Women’s Empowerment Sponsorship

Women’s Empowerment Sponsorship

The goal for our program is to help Haitian families stay together, through empowering mothers through job creation.

The goal for the Women’s Empowerment programs: Zel Haiti and the Microloan programs are to create dignified jobs for Haitian women so that they are able to provide for their families.

Zel Haiti (formerly Ila Joi) was born out of the idea that skill development and employment addresses the needs of families before they are at the point of desperation, driven to give their children to an orphanage because of extreme poverty. The program started in 2012 with mothers who came to relinquish the rights to their children simply because they could not afford to feed them. In 2015, we added our seamstress portion and in 2018 we began our microloan program. We currently employ 9 seamstresses, 4 artisans, 2 auxiliary staff and 3 different managers. Our seamstresses and artisans work hard to create medical scrubs, yoga mat bags and other home goods while the artisans create jewelry and ornaments out of recycled materials. Zel Haiti believes in paying fair, living wages. With their wages, the staff have been able to put food on their tables, pay for school for themselves and their children and pay rent or build a house. For many of them, these were just pipe dreams prior to being employed at Zel Haiti.

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However, this is a business and a start-up business needs investors. We are currently searching for investors who can commit either $30/month or $360/year. When an investor commits, we will pair them with one of our Zel ladies. They have each agreed to welcome you into their homes and into their lives. They are excited that investors care about THEM and want to receive updates on their lives. We are also excited to offer special discounts to those who choose to invest in this business.

Would you consider supporting this wonderful program?

Women's Empowerment Sponsorship

Meet The Staff

Please meet each of the women below and consider how your investment will not only change their lives but the lives of the future generation of Haiti.

Rosela

Rosela is the product manager for Zel Haiti. She has worked for Zel Haiti since 2017. She came to us as a skilled seamstress already and is a clear leader amongst the women. She is a mother to 4 kids: 3 of which still live with her at home. Rosela’s dream is that her job with Zel Haiti will be able to support her 4 children to attend the university or a trade school. She wants to provide a different life for them than what she had.

Elimene

Elimene has been working for Zel Haiti since the beginning in 2015. She has 5 beautiful children and one grandchild. Most of her children are grown adults, although her youngest has severe special needs as a result of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. Elimene says she is grateful for the job at Zel because it allows her to meet the needs of all her children, especially the medical needs of her youngest.

Patricia

Patricia is one of the more skilled seamstresses working for Zel Haiti. She has attended professional sewing school as well as pattern making school. She has been working for Zel since 2018. She is a mother to 3 beautiful daughters, all of which live at home with her. With this job, she has been able to afford to finish her professional training school and begin saving so that her oldest daughter can attend the university.

Rose Marie

Rose Marie has been working for Zel Haiti since 2017. She is a leader among the women. She is a mom of 4 kids and also has 3 other children who she adopted when they were young after the death of their parents. It is hard to find a space for 9 people to live under one roof but through her employment with Zel Haiti, she is able to pay to rent a house large enough for them all. Her dream is to save enough money to purchase a piece of property and begin building a house.

Adeline

Adeline began working with Zel when we hired our first seamstresses to expand the program in 2015. She is a single mom to 5 children. Her story is one of the reasons we began this program – because she was on the brink of needing to place her children in an orphanage. At the time, 3 of her children were living with relatives because Adeline could not support them herself. They are now happily living as a family of 6, all under one roof. Adeline is now able to afford to pay for the education of her children, thanks to her job with Zel.

Valentine

Valentine brings a joy and personality to Zel that was lacking prior to her employment here. She has been working with us since 2017. She has said that she has noticed an improvement in her parenting because this job has given her the opportunity to know that she is creating a different life for her kids. She is the mother to 2 handsome boys plus has another child in her care. Valentine was a teacher prior to working for Zel but due to the deplorable situation in the country, she wasn’t paid for her work and had to seek out new employment.

Denise

Denise was also one of the original seamstresses when we started this program in 2015. Denise is the mother to 3 children plus has one grandchild she helps support! Denise has expressed the dream of being able to afford to put her children through the university. Prior to beginning this job, she could barely afford to put food on their table – being able to afford a university education for her kids felt impossible. Zel Haiti has made that dream a possibility!

Rosemene

Rosemene has grown leaps and bounds in skills since she began sewing in 2018 – she even won employee of the year in 2021! Rosemene has said she was humiliated to return home each day prior to working for Zel because others judged her for not being able to provide for her family. Now, she says she has dignity to face them because she provides school, food and housing for her entire family. She has 4 children ranging from 22 years old to 5 years old and she is responsible for her younger sister too. Rosemene’s oldest daughter dreams of becoming a civil engineer – something that is only a possibility through Rosemene’s job at Zel Haiti.

Matina

Matina has a 2nd grade education. When she reached the 2nd grade, her family could no longer afford to send her to school so she dropped out and helped her mom at home. Matina is a perfect example of why Zel Haiti exists. Prior to working for Zel, Matina weighed only 90lbs and all of her children were underweight. Her family was placed in the C4C feeding program but it was recognized that more needed to happen for her family to thrive. Matina has been working for Zel since 2017. When Matina started, she wasn’t even able to write her name and she is now able to not only do that, but also sew a completed product that is of great quality.

Daniel

Daniel is a very talented young man who has been working as an artisan since 2013. Daniel is the youngest of 11 children and his family often struggled to feed so many children. Many of his older siblings worked for Chances for Children in various departments so when Daniel was only 16 years old, he began working for what was formerly Ila Joi (now, Zel Haiti). Daniel brings immense amounts of skill to our group. Daniel shares that his dream is to be able to attend the university and help support his aging father.

Sylvio

Sylvio has been making beautiful jewelry and ornaments with Zel Haiti (formerly Ila Joi) since 2016. He is the youngest of 8 children and began working as an artisan when his older sister left the country. He filled her position and has become and irreplacable part of our team! Sylvio is not only supporting himself through his employment, but also his mother who is widowed. Sylvio enjoys getting to design and experiment with new products.

Carmitha

Carmitha is a sweet woman who is eager to work hard. She was previously married but unforunatley her husband died unexpectedly before they were able to have children, leaving her a widow at 28 years old. Carmitha has been committed to her work with Zel Haiti (formerly Ila Joi) since 2013. She says her favorite part of the job, besides being able to support herself and her young niece, is taking recycled boxes and making beautiful jewelry out of them. Carmitha is so full of joy and it is evident in the work that she produces.

Chrislande

Chrislande is a single mother to an adorable little boy. Chrislande started working in this program in 2013 when she was only 18 years old. Chrislande was forced to drop out of school when she was in 9th grade due to her family’s inability to pay for her to continue in school. She shares that her biggest goal is to be able to afford to send her son through the University – giving him a different life than she had!

Johnny

Johnny began working for our Women’s Empowerment program in 2021 when we launched our Kenscoff Microloan program. He has been one of the pastors of the main church site in Kenscoff for a few years. He just recently graduated from the University in Haiti with a bachelors in business administration. He has successfully led the first round of microloans in Kenscoff and will continue to lead more rounds in the future.

Charlemont

Charlemont is a pastor of a church in Gonaives, Haiti. He began leading the first round of microloan recipients in Gonaives in 2018. Pastor Charlemont is married with 2 children of his own and 2 of his nieces who live with him as well. He has become an integral part of our team as we have grown the microloan program in the Artibonite department of Haiti.

Sponsorship Plans

Plan A

$30/month ongoing investment will allow Zel Haiti and our Women’s Empowerment programs to continue to pay fair and living wages as well as give out more microloans. Our women’s empowerment program consists of 9 Zel Haiti seamstresses, 4 artisans, 2 auxiliary employees and 2 microloan program managers. We have also distributed over $25,000 in business microloans throughout Haiti. Through sponsorship, we are looking to develop relationships between sponsors and staff through direct letter writing, video introductions and allowing them to join their family! Investors will receive quarterly updates on the seamstresses as well as access to special discounts on the zelhaiti.com website.

Plan B

$360/year investment will allow Zel Haiti and our Women’s Empowerment programs to continue to pay fair and living wages as well as give out more microloans for 1 year. Our women’s empowerment program consists of 9 Zel Haiti seamstresses, 4 artisans, 2 auxiliary employees and 2 microloan program managers. We have also distributed over $25,000 in business microloans throughout Haiti. Through sponsorship, we are looking to develop relationships between sponsors and staff through direct letter writing, video introductions and allowing them to join their family! Investors will receive quarterly updates on the seamstresses as well as access to special discounts on the zelhaiti.com website.