The following story is part of a 12-day series featuring 12 artisans who are part of The Haitian Bead Project. This growing business helps offer a hand up to women living in rural Haiti. They use recycled cardboard and paper to handcraft beautiful jewelry and products to sell around the world.
When Juliana first joined The Haitian Bead Project she was pregnant with her third child.
She was so eager to be a part of the new group of women crafting beads out of recycled cardboard that she walked 40 minutes down the mountain to the church in Savanette in the hot afternoon sun. She would arrive 30 minutes late with beads of sweat trickling down her brow and a wide smile splashed across her face.
Juliana is the perfect mix of determination and grace.
She only missed one meeting with the Savanette artisans this past summer: the week she had her baby boy.
Juliana is not afraid to jump right into the work. She cuts recycled cardboard. She counts out supplies. She rolls beads.
She says the Evangelical church of Savanette has always been a place of refuge for her. At times, she has been persecuted for her faith. Her neighbors and family have not been kind because of her determination to worship God and attend the evangelical church. She shares that her confidence is in Christ. God has always provided for her needs.
As Juliana turns trash into treasure, she dreams. Of course, she wants to make a little money to provide for her three children. But she dreams bigger. One day she says she would like to open her own little grocery store up in the mountains where she lives.
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