Update... April 6, 2012

Mary Ann and I are leaving tonight for Port-au-Prince, Haiti. We are almost all packed and ready to go!

We have received enough yarn to make 400 market bags! Thank you so very much to all the ladies on Ravelry, Cascade Yarns and Skacel for their generous yarn donations. This project would not be possible without your support!

Can you imagine having to live for the last two years in a camp, inside of a tent, with your children, having lost your husband/partner in the earthquake?

We are currently working with 20 women, with more than another 20 women on a waiting list, who still live inside these tents, in the camp that is located in Parque Natif Natal, on Santo #16, Santo, Port-au-Prince, Haiti. See previous blog entries for details on the Crochet Project.


On this trip, we will supply the donated yarn to the ladies.

Mary Ann with some of the donated yarns

Mary Ann re-skeined the yarn, especially the yarn that came on cones, so that we have more space in the large duffle bags that we take to transport the yarn.

Three of the Four Duffle Bags packed & ready to go!

I am packing the fourth bag right now... let's hope that the bags are not overweight since American Airlines won't take any bags to Haiti that weight more than 50 pounds.

On Monday morning, Erin and Tiffany will arrive from Tucson, Arizona with more supplies. Also, Mary Ann and I are giving workshops to the ladies from Monday through Friday, next week. In addition to working on perfecting the market bag, we will also introduce the ladies to garment crochet and will teach how to make "yarn" out of used clothing, to crochet rugs, etc.

Rag Rug - my crochet experiment

Wish us luck and send us your prayers and positive thoughts for our trip! We will be back on April 16th.

Project Update

Thank you for all the generous donations we have received thus far:

Monetary: $932 received - Goal $2,500 (which is what we need to do the April one-week workshop and to pay the women 1/2 of the profit of the next batch of bags. We cannot have the women wait until we sell the bags in order to get paid.)

Yarn Donations: 
We now have enough yarn for 156 bags - 244 bags to go (we need to bring enough yarn to make more 400 bags)

Crochet hooks: 
166 hooks (I am increasing the total # of hooks needed to a higher # since they are different sizes)

In addition to having the ladies who are participating in the fanm pou fanm crochet the Haitian Market Bags, they will be learning how to crochet several types of hats. Aren't these cute?

April Hat #1 

April Hat #2

Each hat takes 200 yards of DK or worsted weight yarn. We made these hats out of cotton and cotton/linen yarn. However, we can also use acrylic yarn for these hats. I will be posting more photos as we finish some of the prototype garments and accessories that we will be teaching the ladies to make. 

PLEASE  keep the donations coming! We need your continued support.

Monetary Donations:

International Child Foundation, Inc. 

11449 N. Mandarin Lane 

Tucson, AZ 85737

Make checks payable to “International Child Foundation” and make a note on the check that it is for the “Fanm pou Fanm, Haiti” project.

Or you may make a donation at http://childfound.org/fundraising/ - then click on the paypal button, make sure to mark the donation “fanm pou fanm, Haiti”. 
International Child Foundation is a 501(c)(3).

Yarn & Crochet Hook Donations:

Fanm pou Fanm

6711 Denny Ave

N Hollywood, CA 91606

Do you want to volunteer to teach crochet and other skills to the women in the project? We can always use volunteers. Please email sunfunliving@yahoo.com if you would like more information.

Market Bag Crochet Project

famn pou famn (women 4 women) is a micro-business project that serves the poorest women in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

Vera and her friend Mary Ann, conceived and started the project and are diligently working to grow the project.

Women learn to crochet and make the bag (pictured in photo).  Once a woman has completed a bag, she receives half of the profit payment for the bag up front.  The bag is then sold to a woman in the U.S. and Germany. Then, the woman receives the second half of the profit into an account that will be used to pay school tuition for her child(ren) or to pay for rent. 

We need your donations. Our goal is to take enough supplies to make 200 more bags from April-June, 2012:

Material Donations:
50 crochet hooks (size U.S H/8 - 5 mm) 
80,000 yards of worsted weight cotton type yarn 
(dishcloth yarn, etc. will work, no 100% acrylic because it is too stretchy) 
= 800 of 100 yard skeins or 400 of 200 yard skeins

Financial Donations:
Also, any financial, tax deductible, donations will help. They can be mailed to:

International Child Foundation, Inc. 
11449 N. Mandarin Lane 
Tucson, AZ 85737

Make checks payable to “International Child Foundation” and make a note on the check that it is for the “Famn pou Famn, Haiti” project. International Child Foundation is a 501(c)(3).

Donate your time:
Do you want to teach women to crochet? Are you available to travel to Haiti in April? We'd love for you to join us.

Please send an email to sunfunliving@yahoo.com for the mailing address  for the yarn donations.  All yarn donations must be received by March 15th.

Thanks a million! 

Donations Received Update:

$510.00 received - $1,190 to go

Yarn Donations: 
received yarn, enough for 83 bags - 317 bags to go (goal is 400 bags)

Crochet hooks: 
118 hooks received I am increasing the total # of hooks needed to a higher # since they are different sizes