CCS to Haiti

So my school has gone to Haiti over spring break for the past two years, and I have the pleasure of joining them for their third trip. I will be staying there for a week to do volunteer work. Since we are art students, however, we don’t just do average volunteer work. We teach arts and crafts to groups of adults at the Apparent Project, who will in turn be able to use those skills to make products that can be sold in order for them to support not only themselves, but their families. A big problem in Haiti is that the country is so poor many parents are forced to give up their children to orphanages because they cannot afford to take care of them. In addition to volunteering at the Apparent Project, we will be going to an orphanage and helping out there.

 

Here's some of the work we've sold to help fund our trip! All handmade goods.

As someone who has never left the US before, let alone traveled to a third world country, I am excited and nervous all at once. I look forward to helping the people of Haiti during my stay, and know that they will impact my life just as much as I hope to impact theirs. Since my blog is art based, I will post an update after the trip showcasing some of the beautiful artwork done by the local artists of Haiti as well as the projects my group and I will be teaching them. Stay tuned for updates!

If you’d like to learn more about the Apparent Project or the CCS Haiti Service Learning Trip, click here. We're also accepting donations!

-Until next time,
Rachel

A Psychedelic Evening

A few nights ago, I attended an opening celebration event for a Michigan based company started by a CCS alumni. This company has been picking up so much heat over the last few years, and is known as BLVisuals (Black Light Visuals). I had the opportunity to meet the co-founder of BLV, Brad Lawrence, a few years back and was ecstatic to hear that he was opening his first storefront in Clarkston, Michigan. I rounded up a few friends and drove out to the event where we arrived around 8:30pm. After finding a parking spot and entering the building, we were immediately in awe of all of the bright colors and patterns that surrounded us. Racks upon racks of individually dyed shirts, hats, shoes, hoodies, crop tops, and even sports bras and booty shorts filled the first room. And, much like the name suggests, everything was glowing under color changing black lights! They were even giving away some free shoes and shirts, and had a raffle drawing for two mystery boxes. 

 

Once we passed through the shop, we found the paint station, where they were doing free body painting. The line was long at this time so we decided to move on and come back later. I found Brad and said hello and introduced him to my friends. That's when we found a revolving door that looked like an old dark room door. All three of us fit into it comfortably, and we spun the painted, color changing door until we ended up on the other side in a new room. This room had a whole different vibe to it. It was more of a lounge, with tents and couches, as well as a live DJ and a table full of snacks. We grabbed some food and relaxed as we watched people spinning colorful hula hoops and batons.



After we had our fill, it was time to be painted  (finally!). We joined the line and waited patiently, talking with a few people int he meantime. We first had to soak our arms in a bucket of salt water solution and dry them so the paint would stick. Then we hopped into the paint station line, where the live painter would ask each person’s favorite color and add add some of their own choices to a large bucket. Once they were satisfied with the paint swirls, they would ask the “paintee" to slowly dip their arms in, palms up and then pull them out and into another bucket to rinse. Within seconds we had out very own custom paint job and went to dry off. We hung around a bit longer and waited until they raffled off the boxes (which unfortunately we did not win), and then made out way out for the night. Overall, it was a great experience! There was such a great crowd of people, and the
 atmosphere was one like I had never experienced before.

To check out more from BLVisuals and visit their store, go to blvisuals.com