before they had no shoes.  When it was time to leave the orphanage,  the one year old that Julie was holding started to cry hysterically when Julie tried to hand her off to the workers at the orphanage. 

Upon leaving we realized our ride had left, we walked part of the way home and for the other part we got to experience our first ride in a tap tap. A truck converted as a taxi which consists of railings to hold you in and a low hanging top which inhibits you from viewing your route, or even where to get off at. After a short ride we made it  to the new land which Julie cannot be more proud of how partnerships she has been working on have come together. She gave us a quick tour of her shipping container converted bed room and where she plans to build to new large RG shop. Then it was time to quickly head over to the hotel, because Junior and his older brother were waiting to meet with Julie. Junior and his brother make woven bags out of spaghetti packing which has enabled them to move their family out of a tent into an apartment. However RG has only been able to sell one of the boys bags out of the many bought by RG, so it was time to again let them know that we could not continue to do business with the until they alter their design and lower the price. Again, like Sogucedes everything came down to price; RG is struggling to operate with such high material cost and maintain decent salaries for their workers. This was another uncomfortable conversion because we know that if RG, their only source of income,  cannot sell their bags then, RG cannot continue to buy them which would put an end to the boys and their only source of income for their families.