From beekeeping to baking bread, livelihood projects are providing critical income and community improvement in Haiti.
Striking out on your own to start a business can be challenging, especially when resources are limited. Samaritan’s Purse is helping church partners and community entrepreneurs in Haiti to develop income sources that are making a difference in the lives of families.
Guided by our in-country livelihoods team, a number of Haitian churches have been gathering community members together to form savings groups. These groups pool resources to fund fellow members’ small business endeavors. Samaritan’s Purse trains the groups on management, market analysis, and business plans. Our Haiti livelihoods team conducts workshops to help them organize and appoint leaders to manage the groups.
There have been 57 people to date who have given their lives to Jesus Christ.
There have been 57 people to date who have given their lives to Jesus Christ as part of the business savings group project in Haiti. We provide each new follower of Christ a Bible in the Creole language. Evangelism and discipleship are a part of the ongoing ministry of these livelihood savings groups based at local churches.
Helping to Keep Children in School
A pastor in a gang-ravaged area in Haiti has long been active in youth ministry to minimize the risk of children in his community being influenced and enticed by gang leaders. The prospect of earning fast money can lure children away from school and into a gang. Attributing a false sense of power and prestige to a gang can tempt children to aspire to lead one.
The pastor saw the livelihood savings program as an answer to prayer to help reduce poverty in the area and inspire young people to stay in school and pursue careers. He mobilized other local ministers to form a savings group sponsored by Samaritan’s Purse.
The group started a copier shop in the community to help print school materials and meet other printing needs in the community. They received a solar-powered system and printing equipment from Samaritan’s Purse. Thanks to material supplied by the print shop, youth now have resources to help them stay in school.
“The printing shop is filling a great need in the community.”
“The printing shop is filling a great need in the community,” the pastor said. “Thank you to the Samaritan’s Purse team for helping us.”
A New Vision to Open a Bakery
Bread is a staple in Haiti, in part because it is relatively inexpensive to make or buy.
A community didn’t have a store where they could buy fresh-baked bread, so residents had to travel for miles to the nearest town to purchase bread.
In partnership with local churches, Samaritan’s Purse formed three savings groups through its livelihood program. These groups later became a consortium named New Vision. The consortium facilitated access to loans for its members, who also received training from Samaritan’s Purse on how to form and operate business plans.
As a result, members of the savings group presented a business plan and obtained a loan from the consortium to purchase bakery equipment.
Dough has been shaped and is ready to be cooked in an oven that a savings group purchased after being trained by Samaritan’s Purse on how to create and manage a business plan.
Now, the townspeople save time and money by buying bread from their local bakery. The bakery is in high demand and is turning a profit for the members of the savings group.
A Way Out of a Vicious Cycle
A man named John* was stressed and at times in despair because he did not always earn enough money as a motorcycle taxi driver to pay the weekly rental fee to the motorcycle owner.
If he couldn’t pay the fee for the bike, he couldn’t use it to bring in income for his family that week. He, his wife, and their three children often went to bed hungry.
John joined a savings group that loaned him the money to buy a motorcycle taxi, enabling him to make a profit to provide for his family. In partnership with local churches, we help form groups like these to encourage entrepreneurship and livelihood development in Haiti.
Each day when John left home for work, his wife and children were hopeful that he would return with rice, beans, and other groceries to satisfy their hunger pains. The pressure of providing for his family weighed heavy on him.
Occasionally, a friend let him borrow his motorcycle, but John needed more consistent transportation. He felt like he was on a never-ending wheel of suffering. When he was about to give up hope, a community member introduced him to a savings group formed through our Samaritan’s Purse livelihood project. As a result, he received a loan from the savings group to purchase a motorcycle and no longer has to pay rental fees out of his earnings.
“Thanks to everyone who came up with the initiative of establishing savings groups in the community.”
“I came from [being] a motorcycle borrower to a motorcycle owner,” John said. “Thanks to everyone who came up with the initiative of establishing savings groups in the community. And, thank you to the members of my group who granted me this loan to make my dream come true.”
He now earns a steady income and is able to provide for the basic needs of his family.
Bee-ing More Efficient in Turning a Profit
A pastor named David decided to start a beekeeping business without any formal training. It was his family’s sole source of income.
The lack of tools and supplies made it difficult for him to produce enough honey for an income beyond supporting the family’s most immediate needs.
“With the materials I received this year from Samaritan’s Purse, I am able to work more diligently.”
The pastor became a member of a Samaritan’s Purse-sponsored savings group and was trained on how to form a business plan. He received beekeeping supplies from our livelihoods project to help with faster processing and greater production of honey.
“Last year, I was able to harvest 199 pints of honey. However, with the materials I received this year from Samaritan’s Purse, I am able to work more diligently and will be able to produce about 80 pints more than last year,” said Pastor David.
This profit from honey production will increase the family’s income by almost 40 percent the first year after implementation.
Identifying and Meeting a Community Need
In another community, Samaritan’s Purse established three savings groups that received training from livelihood project staff on how to form business plans to help them identify opportunities and engage in income-generating activities.
One of the groups identified the lack of refrigeration for water and soda as a business opportunity. The group submitted a business plan to the Samaritan’s Purse project team, who provided them a solar-powered freezer. The entrepreneurs are now serving their community with cold soda and drinking water, while making money that will help them support their families.
“We are so grateful to Samaritan’s Purse for the resources they provided to us.”
“We are so grateful to Samaritan’s Purse for the resources they provided to us,” said the president of the entrepreneurial group. He said their next goal was to purchase another freezer to sell ice to local fishermen so they can store their catches and prevent them from spoiling before going to market.
Please pray for Samaritan’s Purse livelihoods team in Haiti and for those they serve in Jesus’ Name. Pray that those who have accepted Jesus Christ through this project will grow strong in their faith, and that all the participants will be successful in their entrepreneurial ventures.
*Name changed for security.
