Our advanced English class was tasked with writing an essay about something that is important to them - and to document it with a roll of film and a disposable camera. We loved every bit of reading their work, and what it reveals about the beauty of Haitian culture and the people we get to work with.

My name is Carl Mathieu, but everyone just calls me Carl. I live with my mom and little brother, and both my brother and I work at Haiti Design Co on the leather team.

In Haiti, I live in a little town on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince called Bon Repos. I would say every day is generally a great day for me, because in spite of everything, all of the problems and issues happening, I still love it here.

Usually every morning my brother and I ride a motorcycle to work, and take tap-taps, which are pick-up trucks that function like buses and taxis. I prefer taking a motorcycle to work, because in Port-au-Prince there is always a lot of traffic, and I get to work a lot faster. It’s also a lot easier because with tap-taps you have to change vehicles at their stopping points and that takes time as well.

At work, I spend most of my time on the sewing machine because that is my primary role on the leather team. I create a lot of products at work, sew, and trace out the leather.

When I get home from work, I usually hang out with my friends and spend time playing soccer or basketball. When it gets late or gets dark, I usually sit around the table with my family and friends and talk about a lot of different things like politics, religion, and about what we want our futures to look like. Sometimes if we have some spending money we go out and get some drinks together and just cherish spending time together.

This is what a typical day looks like for me, and I would say that it is a day that was well spent