Fair-trade business in middle of Port-Au-Prince a ‘beacon of hope’ amid conflict
Sitting in her office in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Jolina Desroches-Auguste reflects on how the 2010 earthquake destroyed her business and livelihood. “I had my business; all of it was lost. Cows that I was selling, all of it was lost,” Auguste said. The Haitian government reported that approximately 316,000 people died in the disaster, which left the island with $7.8 billion in damages. The earthquake devastated an already fragile economy, weakened further by French-imposed debt after Haiti’s revolt and victory against the country. Economists estimate the debt is equivalent to billions of dollars today. Auguste’s husband’s taxi-driving business was also destroyed when rubble crushed his car. As her concern about survival grew — knowing that oil and rice donations could only sustain them for so long — she met Julie Colombino-Billingham, a disaster responder from South Florida who would soon become her business partner. “I definitely did not set out to start a business like I have a master’s in nonprofit management. I always worked for charities,” Billingham said. Before meeting Auguste, Colombino-Billingham had already been thinking about job creation in Haiti after an interaction with an earthquake victim. “I was distributing bottles of water, and she touched me on my arm, and she said, ‘Blan, mwen pa vle dlo. Mwen vle yon travay.’ And in English, that means, ‘Hey, white lady, I don’t want any water, I need a job,'” Billingham said. Billingham said that moment shifted her focus from short-term humanitarian aid to creating lasting solutions. “And that’s what I wanted to be a part of. I wanted to be a part of the long-term solution,” she said. As both women researched ways to create jobs, someone introduced Billingham and Auguste, and the two began planning. “I told her about a time when I lived in Africa, and I saw people making sandals out of tires. And in Haiti, there were tires everywhere,” Billingham said. “Jolina said that she knew how to sew, and she literally grabbed my hands and said, ‘Together, we’re going to take back everything that the earthquake stole by starting this little job creation place to make sandals out of recycled tires.'” A Moment of Joy: News We LoveBillingham founded a nonprofit called Rebuild Globally, focused on education and job training. They soon realized that because jobs were still scarce, they needed to create more employment opportunities for graduates of the program. “That’s where Deux Mains came in. ‘Deux Mains’ means two hands in Creole, because we literally built the business with our own two hands. And so women who graduated from the job training program didn’t just have a certificate; they had a direct pipeline to dignified living wage work, making sandals from tires,” Billingham said. Sixteen years later, Deux Mains is a fair-trade fashion brand with 45 employees. The company no longer makes sandals from tires but now produces leather handbags and shoes using leather from a surplus in a Haitian-owned solar-powered factory in the center of Port-au-Prince. They make the leather shoes for local schoolchildren, which is part of Haiti’s uniform mandate. Together: Project CommUNITYBillingham said the 4,500-square-foot factory is a beacon of hope in the capital. “We’re really, really proud of that work because, you know, a lot of the bags have this indigenous Haitian weaving, and it’s like, you know, like the pom from baskets that women wear on their heads. We brought that technique into the factory,” she said. Billingham said business at Deux Mains has tripled under Auguste and the rest of the management team, made up of Haitian graduates from the program. “I’m not going to lie and say that the work is easy. It’s actually quite hard. I’m a foreigner. I’m a woman doing work in Haiti. It’s not always easy, but it is so gratifying, and it makes my life worth living,” Billingham said. After living in Haiti for five years, Billingham now splits her time between Lake Worth, Florida, and the island. She said the woman she gave water to after the earthquake forever changed her life. “People ask, ‘How did you just quit your job and move there?’ And it was because of the Haitian women that I met. I wanted to be like them, like what I saw in them—the strength, the courage, the family mentality. It was something I aspired to, and I just wanted to be around them. And so that’s why I did it,” Billingham said. She said foreign nonprofits, missionaries and non-governmental organizations have to think differently about disaster response. Get the latest news updates with the WPBF 25 News app. You can download it here.”I think we need to look at the talent, ability, and passion of the people where we’re serving, where we’re going. We have to be inclusive and not think that we know everything because we really don’t. And cultural knowledge is everything,” she said. Auguste said what they’ve been able to accomplish is nothing short of a “miracle from God.” “This is what work can do instead of giving. I tell people this is the solution. Work is life,” Auguste said.
Sitting in her office in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Jolina Desroches-Auguste reflects on how the 2010 earthquake destroyed her business and livelihood.
“I had my business; all of it was lost. Cows that I was selling, all of it was lost,” Auguste said.
The Haitian government reported that approximately 316,000 people died in the disaster, which left the island with $7.8 billion in damages. The earthquake devastated an already fragile economy, weakened further by French-imposed debt after Haiti’s revolt and victory against the country. Economists estimate the debt is equivalent to billions of dollars today.
Auguste’s husband’s taxi-driving business was also destroyed when rubble crushed his car. As her concern about survival grew — knowing that oil and rice donations could only sustain them for so long — she met Julie Colombino-Billingham, a disaster responder from South Florida who would soon become her business partner.
“I definitely did not set out to start a business like I have a master’s in nonprofit management. I always worked for charities,” Billingham said.
Before meeting Auguste, Colombino-Billingham had already been thinking about job creation in Haiti after an interaction with an earthquake victim.
“I was distributing bottles of water, and she touched me on my arm, and she said, ‘Blan, mwen pa vle dlo. Mwen vle yon travay.’ And in English, that means, ‘Hey, white lady, I don’t want any water, I need a job,'” Billingham said.
Billingham said that moment shifted her focus from short-term humanitarian aid to creating lasting solutions.
“And that’s what I wanted to be a part of. I wanted to be a part of the long-term solution,” she said.
As both women researched ways to create jobs, someone introduced Billingham and Auguste, and the two began planning.
“I told her about a time when I lived in Africa, and I saw people making sandals out of tires. And in Haiti, there were tires everywhere,” Billingham said. “Jolina said that she knew how to sew, and she literally grabbed my hands and said, ‘Together, we’re going to take back everything that the earthquake stole by starting this little job creation place to make sandals out of recycled tires.'”
A Moment of Joy: News We Love
Billingham founded a nonprofit called Rebuild Globally, focused on education and job training. They soon realized that because jobs were still scarce, they needed to create more employment opportunities for graduates of the program.
“That’s where Deux Mains came in. ‘Deux Mains’ means two hands in Creole, because we literally built the business with our own two hands. And so women who graduated from the job training program didn’t just have a certificate; they had a direct pipeline to dignified living wage work, making sandals from tires,” Billingham said.
Sixteen years later, Deux Mains is a fair-trade fashion brand with 45 employees. The company no longer makes sandals from tires but now produces leather handbags and shoes using leather from a surplus in a Haitian-owned solar-powered factory in the center of Port-au-Prince. They make the leather shoes for local schoolchildren, which is part of Haiti’s uniform mandate.
Together: Project CommUNITY
Billingham said the 4,500-square-foot factory is a beacon of hope in the capital.
“We’re really, really proud of that work because, you know, a lot of the bags have this indigenous Haitian weaving, and it’s like, you know, like the pom from baskets that women wear on their heads. We brought that technique into the factory,” she said.
Billingham said business at Deux Mains has tripled under Auguste and the rest of the management team, made up of Haitian graduates from the program.
“I’m not going to lie and say that the work is easy. It’s actually quite hard. I’m a foreigner. I’m a woman doing work in Haiti. It’s not always easy, but it is so gratifying, and it makes my life worth living,” Billingham said.
After living in Haiti for five years, Billingham now splits her time between Lake Worth, Florida, and the island. She said the woman she gave water to after the earthquake forever changed her life.
“People ask, ‘How did you just quit your job and move there?’ And it was because of the Haitian women that I met. I wanted to be like them, like what I saw in them—the strength, the courage, the family mentality. It was something I aspired to, and I just wanted to be around them. And so that’s why I did it,” Billingham said.
She said foreign nonprofits, missionaries and non-governmental organizations have to think differently about disaster response.
Get the latest news updates with the WPBF 25 News app. You can download it here.
“I think we need to look at the talent, ability, and passion of the people where we’re serving, where we’re going. We have to be inclusive and not think that we know everything because we really don’t. And cultural knowledge is everything,” she said.
Auguste said what they’ve been able to accomplish is nothing short of a “miracle from God.”
“This is what work can do instead of giving. I tell people this is the solution. Work is life,” Auguste said.