Benoit's Highlights
Hi WORK Family and Friends,
This is Benoit. It’s good to be able to address you today. I just spent the last 2 months in Les Cayes supporting our earthquake response efforts. Thanks to your support, all emergency needs have been addressed. Over the next few months, we have a construction team focusing on completing all repairs of homes and building new homes for those who need it. I will share updates from our team soon!
Since being back in Port-au-Prince, I’ve visited with our families to check in on the progress they are making. The insecurity in the country continues to weigh heavily on everyone’s minds and we spent our last Monthly Family Meeting discussing it. As the school year just started, they’re especially worried about sending their kids to school. This includes the group of kids in the photo below. Together, we’re launching a new school tap tap service that will allow our kids to travel to school together and create new jobs in the community.
Collectively, we believe the best thing we can do for ourselves during this time is to continue to move forward. I’m proud to see our families do that. This month, we started our new cohort of Life Skills Training for 24 parents who are ready to develop the skill sets to manage their households and prepare for job training. This is our biggest cohort to date and we are so excited for it! We start with household budgeting and move to topics such as planning ahead, decision making, communications, conflict resolution, and more. Our instructors Armelie and Keslin completed a skill-based assessment before the start of the program to make sure we’re properly addressing everyone’s needs.
When our families complete our Life Skills Training, they can advance into our Small Business Program (a longer, business prototyping and investment program) or our Small Business Accelerator (for those who are ready for investments for their businesses with minimal support). I had a chance to check in on two of our family members who are in our SBP and our SBA programs, respectively.
Here I am with Gertha. She was inspired by seeing others go through the program and start their own business that she wanted to do the same. She previously worked at a factory manufacturing clothes that unfortunately underwent a layoff. She was also looking for an opportunity that would enable her to make a living income.
When I asked what she enjoyed most about SBP, she said “this program will allow me to plan better, to create a budget and allow me to start my new business. My goal is to have a small depot. I plan to sell cooking oil and I project I will profit $80 USD every 2 weeks. I will then reinvest in my business to sell more essential items that my community needs. This is a good start for me. I am truly grateful for that and together I feel I will be able to achieve my goal of financial independence.”
Next, I met with Marilia who’s a seamstress for the community. She’s in our Accelerator program to grow her business by being able to purchase supplies in bulk and expand her made-to-order model to a retail model. Her husband Clarel will work with her to source materials. The couple is very excited to grow the business together.
We also have a younger family member named Silianese who’s interested in learning to sew and we’ve asked Marilia if she’d be interested in being a mentor for her. Lucky for us, she said yes. The two will attend a sewing course together and Silianese will practice with Marilia and learn from her to build a business that allows her to take care of her family.
Despite a difficult time, our families have bright futures ahead. I am proud to see how hard they are working towards their goals. I will share more updates with you during our annual gala this year. Please accept my invitation to Bright Futures, which will take place from November 29th to December 6th. I hope to see you then.
Benoit
Engagement Manager