With over $528 million dollars of aid promised to Haiti following the devastating earthquake of January 2010, one may wonder why we are still seeing disturbing images and continued poverty in the country that received so much media attention it was the #4 top Twitter trend of the year. A year later, as society's collective ADD has somewhat forgotten about the ongoing need for aid, Choose Haiti is focused on working towards the long-term sustainability of Haiti's economy through local business ventures, as well as using resources readily available in Haiti to create products sold through their website. This brings us to our featured Buy of the day: the Choose Haiti Bracelet. Crafted from recycled newspapers and recycled water bottles, the bracelets can be purchased directly from ChooseHaiti.com; also stores like Forever21 and online retailer Hautelook.com are currently selling this bracelet, which has been endorsed by President Bill Clinton and ummm Patricia Arquette (for all the Medium fans out there!). One website featuring the bracelets made sure to mention the water bottles have been "sanitized"... which I found semi-offensive and semi-humorous at the same time. Is it really necessary to advertise it as such? But this brings us back to the realities still faced in Haiti, and that when you buy the bracelet you are buying much more than an accessory. I ordered my own bracelet today, and in two to four weeks will be sure to share my thoughts on the product itself. I was tempted to buy three for $25, just to see how different each looked. But I stuck to one for now, knowing I can Choose Haiti in the future.
Love it! I had no idea about these bracelets. We (s4tp) were actually going to try to do something to commemorate the anniversary of the Haiti Quake. I will have to plug your blog post on our blog.Thanks for posting and check out Human Intonation online or on Facebook. (PS we are such dorks)
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