Tag Archives: candle

News round-up: Siiri in Haiti, Brandeis Magazine and iThinkRadio/WEZE interviews

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Siiri with DeeDee, our new Operations Manager in Haiti

This week has been interesting for all of us at Prosperity Catalyst. Currently, Siiri is in Haiti working on the pilot launch where she is recruiting participants for our first pilot and welcoming aboard DeeDee, our Haiti based Operations Manager. We will be hearing more from Siiri about the Haiti trip.

Photos from the recent Haiti trip have been posted on our facebook page.

Media Round-Up:

Through our partnership with Prosperity Candle, we envision creating a lasting change for women in Haiti and beyond. Through training in candle-making, work-readiness, entrepreneurship and business management, our business model aims to, not just help women make a living, but encourage and empower women to start their own businesses and provide much-needed access to markets.

Brandeis Magazine: We are glad that so far the responses we have received from the community has been positive and encouraging. Siiri was recently featured in Brandeis University’s Spring 2013 issue of the Brandeis Magazine. In this article, she talks about her work with women and the importance of a business model focusing exclusively on women.

” Women entrepreneurs invest in their family’s lives, as well as in growing their business, says Morley. As a result, their children gain greater access to education, get better nourishment, and have a chance at a healthier and more prosperous future. And gender-based violence declines when women have economic opportunity, she adds. “

Siiri at IThink Radio/WEZE studio

iThink Radio: Siiri was also interviewed by iThink Radio/WEZE’s host Laurie Giles on 16 March, 2013. In the interview, Siiri and Laurie discuss Prosperity Candle and Prosperity Catalyst’s business models. They talk about empowering and mentoring women, and the vision of the two organizations. We were recently sent the interview stream, and you can listen to it here.

iThink Radio is produced by Eastern Nazarene College and the live streaming takes place every Saturday morning at 10 am.

Attending the Cambridge Conversation with Zainab Salbi, founder of Women for Women International and hosted by Former Ambassador Swanee Hunt

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“Inspiration is our secret sauce. It is like handing someone
a candle so they can leave a cave.” - Zainab Salbi

Just last night Siiri Morley, our Executive Director, had the privilege to hear Zainab Salbi at the Former United States Ambassador Swanee Hunt’s home. Siiri also presented Zainab with one of our candles - a travel tin candle for her to take on her journeys. (See the gallery below for photos.)

Zainab Salbi, an inspiration to us all, is the founder of our partner Women for Women International (WfWI). Originally from Iraq, Zainab has authored books documenting her life while growing up in Iraq and her work has been featured in major media outlets like “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” CNN, and the New York Times, etc. Under Zainab’s vision, WfWI has emerged into a remarkable organization dedicated to helping women survivors of war rebuild their lives. Last night, Zainab also talked about her latest book, ‘If You Knew Me You Would Care,’ a collaboration with photographer Rennio Maifredi documenting lives of women who survived wars, violence and poverty.

We are thrilled to have had the opportunity to work with WfWI before. Our sister organization, Prosperity Candle, first piloted the model of candle-making in Baghdad with women from WfWl’s program. Prosperity Candle (PC) started by training WfWI’s staff, who subsequently taught the first 4 Iraqi “chandler-entrepreneurs” how to make candles using PC’s equipment and guide. These pioneer “chandler-entrepreneurs” field-tested the kits and then became our trainers for 50 more women entrepreneurs. Click here to learn more about the 2009 pilot program.

We are thrilled that Zainab Salbi believes in the power of candles as much as we do! =)

What does our work actually look like in Haiti?

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We tend to talk a lot about the abstract sides of our pilot program in Haiti - women’s entrepreneurship, reaching global markets, giving women agency over their lives, creating an ecosystem of support for women in the country, etc, etc. But what does our actual work look like?

While I’m here in Haiti, I thought I should include some more photos to make it all come to life a bit more.

Here’s the building on the Terrier Rouge farm where the candle-making will happen:

And here are the beehives where our wax is sourced:

Here are some of the first beeswax candles coming out of their molds:

One of our first candle-makers, Landy, spending time with our translator, Johanne:

And these are their bicycles that bring them to and from work:

Regine, our Interim Country Director, working in the pilot project building:

We are so honored to have you joining us for our candle entrepreneurship journey here in Haiti. Stay tuned for more!