a family newsletter our family at a glance · 2/2/2014 · translation and travel services with...

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Life without basic education and a profession is a trap to the poverty cycle, societal ostracism, and a blocking stone to human development. Very often, people love to learn and will go to great lengths to acquire knowledge. However common factors such as starvation, homelessness, and financial hardships are always deceiving and defeating elements in the flow of learning. The results to those factors are always wide, deep, and strong. Individuals found trapped in those circumstances, if not helped, normally just get depressed, stressed out until they are entirely shattered. Some drop out of school, some develop substance abuse behavior, some contract mental diseases, and others may become violent or totally useless. Those terrifying factors affect communities as much as they prey on an individual’s life. The more frequent are those cases, the fewer qualified skilled labors

a country can produce for the market workforce. And, the more these problems persist, the more they influence local companies, discourage foreign investors, and the fewer opportunities a country has towards development. In this newsletter, you will learn how the above factors personally affect my family and I while eagerly pursing our education. You will also be acquainted to measures we

February 2014

A FAMILY NEWSLETTER by Schneider Dorcela and siblings

Our Family at a Glance • We live in Port-au-Prince, Haiti

• There are nine children in all

• Four siblings have successfully been enrolled in university

• Four siblings are beginning high school this fall

• Our household budget is $1,300 per month to cover basic necessities (food, rent, water, and electricity)

• To provide for these needs, our family has started several businesses that you can read about in this newsletter!

In this Newsletter

2. Our monthly budget for basic necessities

3. Update on the online launch of SchneidArt and expansion to include translation and travel services

4. Update on Freedom Cyber Café

Like us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/SchneidArt

From back to front and right to left: Paulna (mother), Schneider (oldest brother), Mike, Dave, Josué, Kendly, Winchel, Milliame, Dada (youngest sibling)

www.schneidarthaiti.wordpress.com

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have optimistically taken to counteract the adversities. My family and I are relentlessly determined to pursue both our secondary and higher education. We think the right and best channel to sustainable success is belief in God, hard work and a solid education. As we strive to maintain and follow our dreams, our struggles do not stop despite potential American and Canadian’s financial support and personal countless efforts. Our adversities are still strong and distracting and they all come in various ways. i) Food insecurity – inability to maintain even our

daily staple diet ii) Lack of funds to pay our rental (home) and its

accessories iii) Failure to match sponsors’ funds to help our four

(4) youngest siblings attend school The above variables are common and powerful elements in hampering learning progress in families as well as in communities. Their presence in people’s lives is very disturbing. They act like a malignant tumor and encourage apathy. Having to study with an empty stomach and follow several nights like that is daunting. Being unable to pay off our rent on its due date is frightening. Witnessing our own younger siblings not being able to attend school due to insufficiency of funds is a grief. Each of us in the family has personally experienced an apathetic moment due to the effects of those factors. And, that’s alarming! The battle of pursuing an education while coping with life’s concerns is not an easy one. But, as a Christian family, we have learned to trust God and try to keep up our morale.

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February 2014

Our monthly budget for basic necessities

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To support a household of nine people, we estimate a monthly budget of $1,314 US. On a per year basis, we need to earn $15,760 US. The pie chart on the bottom left displays a breakdown of these expenses, which do not include educational or medical expenses. Our largest expense, food for the family, represents a budget of just $3.50 US per person each day. Our family strives to cover these costs through hard work and innovation through our various business endeavors. As of now, our main sources of income are Freedom Cyber Café, SchneidArt Products, and Translation Services. The top pie chart to the right summarizes our 2014 earning goals from each of those businesses in order to be able to adequately meet our $ 15,760 yearly household budget. The bottom pie chart to the right shows our realistic revenue. Please, take a look at the figures and our plans of action in the rest of this newsletter.


Toiletries,**$475**

Food,**$11,400**

Water,**$525**

Electricity,**$360**

Rent,**$3,000**

Cost%of%Basic%Necessi-es%per%Year%


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We hope to earn approximately $10,000 this year through our current businesses, SchneidArt and Freedom Cyber Café. We are also hoping to earn an additional $5,600 through our new business endeavor, SchneidArt Translation.

Based on current sales, we realistically expect a budget gap of $9,918.

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February 2014

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In Haiti, public schools are very limited – most families must pay school registration fees, supplies, uniforms and monthly enrollment costs, which can total over $800 per child each year. This past summer, we were facing the possibility that my four youngest siblings would not be able to attend school for 2013-2014 because of financial hardship. With the help of Nancy Turner, Stephanie Lee and others at Love and Grace Ministries–Haiti, we conceived the idea of our newest business endeavor, SchneidArt, to raise money for these costs. My siblings and I have been handcrafting bracelets for visitors to Haiti for over a decade, but this past September marked the launch of SchneidArt online, making these bracelets available for order over the internet.

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The impact that SchneidArt has had on our lives so far has been enormous. Right after the launch of SchneidArt, God worked a miracle and we received a loan for $2,000 so that Kendly, Milliame, Winchel and Dieuspheralda could enroll in school this past October. Since September, we have sold over 50 bracelets through our online website, raised over $450, and received over 300 likes on Facebook. Through advertising and word-of-mouth, we also found four generous sponsors to cover our youngest siblings’ school registration fees, uniforms and supplies. As we continue to grow our business, we are constantly striving to innovate and meet the needs of our customers. In addition to offering custom bracelets with multiple colors, designs and text options, we are

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now proud to offer custom pet collars and wedding keepsake bracelets.

How You can Support SchneidArt We are always looking for new customers, ideas and venues to advertise and sell our bracelets. Here are a few ways you can help our business: (1) Use SchneidArt bracelets to advertise your

company, event or cause (2) Help us sell pre-made SchneidArt bracelets

with popular Bible verses at your next fundraiser or church event (we can mail you some right away!)

(3) Let us know if you have any new ideas or uses for SchneidArt products

Products available for order at www.schneidarthaiti.wordpress.com/products

SchneidArt Update


Translation and Travel Services With the aim of counteracting language barriers between English native speakers that want to work alongside Haitians that only speak Creole or French, my family and I have expanded SchneidArt to include translation and travel services. We strive to meet the needs of all our customers by accommodating their budgets. During school time, we are all busy attending classes and studying. But, in the summer, we are all available and happy to work as interpreters or translators.


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February 2014

Freedom Cyber Café

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Thanks to the generous and potential financial donation and electronic equipment of a Canadian family – the Locks, and thanks to partial assistance from some American friends – the Quails, the Martins, and some others, our family was able to start a small internet café business, which we call Freedom Cyber Café (FCC), in Port-au-Prince, Haiti in 2008. FCC is a small business that provides online surfing, international calls, word-processing, and printing, copying, basic office software training, and so on. When we opened FCC in 2008, online surfing and international calls represented over 50% of the business global income. For almost four (4) years, the business achieved great success and its productivity substantially helped my family and I meet most of our needs – food, rent, education, and even healthcare. But, with the advance of IT and the unprecedented domestic internet access, we have now lost almost all of those opportunities.

Used Clothing Sales

In an attempt to maximize the family’s revenue, we envision to integrate our mother – Paulna Dorcela in our business plan. She would like to sell used clothes that are in good condition. To achieve this goal, she will start using the patio in front of our internet café business. But, this initiative will entail the building of a small storage area for her inside FCC to store her merchandise in the afternoon after each sale day and the installation of a wall-mounted canopy on the patio to help protect her and the clothes from the sun and rain.

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Most of our clients just use internet on their smartphones to surf or to call abroad. This unexpected and sudden shift has dramatically affected our gross revenue in the business. Our market studies show that even though online surfing and international calls are no longer in great demand, we can still be in business by equipping ourselves with the right equipment and tackling the odds that keep affecting our machines and FCC as a whole. Monochrome, color, and large format copies and printing are still in raging demand. Many small businesses like ours have lost businesses in online surfing and international calls as well, but they are able to keep up with the market speed because they can provide those services. So, we imagine if we can have access to the right equipment at least a heavy duty printer with high ink yield and low maintenance fees, we will be back to business and therefore be able to draw enough income out of FCC to help meet some of our basic needs. Other factors that affect our business are infrastructural security. Electronic equipment hates dust. But, because FCC does not have a door, everything inside is exposed to dirt and dust. This vulnerability occasions frequent break- downs and rapid wearing out of the machines – printers, computers, modems, phones, etc. We believe the installation of a glass door would be a great help in stopping this problem and participate in the growth of FCC.

(continued on next page)



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February 2014

Our Restoration Plan for Freedom Cyber Café As part of our restoration plan for Freedom Cyber Café, we have put the table below together with the prices from quotes we have requested for the most basic items needed for the repairs and enhancement from different sources. The prices shown in the table are for items that are brand new, but we will acknowledge and appreciate any used items (in good condition) similar to what we need as a donation or with an affordable cost.

Please email [email protected] if you can help!

Item Qty Cost Quote Source

Canon C2230 printer (high capacity) 1 $ 5,195 Richard Pirovano: http://www.a-bs.com/

Laptop security cable 6 $ 89.94

http://www.amazon.com/Sendt-Notebook-Laptop-Combination-Security/dp/B008A4F8UA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1391707551&sr=8-2&keywords=laptop+security+lock

Glass door 1 $ 803 Tamara Tellechea: http://atlantic-haiti.com/home.html

Wall-mounted canopy 1 $ 730 Maxonel Alexis - Local freelance builder

Storage building, re-installation of cubicles, etc.

N/A $ 300 Calixte - Local freelance carpenters

Unexpected expenses N/A $ 500 N/A



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Our optimism in light of reality Everybody in life has challenges. And, the challenges are not what really matter. What matters is how serious we take the challenges and the measures to overcome them. Among tens of thousands of Haitian families, my family and I are fortunate to be able to run our own small businesses, and to enroll in university and middle school. But, despite this great fortune, we still face odds that are strong and distracting which need to get knocked down. And, we have the answer to how we can tackle our adversities and be the winner. The sale of 1,000 SchneidArt Products with a 5-dollar profit on each item will account for 32% of our annual budget. Eight weeks of SchneidArt Translation Services provided by half of us in the family with a minimum wage of $ 35/day will represent 36% of the total household budget. The restoration and expansion of Freedom Cyber Café are a great prospect for the growth and resiliency of this business. We expect at least $ 5,168 US as net profit that can straightly go toward our budget needs, which is another 33%. If we can achieve these goals, the equation will be balanced and we will thrive! Our involvement in our communities will be bolder, and more sustainable. But, as of now, we cannot even meet 40% of our budget while everyone in the family has been

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sacrificing every second they have at doing something to bring their participation. Our current budget gap is $ 9,918, which is 63% of what we need to survive. The way we get affected is numerous and complex. Sometimes, we have to skip food, or eat less healthy. Other times, we have to delay payment on our rent or beg friends. We believe in God, education, hard work, and self-sufficiency. We are determined to continue to pursue our education, impact our communities for the kingdom of God. But, these few challenges need to be swept away. Friends, Donors, and Sponsors, there are several ways you can be part of helping my family and I thrive and continue our outreach to the people in our communities. You can help us promote the SchneidArt Products, hire some of us for Translation Services, or make a donation toward the repairs and expansion of Freedom Cyber Café. A model of our income progress will be placed on our new website. Please, visit us at the following address: www.schneidarthaiti.wordpress.com. If you wish to help, please contact us at: [email protected] or call Stephanie Lee at: 973.580.4136 (U.S.), or David Lock at: 416.436.6369 (Canada). We work with several nonprofit organizations in the U.S. and Canada, so if you wish to make a donation, and would like a deductible tax receipt, we can always drive you through one of them. Thank you for taking time to read this newsletter.

a family newsletter our family at a glance · 2/2/2014 · translation and travel services with...

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