A box came today. The mailman just dropped it off. I wasn't expecting it. Oh how I love surprises.
The return address said it was from Everywhere, a team of social media strategists that help their clients navigate social media. I know about Everywhere because they are the team that helps facilitate the Heart of Haiti campaign. And if you know anything about me at all, you know that I am a proud Ambassador for Heart of Haiti and have been since they launched at Macy's. I'm the Brown Girl that will never ever forget about Haiti. Never. (A link to all of my posts dedicated to Haiti can be found here.)
I'm writing this post because my eyes started to tear up when I opened the box and read the note that accompanied it. "Thank you for all of your support.... It means so much...that you dedicated your time, posts, tweets & heart to this project. We would not have seen the amazing response...without your voice." Wah.
Of course, they weren't sad tears mind you; they were simply tears of happiness. You see, an artisan in Haiti handcrafted the "Birds in a Breadfruit Tree" that is made from hand cut and hammered recyled steel that you see pictured in the photo below. I can see that there are other handcrafted items in the box too, but I'm a little too choked up to dig any deeper at the moment, so I thought I'd write.
If you want to give someone a gift that has meaning, then I am here to tell you first-hand that a handcrafted item that promotes trade (and not aid) that has been touched and stroked and created by a Haitian artisan through a program dedicated to helping Haitians sustain themselves simply cannot. be. beat. You can trust me on this.
Now let me go get some tissue so I can get through the rest of this box.
Disclosure: I am an Ambassador for the Heart of Haiti and I received items from the Heart of Haiti collection. I was not asked to write about what I received and the opinions expressed in this blog post are mine...from way down deep.
