Please give a warm welcome to Mary Denise, our most recent addition to 3 Cords!  Mary Denise grew up in Port-au-Prince and has three beautiful daughters ranging from ages 8-18.  A year before the earthquake, she lost her leg in a car accident, but trusted in the Lord’s promises to care for her and her family.

Recently she connected with our 3 Cords supervisor, Mary Maude, and we are all thrilled to get to know her better.  Over the past few days, the women have been taking turns teaching her how to make our signature products.  However, there has been a unique twist to the training because of her already-developed sewing skills.  While the ladies teach her about our own sewing patterns, she is also modeling new techniques and sewing styles on the machines for them to learn.  It’s been such a neat dynamic!

Last but certainly not least, Mary Denise loves to laugh.  A few days ago, she and Rosenie went to the restroom to get cleaned up.  When they got back, Mary Denise began to re-tell a funny experience they had shared with the other ladies.  My smile got wider and wider as Mary Denise attempted to explain the scenario, but was so overcome with laughter that she could hardly speak.  From workspace to workspace she passed by the others at their sewing machines spilling over her contagious giggles until soon the whole group of ladies were laughing along.

What a joy it is to have her as a part of our 3 Cords family!

3 Cords now has an official website and we are so excited to share it with you!  Please visit us at http://www.3cordshaiti.com.  Read the story behind 3 Cords and the stories of each of the beautiful women that work so hard, and then buy some beautiful products if they strike your fancy!  (We think they will!)

Then, if you’d like to help even further, please send an email out to your friends who may be interested and share the link to the online store with them.

Other ways to stay connected with us:

**Sign up for our monthly email newsletter: http://www.3cordshaiti.com/pages/stay-updated

**“Like” us on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/pages/3-cords/289335007768128) (Don’t forget to “like” our page!)

**Follow us on Twitter (https://twitter.com/#!/three_cords).

Valentine's Day at 3 Cords is quite possibly my favorite day of the year. This year, we had our second annual Valentines Day dance party, and it was a blast! There are so many parts of the day that were beautiful and redemptive, and well, just fun. We started the day out with the ladies opening little gift bags and chocolate hearts. I think their absolute favorite part was looking through the pictures of themselves that were in their gift bags; you could tell that they all felt so beautiful in them! Then we all drank delicious homemade Haitian juice and enjoyed some cupcakes.

The best part? The dance party that ensued right after! All of the ladies were having so much fun dancing, which was actually quite incredible seeing as they were dancing on prosthetic legs! Everyone would continually break out in laughter as we took turns pushing a new lady into the middle of our dance circle. Some were so shy but so precious, and others just couldn’t get enough of it!

What a picture of redemption. It was my joy to know each of these women as they were first being fit for a prosthetic leg, and I clearly remember the blanket of sadness that seemed to cover their hearts. They were so burdened that life would never be the same, and that they would never find jobs or joy again. God has completely provided for each of these women, and I truly think that they would all agree that life now is even BETTER than before the earthquake. I wish you could see the joy amongst these women each day at work, not just on days of celebration like Valentines Day, but on the normal work days as well. I am back in Haiti for two weeks working with 3 Cords, and more than anything on this trip I am struck at the beauty of the community that God has provided for each of these women. They are all so happy to work at 3 Cords because it means being with their best friends all day! What a joy and an honor to witness. Please continue to pray that God would pour out His blessings on these beautiful women!

So much has happened over the past year in 3 Cords, and I am excited to share it with you all!  I just got back from a two week trip to visit 3 Cords before Christmas, and it was so good for my heart.  You see, when my husband and I moved from Mission of Hope for grad school in June of 2011, 3 Cords was still meeting in an oversized closet.  Now, six months later, I was able to witness the women working in their new facility, which is fabulous!  It was so encouraging for me to see how far along the women have come in their sewing, meet the two new employees, and to see what a beautiful, colorful, spacious place these women work in every day.  When 3 Cords officially started in September of 2010, it was my dream that 3 Cords would be a sustainable, long term business venture that would not only employee amputee women, but show them their worth as individuals and creators.  This past December, I was so encouraged at how much God has done with 3 Cords, and am so excited where He will continue to take and grow it!

If you are as excited as we are about 3 Cords and want to get more involved, here’s some ways you can do that:

1. PRAY.  Pray for the women by name- Marie Maude, Dorce, Lesroinise, Love, Nadege, Denise, Gernise, Sencia, Rosenie, Fafane, Elphine, Natacha.  Pray that God would protect them to and from work every day (tap taps can be difficult with prosthetic legs!), that He would continue to provide for them and their families, and that God would continue to create a sense of family within 3 Cords.  Pray that He would grow the business so we could hire more women as well!

2. DONATE SUPPLIES.  On your next trip to Haiti, stuff some of the following in your suitcase and bring it down to 3 Cords one morning.  (Please give it to Marie Maude, the supervisor, in 3 Cords, at the bottom of the hill).

-Fabric at least a yard long, either solid or with a pattern, anything you like, really! :o) We always use lots and lots of fabric!
-Cute buttons (no super bright plastic ones, please)
-Interfacing
-Felt at least a yard long
-Clear 12” rulers with easy read markings
-Mini hot glue guns
-Mini hot glue sticks
Don’t forget: Every week, Michael’s, Joann’s, and Hobby Lobby have 40% off coupons!

3. BUY 3 CORDS PRODUCTS. This one goes without saying, but buy lots of 3 Cords stuff when you are down in Haiti!  Bring them home as gifts for you, your friends, your sisters, your mom, your mom’s mom, your mom’s sisters, your friends’ mom’s sisters, and don’t forget your great aunt Sally!

-Diana Cherry

Last week in 3 Cords we had the great opportunity to host Sally, a retired home economics teacher from Norman, Oklahoma. Sally came prepared to teach us a few projects while she was here... Three skirts and three blouses. The ladies not only enjoyed learning all the different projects, but also enjoyed getting to know Sally throughout the week.

From those with two legs, to those with one leg, to those with no legs, we all joined together to learn and help each other make a few take-home items to add to our own wardrobes. Thanks to Sally and all those who continually support 3 Cords and the work the Lord is doing here in Haiti.

The 3 Cords building is so close to being finished, that it’s hard to believe I’m not writing about our moving in day – but alas, that will come SOON I’m sure! A couple weeks ago we had a wonderful team here from Canada who spent a lot of time helping move the building forward.
I also had the pleasure of hosting my parents here, who are also Canadian, and a friend from the States. As a group, we tackled the building and many things that I considered “musts” before we move in.

Each time I headed to the new building that week, there was someone there pounding or painting away. We had people making shelves and tables for us, we had other painting inside and outside the building to touch-up the paint, and we had other still paint special murals on our walls.

It was a great week of coming together with people and making a huge push towards something that will mean a lot to a lot of people. It is my sincere hope that the next time 3 Cords is mentioned here, it will be a rejoicing of us making that long-awaited for move into the new building – so keep praying as we are preparing ourselves for the expansion that is to come in our very near future!

A thought occurred to me the other day, one that I couldn’t possibly run away from: the 3 Cords ladies need to help paint their new building. Once I thought it for a moment, I couldn’t stop. I needed to make it happen. I grabbed ten sets of paint clothes, and went down the hill to present my idea to them as fast as I could. To my great delight, they were all more than excited to help out!

We went to the building in our painting garb, grabbed our brushes and our rollers, carried the heavy buckets of paint, and set to work!  After an hour and a half of work, we had put what I think will be the final coat of purple paint on the outside of our building.

I loved this idea because no one thinks that ten ladies, most of whom have one real leg and one fake leg, could actually paint a building.  We’ve talked in excited spurts about the building and the painting and what it will look like over the last few weeks, but this time we actually got to have our own mark on the building that will become our work home for what could be a very long time.

Continue to pray for 3 Cords and our expansion – that the funds will come in to help us build more buildings, that as a team we will join together under God and be united as one, and that joy will continue to mark our faces day in and day out.
 

A couple weeks ago a few of the girls from the Village of Hope came past 3 Cords on their way up the hill. These are girls that throughout the school year would wander (out of their way) past 3 Cords on the way to school, slowing their pace as they peered into the room to see what was going on. Their interest had peaked about what was happening in that small room at the bottom of the hospital.

When they came by recently, we decided that they should pop into 3 Cords throughout the week to sit down with us and work with us. This way they could learn the skills of sewing (both by hand and by machine), and many other similar skills we use, but also they could have the opportunity to be influenced by the way that Haitian women live and interact in the workplace, and they could have more Godly female influences in their lives as well.

Since it’s the summer here in Haiti and the kids don’t have school, we thought it would be a good time to start. Last week a few of the girls from the Village of Hope came to make some sort of official beginning to this. When the afternoon was over, they came to my house excitedly to show me what they had made. They came the next day and the next day, and so on.

It’s exciting to see once again how God is using the different branches of MOH together. Kids are kids, but kids can do a lot if they are given the chance. It has been another step forward here, and each time I see the girls show up, I am surprised with joy inside of me. I can’t wait to see where this could end up one day!

Saturday marked another exciting day for both 3 Cords and the Village of Hope kids. It was the day that the painting of the new 3 Cords building started, and it was done by the Village of Hope kids! The kids are spending the summer learning about servanthood and what it means to serve like Christ, so when the opportunity came up for them to help with projects on campus, we gladly accepted them to help with our building.

The morning started with a seemingly small work force, which slowly grew over the first hour. By the end of the morning, most of us were quite covered in paint, but luckily so was the building! It was a great time of many people working together to get the project done. We still have another few days until the exterior will be finished, but with the Village of Hope kids helping us out, we know it will be finished in no time!

The best part of this morning for me was seeing different aspects of MOH come together to help serve and work for the better. We are all one body here, and everything we do works together to further our vision of life transformation for every man, woman, and child in Haiti.

Meet Marie Maude. She is the supervisor of 3 Cords, and works each day to ensure that 3 Cords runs as smoothly as it does. Marie Maude comes to work each day with a smile that lights up the room. She often jokes around and works to uplift the other ladies who work in 3 Cords.

Before the earthquake, Marie Maude had finished nursing school. During the earthquake, she lost one of her legs, which meant that she could no longer work in the nursing field. After learning about the prosthetics lab at MoH, Marie Maude received a prosthesis, and later a job in 3 Cords. Since then she has become our supervisor, and very trusted friend.

Visiting 3 Cords, one of the first things you will hear is Marie Maude greeting you in English and then laughing and giggling about it. You will be able to see her smile and the way she interacts with each of the other ladies. She is a joy to have in 3 Cords, and a great supervisor for the ladies. Her genuine care for each of them is something that everyone could learn from. Marie Maude is truly a pleasure to work with each day, and I'm proud to call her my friend.
 

Learn More:  3 Cords