Verrettes nan Pos

Early next day we set off for our final visit to an extremely remote community, Verrettes nan Pos where ITECA is helping women market handicrafts and giving training in business management and community organisation. As we drove up the twisting, steep, stony road into the hills we passed women making their way to market, laden with their produce. I later discovered that these women and girls were making a 20 mile round trip to the market twice a week.

By making a range of handicrafts, the women in this community have been able to increase their incomes. Working together they have been able to share the cost of materials and take turns transporting their goods to market. They have discovered that they can sell certain products at a better price in certain months and are now developing a marketing strategy so that they can take advantage of this and make as much money as possible.

One of the women told me that they are not competing with each other now but cooperating. By setting up a group fund which they all contribute to, they are now able to help if there is a medical emergency in one of the families. At the end of the meeting, we joined the community for a traditional meal of rice, beans, goat and plantain.

And as we left the community we met the women returning from the market, carrying rice and other products up the steep winding path to their homes. The journey these women make requires a lot of determination, something which they have no shortage of. SCIAF’s support allows them to meet their everyday needs and, through ITECA’s training in community organisation and human rights, helps them to achieve lasting change that will improve the lives of their children in years to come.

I left ITECA that night with a far better understanding of the difficulties that women in Haiti face on a day to day basis.