Papillon is a social enterprise whose mission is orphan prevention through job creation. Skill development and employment address the needs of families before they are at the point of desperation, forced to give their children to an orphanage because of extreme poverty. After all, the vast majority of Haiti’s “orphans” have not been orphaned by parental deaths, earthquakes, hurricanes, or floods, but are children of living parents who gave them up simply because they knew that an orphanage could feed their child. Lagging adoptions, overcrowding, and lack of accountability has made many orphanages less than adequate homes for children, who often develop severe emotional problems such as reactive attachment disorder. Papillon finds creative ways for Haitians to be self-employed so that they can take care of their own children with dignity and joy.

Besides providing parents with a job training, Papillon is also socially & ecologically conscious in their production process. Papillon has a wide variety of sustainable products, but mostly known for their paper beads made from recycled cereal boxes and pottery made at their all-women potter's guild with the local clay in Haiti. They also support many metal artisans who create intricate metal art pieces from recycled 55 gallon oil drums, individually cut, flatten, and chisel using only a small hammer and a few small tools.

When we purchase from Papillon, we are keeping Haitian families together and providing holistic support to parents and their children.