That's where you'll find Apredye.
Apredye (Ap-ray-jay) might be a familiar face...especially if you've followed any of Jessie's social media (he's been her personal Haitian uber driver for almost a year now) or if you've come on a trip to Haiti. When we have teams, he is our always dependable, always on time, always available errand runner. We're pretty sure that if he wasn't around during teams, we'd constantly be out of water jugs and borderline running out of diesel for the generator. But more than that though, he's become a great friend.
We first met him a couple years ago because he was friends with an old staff member of our previous organization. He was always around and we'd use him to run errands every once in a blue moon. When Konbit launched, we didn't necessarily have the vehicle accessibility we'd once had, so we turned to motos and our trusty friend Apredye for so many daily little things. His faithfulness in the small things has led to us using him for many more things both great and small.
Like picking up and dropping of kids we send to school.
Like delivering doors.
Like buying and delivering goats.
Like teaching Jessie to drive her own moto.
And many, many other things.
Any time there is work to be done, he's always around and he's one of the first ones to jump in and help whether its driving, buying things, swinging a hammer, or putting a roof on a house.
Over the past few months though, the moto he had, had become a money pit. Most Haitians say that after a moto is 2 years old, then it will start breaking down all the time. The moto he had was 3 years old and in Haiti after being driven on these difficult roads, his bike was considered ancient. And it was beat. up.
It was time for a new moto and a new contract and Kris knew that when funds allowed, the next moto contract would go to Apredye.
And the day arrived here recently.
So the funds were collected, Apredye was called for a meeting with Kris and Elimage, a contract was signed between the three, the moto was purchased, and all the paperwork was done to make it legal.
Now Apredye has dependable wheels for all the errands we send him on and this gives him the opportunity to earn even more money. He pays for his 18 year old sister to go to school and is the only one in his family with the closest thing to a full-time job. The more he can work for other people taxi-ing and doing whatever errands people need, the more money he can earn. The more money he earns, the more he can lighten the load and decrease the burdens of his family. His dream is to start building a little house for himself on property his family owns and by having a dependable moto, there is less money wasted on repairs and he can start working toward that dream.
So from the bottom of our collective Konbit heart, THANK YOU!
Thank you to everyone who invested in putting people to work here in Gressier. Because of you there is one more family being taken care of. There is hope. Tangible hope. A hope and an opportunity to provide for themselves and others every. single. day.
***We have many other friends who know how to drive motos and who could greatly benefit from a moto contract through Konbit. If you would like to help a family and provide work for someone day after day, contact Kris today. You can read more about the moto business and make a donation here. ***