Knowing what to do in an emergency is critical. Because, as we have learned, even our best intentions can end up hurting rather than helping the people we love.
Our beloved Haiti is once again in an emergency situation. And as we have spent hours talking to the people on the ground there, we are assured, the best thing we are positioned to do for Haiti right now is keep bringing orders to the Artisans.
Think about it, when even one parent is working, it creates a sense of stability for a family and even the community has a sense of normal in the midst of so much uncertainty. And of course, it provides for the family and neighbors' basic necessities, as the costs have gone up enormously with supplies stuck in the capital.
So we are coming to you, our people, with a BIG ASK.
Together with the sewing team in Gonaives we’ve designed a new LOVE Pillow that they can begin making, Today.
They have the materials in house and the treadle machines (that don’t require electricity)
are at the ready.
The catch is, we need to pre-sell them.
That means we need friends to order pillow cases today.
Pay for them Today.
With the understanding that we don’t know when they will ship..
That means YOU TAKE ON some uncertainty in your life.
While you TAKE OFF some uncertainty in others.
We can do that, can’t we?
And, we are putting a BIG price tag on it. $50.
Yep. You see, we pay the monthly overhead (including the most crucial part: salaries) for the workshop and staff in Haiti even when the ports are closed and boxes of product are sitting at the shipper for weeks, waiting for the airports to reopen.
Every penny of the "profit" from these pillows goes back into this.
So have a look at the beautiful new LOVE Pillow, hand cut letters, (each one will be a little different based on the fabrics that are available) Sewn on a treadle powered sewing machine, in a country that must keep going.
If we can sell 100 this week we can meet the most critical need this month.
In solidarity and love,
Mk
]]>Want to uplift and motivate your loved ones by giving them a gift that will bring some positivity into their life? We've got you covered with this carefully crafted collection of our most inspirational products, including journals, home goods, t-shirts, and accessories. You're sure to find something they'll love with the added bonus of knowing that you're supporting families in Haiti with the purchase of their gifts.
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It's already November, which means Christmas time is upon us! It also means you might be looking for some new decor to get your home ready for the holidays. If this sounds like you, then look no further - 2nd Story Goods has you covered with our collection of holiday products that will make perfect additions to your decor this year. Check out some of our favorites below...
Standing Metal Trees
We love these recycled metal trees! Let them stand alone or grab one of each for the complete look!
Macrame Angel Ornament
Brand new this season from Not i But We! Handmade by survivors of human trafficking, these angels are a reminder that it is possible to rise over the hardest circumstances and make something new & beautiful.
Macrame Snowflake Ornament
A boho yet classy ornament that will look so nice & neat on your tree! Handmade by survivors of human trafficking. Every purchase provides dignity, justice, hope and healing. We cannot end this injustice alone, we are inextricably bound together and we are not free until all are free.
6 Piece Standing Nativity
This six-piece hand-crafted Nativity set is a beautiful work of art! And we always love a Nativity scene that has moveable parts. It is hands-on! It immediately calls for interactions and deeper thinking around the narrative it depicts. This set is made from recycled metals and won’t easily be lost or broken. We’re hoping it becomes a family heirloom to be passed down for generations!
Christmas Stocking with Tassel
Cotton Christmas stockings with a jolly, generous tassel! Each stocking comes with an accent cuff that goes all the way around the stocking, your choice of either red or black gingham! We’re thinking this works with most of our holiday color schemes!
Metal Holiday Wreath
Metal wreath available in "Joy to the World" or "Peace on Earth". Looks gorgeous hanging on a door or anywhere you'd like to place it. Truly a unique piece of art!
Starfish Woven Ornament
Starfish ornament, designed by the incredible Guersen and handwoven by him and his team. This is a young man in Jubilee, on the outskirts of the city of Gonaives, Haiti who is leading a group of young men and women to build a sustainable, artisan business.
Bottle Bottom Ornament
Made up of an upcycled aluminum circle stamped with some of our favorite words, connected to an upcycled cured bottle bottom by wire, and completed with a locally-sourced clay bead, this product shouts the glory of 2nd stories!
Standing Angel Metal Art
Serves as a reminder of hope and protection at Christmas time or all year round. Available in small, medium, and large. Each one is unique!
Metal Art Word Ornaments
“Some days overflow with hope. These days explode with signs of ruins rebuilt and a noisy cacophony of chains falling off our shackled feet. God is everywhere and in every face.
Other days Grim Perspective comes to hang out for a while.
And all we see are:
Children still naked, playing in the dirt
People still begging, "give me one dollar"
Despair and hunger, terrible accidents, and children still contracting TB and malaria
All over the world, some days are just harder.
I walked through beautiful Jubilee and struggled to see the beauty.
I was feeling like a huge failure, and that turned everything gray.
I glanced toward the once hopeful Garden Project and all I could see was dirt. Lots and lots of brown dirt with garbage blown in and accumulating in piles. The gate was wide open, offering free grazing for every lucky pig and goat. I was bummed entirely.
How hard we all had worked to get stuff to grow here. How many plants had been planted, how much dirt had we brought in? How much water had been hauled in five-gallon buckets from the pump to this dirt?
And then I heard a tiny whisper of a thought: look closer.
Around the edges.
And so I did. And I realized there were actual trees. 10-12 foot tall trees. Two of them. They are growing just fine. They weren't there before and they are now.
Around the edges.
Small shoots of Cactus, planted months ago in hope that a natural barrier would be established to protect young plants from scavenging goats, are taking root and spreading up and down.
Around the edges.
An Oleander with a few pink flowers was there. Growing, because I guess the goats somehow knew there were poisonous. Such smart goats.
They are there.
Around the edges.
Some days are almost overwhelming and it seems like life is so ruthless with us. Can we all not just BE for a few minutes without the depths of human pain, without being aware of our personal desperate failures. On those days would someone please remind me to stop and look closer, around the edges.
Because around the edges, I can see that Christella, who makes the Christella Hope necklace is almost finished building her own sturdy block house with the money she earns by making jewelry. Around the edges, I see that another family has built a private toilet in their small yard to protect their daughters from using a more public place. Around the edges, I see that the school added a library when kind friends came and delivered books and computers and all the things it takes to make that happen.
How easy it is to miss the important stuff happening on the edges. Oh God, please fix my broken eyes!"
]]>In typical 2SG fashion, I am doing a 10 minute essay on our time together in South Africa.
When I think of how to describe the experience, consolation is the only thing that comes to mind. Everything about having MK and Olivia in Cape Town at this particular time felt right. It was a pivotal moment in the journey of Not I But We, truly on the cusp of our next season, and to have two people who are my biggest believers and cheerleaders in my corner during that time was something I will never take for granted.
MK and Olivia are some of the most remarkable people in this world for many reasons (we all know this), but their curiosity and attentiveness to life are qualities I am trying to cultivate every day. Personally, our time together drew out of me something that I think will forever shape my life: the realization that I am creative! MK shared with me, and the survivors at Not I But We, the beautiful practice of found poetry. She also gifted me an art journal for my birthday, which has become a solace in this wild season at Not I But We. It has helped me to process all the turmoil, excitement, fear and joy inside me. I can see the imposter syndrome creeping in, or the fear I am not doing enough, or the anxiety that I am not cut out for this and greet it rather than jumping on its train to nowhere good. Art journaling has also taught me to not take myself so seriously and revel in the being a beginner! That is maybe the lesson I needed to learn the most, which I am only realizing as I am typing it now.
And as for the team at Not I But We, how do I even begin to describe the joy it was to have some our biggest supporters and sources of inspiration in our midst! Getting to introduce my two worlds to one another was a dream. Again, it was right. It all felt so deeply right. Having people who understand the process of building a social enterprise from, well nothing, with no experience is the greatest comfort. To hear the wisdom from those who have made the road by walking gave me great peace that I am in good company. And to have the women I love dearly meet other women from across the world that also love them dearly was just too special
I will leave you with one story which hopefully will serve as a reminder that all these little moments matter. I think of my friend and one of our artisans MB who started at Not I But We almost a year ago. From the first day she has been eager to learn, throwing herself into every task, more out of desperation than excitement. I have watched her grow extensively over the last year. Taking ownership over her life, choosing honesty and integrity rather than the easy way out, holding the tension of healing herself while also desperately trying to find a way to regain custody of her child.
I have watched the way her eyes light up when we get an order for rainbows from 2SG. She makes them all. She has become our rainbow queen. But I think the most beautiful thing is that I have watched her journey of making rainbows transform from a means to an end to a creative outlet. The attentiveness and care she puts into each rainbow, brushing every strand, carefully gluing each piece, wrapping tightly and neatly each strand of yarn. It has become a way for her to slow down, quiet her mind and be here and now.
And your purchase creates this opportunity. It is not just a product, but a process of healing woven into every single strand. So, thank YOU, from the bottom of my heart, and 2SG’s, thank you for choosing hope and healing.
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But I want to tell you about the highlight of the trip.
Twice I got to sit with the women that make the “Not I But We” products. Here is what I wrote after the first experience:
We gathered at the table with 5 women living in the safe house. These women are fighting their way back to life. Fighting the most fierce of battles and I am stunned by the raw beauty of it.
We gathered with cheap watercolor sets, torn magazine pages, pens, scissors, and glue. We were about to engage in a therapeutic Art Project called, Found Poetry.
I explained that we are all carrying on the inside things that needed to be processed and things that need to be said. And I told them that sometimes when I am wrestling with an issue I cannot resolve, I ask Holy Spirit to come and work it out in the exercise, with glue and found words.
They went right to it. No hesitation and few questions. That alone stunned me. They went right to it cutting, ripping, silently working to create. Once everyone was finished, we went around the table sharing the art, the words, and what they were communicating through it.
Here are the notes I scribbled down as they shared:
L. “What needs to be said is that …you are the alchemist of your story. And that now I have god. I have new sight.” One line read, “there is Mystery in the tails of her skirt” The power of women. Free. and strong. Not captured.
K. her page started with the biggest piece..gratitude. Her gorgeous ebony skin lit up with the joy of where she finds herself now, remembering the pain and devastation that was her life…she calls herself transformed…longing and looking forward to being back with her son.
P. honesty, not in a good space. Open about being closed. The struggle poured from the art of her page and her words. So damn much glory in her. Frustrated, angry, and hopeful. And gracious. All of it. Breathtaking. I want to look her in the eyes and tell her she is perfect.
K. “that touches my heart," she says to the others, when they speak, I don’t know if she is serious or sarcastic, I think they don’t know either, and maybe she doesn’t either. But she’s also perfect. She has cut out pictures of beauty and declares this is what her life will look like, she says, don’t panic. Take responsibility and everything will be alright in the end. She uses a bird to symbolize rest. This makes me think, She reminds me of my precious Christella in Gonaives. Her wit, laughter, and raw, real goodness, trying to cover that with a rough shell.
L. This woman makes me cry. She expresses herself with such clarity. She has made a 3-dimensional flower out of a ripped magazine page and glued it to the top corner of her page. So there. She writes about what she yearns for. Describing children scrambling from the branches of trees. Playing in the sunshine, the gentle kiss of a loving partner, a holding. And then she writes…” we managed” and that was not even the best part of it. That phrase, “we managed” caught up in my soul. Like a dagger of light. Could there be a better phrase to celebrate that family time of life… that short, never-ending tyranny of diapers and bottles and homework and untied shoes and messy kitchens? This is the ordinary life she longs for. She dreams of building this in her future, healed and whole.
So, dear beloved friends. Please know that the buying a simple, lovely headband you are receiving so MUCH MORE than a headband!
You are an integral part of women in Cape Town, South Africa creating a 2nd story of their lives.
The money they are earning from their making goes into their savings account to help start new when they are ready to step into their own homes.
When they learned that I was the 2nd Story Goods lady, they loved me so big! Since we are a significant source of the orders. They are extremely grateful.
All the love,Do they need staple kitchen items? Look no further for these! The unique wood pieces will elevate the look of their kitchen and match all their cooking needs.
“The words we speak become the house we live in” and these tea towels serve as excellent reminders for the newlyweds as they build their home together.
Whether they host family gatherings or enjoy simple meals together, these gorgeous salad servers help to serve joy around the table.
A basket tray makes a wonderful gift! The happy couple can use it to hold their keys, mail, desk items, produce, casserole, or desserts. The options are limitless!
Meals around the table bring a home together at the end of the day. These reminders will prompt meaningful conversations when they gather.
As they plant foundational roots into their new lives, the tree of life reminds them where they came from and the room they have to grow in their journey.
Looking for a gift that represents the marriage of two people? Our two-leather tote nails that idea! (We also happen to love its Marriage name).
This is such a fun activity for a creative spin on a date night! The writing prompts will spark ideas within and put thought to pen as they continue to discover even more about one another through their reflections.
These Angels are hand crafted from broken and recyclable materials and turned into beautiful pieces of art. The Giving Angels are a reminder that no matter what comes in this marriage, the broken pieces within us can always be made beautiful
And of course, don’t forget the card! Printed on handmade banana paper, we’ve got several cards that are fitting for this joyful occasion!
One of our favorite things about working in the artisan sector in Haiti is the spirit of collaboration that’s alive between (often women-owned) businesses. With Haiti Design Co, this has taken a few different forms:
If you’re a moon lover, these are the perfect earrings for you. The earring comes in a neutral tan color making it easy to pair with other jewelry items and any outfit.
Made in beautiful chestnut leather, the Canteen Bag is a best seller! The size makes it a great everyday bag that fits all of your essentials.
Michel Ange Joseph took a class in beadwork from Haiti Design Co. in 2013 where she learned skills that led to her becoming a talented designer.
Following her dreams in 2015, she moved back to her village in Milot, Haiti to run her own business called Atizan Lakay (Home Artist). She works alongside 8 other women who learned from her the skills to make Atizan Lakay thrive. All of the beaded products from HDC come from their workshop!
Bring a pop of color to your everyday wardrobe with this necklace! Glass sea beads and bone + wood pair together to bring you a new and trendy piece. Layer with other necklaces or style it on its own.
We know the cool scrunchie bag is calling your name! There are multiple ways to wear and style this trendy bag, pick your favorite and rock on!
We are so grateful for our partnership with Haiti Design Co! In this space, we have all chosen “community over competition” and we’re all the better for it. Our hope is for you, our customers, to enjoy the convenience of shopping HDC & 2nd Story Goods in one place on our site, expanding your impact with every purchase.
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Fathers bring families together across the world by building a strong foundation of love in us. The impact and memories of fathers and father figures last a lifetime, yet each year on Father’s Day many of us struggle to find something that shows how much they mean to us. Here’s a gift guide for finding the perfect gift as the day to celebrate comes.
The Slim Leather Card Holder makes a great gift for the rad Dad. The simple design is easy for on-the-go days and fits easily in his pocket!
Is your Dad the chef in your family? Amplify his kitchen game by getting him a solid wooden cutting board with a unique horn inlay!
Genuine leather and a sleek style! This portfolio has pockets of various sizes and is great for keeping him organized.
Is your Dad the kind that doesn’t come alive until he’s had his morning coffee? Available in many different roasts to fit his palate, he is sure to love this Haitian coffee.
The coolest wallet ever for the coolest dad ever!! The minimalist wallet comes with an ID photo slot, 5 pockets on the front and back, and 3 openings: left, right, and the top. This wallet slides right in a pocket for a non-bulky look!
The Leather Pastiche Journal makes a great all purpose gift! Whether your father writes, draws, or uses it for notes, he’s sure to make good use of it.
Atelier Calla is a Haitian woman-owned artisan workshop focused on handcrafting Haitian-sourced horn, bone, and wood products. All horn and bone used is ethically sourced in-country as a by-product of food. We love our partnership with them and their elegantly designed, timeless products. Each piece is one of a kind due to the nature of the materials.
Gorgeous handmade horn photo frame. Made to hold a 4 x 6 photo & stand either horizontally or vertically.
Cute & classy all at the same time!
Modern and chic, yet timeless and sleek. Formed with ethically-sourced bone and brass findings.
A true work of art, we feel like these belong in a museum. But instead we get to wear them! Shaped with ethically-sourced horn and brass findings.
To stay up to date on all of our new products and news sign up for our email list!
]]>Ethical shopping is buying goods without harming or exploiting animals, people, environments, etc. It can also be defined as shopping in a way that aligns with your personal beliefs and morals. For more background on this concept, check out What is Ethical Shopping.
A brand can be ethical and sustainable at the same time. To be a sustainable shopper is to intentionally utilize and consume the most efficient and beneficial goods and services for the Earth and the life upon it.
Look for brands that align with your personal ethics. For example, here at 2nd Story Goods we are a registered nonprofit; we believe in fair wages, recycling, and doing business in a way that is good for producers, consumers, and the environment.
A few of our other favorite ethical and sustainable brands are Tonle, Sseko, and Patagonia (yes, Patagonia is a registered B Corp!) But there are countless others out there!
In the 21st century, we are basically programmed to consume, consume again, and consume a little more. By buying less, we can prevent overconsumption which adds to our carbon footprint and ultimately hurts the planet. An alternative is buying higher quality items that will last longer so that can purchase them less often.
Another alternative is buying secondhand items. Purchasing or renting items that are upcycled or previously owned reduces the material and energy that are used in the making of each new item.
The most important step in becoming an ethical shopper is to stray away from companies that are not behaving responsibly (i.e. fast fashion brands), and to instead buy from ethical brands. By diverting our dollars from companies that are not putting people and the planet over profit, and instead putting those dollars towards businesses who are operating ethically, we can create the kind of world we truly want to live in. It's a win-win, because we get to make a much needed difference in the world, looking good while doing it.
Next time you think about buying anything (yes, anything!) try searching for ethical or sustainable brands that offer that item. You might be surprised by what you find! We recommend The Honest Consumer for a great list! The journey to becoming a conscious consumer isn't perfect, but every time we make the choice to think before we buy, we can make a difference.
And of course, make sure to check out our wide product offering at 2nd Story Goods for ethically-made accessories, homewares, and gifts.
A few places you can look for more information are How to Shop Ethically, Tips for Becoming an Ethical Shopper, and Ethical vs Sustainable Shopping.
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THE WHY…
Feels like running in cycles…
Feels like having zero control …
I hate the fact that we always have to talk about how bad things are right now and how worse it has became or it’s becoming
I hate the fact that priorities such as our dreams, career paths, mental health, accomplishments are reduced to just surviving.
We have been on survival mode for quite a moment now -haha- and by moment, my friend , let’s make it clear that I am talking about years.
Years of self-oppression. Years of “I gotta make it home before sunset” not because it’s safer by daylight but because you are the one guilty for staying out at night. Years of political instability. Years of inflation climbing without rest. Years of constantly wrestling with staying or leaving cause living here can get unbearable. Years of addiction to bad news. Years of “we need a break “ but can’t ever have it actually.
Now, here we are. Still holding on solely to The One who knows it all. Still holding on the hope that it can only get better and not worse. Still holding on to that random stranger’s smile saying "Good morning" passing by. Still holding on to the peaceful sleep of the “Madan Sara” on the top of dozens of stacked food sacks in a truck leaving for far away where they can sell their products.
Still holding on to these children going to school in the midst of what I’m tired of calling the “chaos”.
Still holding to the fact that I gotta be a great doctor for my people.
Still holding on to the fact that we have to do better to ensure a great future to those newborns babies who let out their first cry on this land.
There’s far more than a thousand reasons why...
So, N AP KEEP GOING is the motto.
-Princesse, Jucie Collection
]]>The perfect Christmas gift basket for just about anyone. A $47 value for only $35! Includes one Peace Giving Angel, one Singing Rooster Chocolate Bar, and one of our new Christmas cards (which you can customize with a handwritten note from MK!), all inside our gorgeous Oval Basket with Lid. Teachers, neighbors, grandparents, and anyone else you choose to give this to this season will be sure to appreciate this gift of peace.