We met an interesting Haitian woman, Polyanna Domond, an artist and a recycler. Her story is very interesting. She is the daughter of a former ambassador for Venezuela. She knows several languages and was a TV announcer for Haiti before and up until the earthquake in 2010. Polyanna was married and had children but, on that day in January, she was driving home from work while her family was in their home in Port au Prince. Seventeen family members were killed, including her husband and children.

After the earthquake, Polyanna was frantic, but she put her energy into helping those who were injured and were trying to survive. Years later, she has tried to rebuild her life and home. Now has moved to an area outside of Jacmel where she recycles plastics and old tires and makes them into art pieces. She builds walls and is now in the process of building a home out of recyclable plastics. She has an amazing story. With her artwork and recycling, she runs a “bed and breakfast” that is on the Caribbean Sea, not too far from where we live.

Polyanna helps other Haitian artists who use recyclable plastics and styrofoam to create things. We met a young man, Nelson, who was in prison and has learned how to make hand bags from used cement bags and plastic bottles. Now he is trying to make something of himself in order to take care of his family. As you can guess, Polyanna is helping him.