1. JULY 4, 2011   HAITI – HUMAN TRAFFICKING REPORT COUNTRY REPORT – U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE HAITI (Special Case) The massive physical destruction in the wake of the 2010 earthquake, including the destruction of governmental buildings, equipment, and loss of personnel, and the continued lack of fundamental infrastructure throughout the government, severely limited the government’s ability to function in many areas, including in areas of law enforcement, social services and border control. This had a similarly ...
  2. MAY 14, 2014   FEAR IS THE STUFF OF AN UNDER ~ ACTIVE IMAGINATION i said that. i did. just the other day. and i still believe it, 48 hours later. fear is an easy ” go-to ” in my mind. i dont like it, but it still is. we tend to think that lying and stealing and smoking and not voting well are the things that break God’s heart…but i wonder if the thing that breaks His heart the most, is that we live in fear. after all the many days of kindness. i struggle. true confessions here. i’ve recently experienced...
  3. DECEMBER 8, 2014  NEW HOSPITAL This is the beautiful new black top road that leads to the new hospital in Gonaives. We had the honor of touring the the newly opened facility last week. IT is amazing. I love the way so much construction is done in the Carribean, open air. The hallways are walkways every room has fresh air circulating through except the temp controlled surgery units. We were walking through the facility with the director of Health. THis man is a friend, a fellow believer and a pe...
  4. 10 Minuet Essays - 2 Theme - 2nd Story Goods Author - Brandon Brooks To Me; 2nd Story goods is action. It is movement, it is a foolhardy challenge to the status quo. It/we are not always wise, not always efficient and not always right, but we are trying. None of us are professional anything. All of us are learning as we go. 2nd Story Goods is being a bit scared. A bit further out of the comfort zone than we’ve gone before. Its a bit past crazy = exciting and fun and bit into crazy = what the heck are you doing...
  5. AUGUST 31, 2014   BOTTLE BOTTOMS ilove these pieces. they are not particularly great selling ornaments. They are not particularly easy to make. We rarely get orders for them. but i like them, i do. they speak 2nd story. I like the way the smoothed glass feels in my hand, i like the way the simple sand casted aluminum fits snugly in there withthe clay bead hand -formed from real haitian dirt.. i like it all. Maybe it is the large amount of time spent walking through garbage. Some of you don...
  6. SEPTEMBER 29, 2010 THE KID THAT GOT ME There is a kid named Obenson…actually there several boys named Obenson But this particular young man of about 12 years old “Got me“. He “got me” not because he was cute, not because he was kind, not because he was Haitian….but because he made me Crazy! He was one of the first faces to greet me each morning in Jubilee, whether I arrived on the truck, by motorcycle or walked in from the tap tap. He was always there. Sometimes smiling . Sometimes angry. Sometimes telling me t...
  7. MAY 3, 2011 A NOTE FROM BEAVER..SUNDAY MORNING IN HAITI by Kathy Brooks on Sunday, May 1, 2011 at 7:59pmSunday morning,, In Haiti I do not use an alarm clock unless I need to leave the house before 5:00am. It seems that 5:30am is just when life gets going again, after a good sleep and in bed around 9:00pm. So this Morning is no different. Up out of bed and on the roof like many other Haitians breathing in waiting for the coffee to get done. This morning I am waiting for 8:00. Yesterday God asked me to...
  8. MAY 3, 2011  PEACEFUL PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION IN HAITIPEACEFUL PRESIDENTIAL VOTE..HISTORIC by Kathy Brooks on Saturday, April 16, 2011 at 7:44amwe were in Gonaives the evening that the “unoffical” results were annonuced. It was amazingly peaceful. There were a few spontaeous parades…dancing in the streets… but we heard no rioting, no gun shots…..and this in Gonaives where, historicallly political unrest begins. God is doing a new thing in this nation. “God we ask that You would so capture the heart o...
  9. FEBRUARY 18, 2011 IT SLAYS ME GONAIVES, I HAD A GREAT TROOP OF BOYS…FOUR, TO BE EXACT. They greeted me more than eager to show me what they had done, watering the plants, caring for things…and they wanted to work. They stood ready to move rocks, build cities or tilt the earth if need be…just let us work. So we made a little plan to build some “mi” walls for planters around the places we want there to be trees. i wanted to address the “payscale” as we are trying to not always be the white people with bags of...
  10. 10 Minuet Essays 1 Theme - Live like you mean it. Author - Kathy Brooks Live like you mean it We can. That is the astonishing thing. We absolutely CAN. For me, it is in the smallest decisions of every day life that this truth plays out .It is rarely about the big things. Those seem to take care of themselves when I get the small things right. Live like you mean it means …be the boss over my thoughts. Some are beautiful and welcome guests…other are loud mouth bullies , live like you mean it means ..be t...
  11. Big Question Monday: Corporal Punishment and Parenting Skills Today the topic of conversation began as “Is it ok for school teachers to whip, slap or grab and twist the ears of our kids? One of our moms came in wrestling with this problem. So i said, lets talk about it. Is this common practice? How do you feel about this form of discipline? Out came the stories! Parents afraid for their children. Adults with stories of being afraid of school every day, lest they answer a question wrong or forget a homework assignment and get the back of their han...
  12. MAY 3, 2011    TODAY IS GOAT DAY NOTE FROM BEAVER We leave Jubille this morning at 7:00 to go to Lester to buy Goats.. God brought Cenor yesterday to bring it all together… he helped me write the ‘goat contract’ that each participating family will sign. With the money Jennifer Johns church collected 4 montha go , I think we can buy 5 female goats… We have gathered/involved 15 families to start. 5 families get 1 female goat. When that goat give young they pass along the doe after the young are weine...
  13. JULY 5, 2010 OUR HOME IS BECOMING INCREASINGLY BLENDED. WORLDS ARE BLENDING. OUR TWO WORLDS. Our Haiti World and our rural South Georgia World. It’s kind of beautiful to me. Creole flows. From english speakers and Haitian born alike. This was evident the other afterrnoon when the goats walked casually out the the open gate and Natasha yelled “Gade sa!!!!” to get everyones attention. and about 6 people of the 30 or more gathered around the pond understood her exactly. Homes are the best places to see tra...
  14. Change The Shape Have you noticed our #changetheshape hashtag? Wonder what it means? It is a reference to the Bottom of the Pyramid (or BOP). “The bottom of the pyramid… is the largest, but poorest socio-economic group. In global terms, this is the 2.7 billion people who live on less than $2.50 a day.”2ndSG exists to see this pyramid changed. It isn’t right that a mother should have to choose which child gets to eat that day or that people die from curable diseases due to poor nutrition or unclean drinking wa...
  15. Woven Together You wanna know one of the main reasons 2nd Goods Is able to do what we do? It’s because of YOU, the customer. You said yes to being involved in the conversation and because of it we’re changing the world together. It’s not about finding the cheapest most convenient thing anymore, it’s about making mindful purchases! When you buy a baby mobile, pillow, or rug from a company that has a high value for the humans making the product and their children (and their children’s’ children) your purchase...
  16. FEBRUARY 22, 2011 HAITI UPDATE..SO HAPPY TO HAVE MARTHA HANNA HERE. She is the Director of the Medical / Health aspect of the Haiti Trade School. This first week she has brought in Keziah Furth, our good friend, to teach on common medical problems to Haiti, and especially for women. Were thrilled to have 5 local nurses and 6 midwives attend, as well as about 30 folks from the community. Even in this one session Keziah gave them very practical information that can help improve their health and ...