We experienced an earthquake here in San Francisco the other day. It rattled the building, shook our desks and made the rafters squeak. It was over in a matter of seconds. No harm done. We all went on with our day. Or in my case I jumped on Twitter to see if any of my other SF twitter friends felt it. The earthquake was recorded as a 4.1 and it's epicenter was somewhere near San Jose.
By the next morning it was old news.
This was not the case for the poor people in Haiti. On January 12, 2010, their world literally crumbled in a matter of 30 seconds.
The people that live in San Francisco can relate to the horror and damage that an earthquake creates - - more than most people. Many people here experienced the horrible earthquake that occurred in 1989. It was recorded as a 7.1. You should hear the stories.
But nothing can compare to what happened in Haiti. The 7.0 earthquake created so much destruction that it will take years to rebuild. 230,000 people were killed and 1.3 million people were left homeless.
Fortunately, there are a lot of people out there that really care. People like Sean Penn and Willa Shalit (daughter of Gene Shalit.) They are using their star power, connections, and rolling up their sleeves to help raise money and rebuild Haiti.
Sean Penn is the leader of a 55,000 person refugee camp. He's been there a year living in a tent. Amazing. You can see photos here. That's dedication.
Willa Shalit has a company called Fair Winds Trading Company that she created years ago to help artisans in Rwanda and now Haiti support themselves. She imports their goods and pays fair wages. Which has tremendous economic impact. Because when a country crumbles, so do the jobs. You can read more about her on Oprah's site. She's known as the woman who makes shopping meaningful. That's my kind of girl.
So what can we do to help? Shop, of course!
Lucky for you (and me) Willa Shalit has partnered with the very smart and generous people at Macy's. Together they created a program called The Heart of Haiti. They partnered with artists in Haiti and in a matter of three weeks designed a group of home accessories and jewelry that range in price from $10 to $275 to sell in store and on the website.
You can purchase a one-of-a-kind beautiful piece of art from a Haitian artist. Proceeds from the Heart of Haiti art collection will help provide better nutrition, improved education and health care - life-changing resources for the artists and their families.
Here is a sampling of what is available. Click HERE to see the entire collection. And to start shopping of course!
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| Heart of Haiti Mirror, Made from the steel of recycled barrels, $75 |
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| Blasé Emelien, age 29 artist |
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| Heart of Haiti Bowl, Watermelon. Made of papier-mache, 9" x 5", $16 |
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| Heart of Haiti Candle Holder, Coral Hurricane, 9.5" $60 |
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| Heart of Haiti Tray, Small Feast of the Sea, 18.5" $35 |
I was selected for this very special "CleverHaiti" opportunity by Clever Girls Collective which endorses Blog with Integrity. All opinions are my own.
Very thoughtful blog Kris! I was reading about Haiti the other night and still cannot believe how little progress has been made there since that earthquake. So sad. I think I might have to do a little Haiti shopping today :)
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