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COOL HEALING
Rebuilding a country's infrastructure after a traumatic event often starts with rebuilding the shattered lives of its people.
Two Brooklyn ice cream merchants, set out to do just that with their non-profit, Blue Marble Dreams.
Founder Alexis Miesen says "We build ice cream shops with women in areas recovering from conflict or natural disaster, with the belief that these sweet, small enterprises can help revive both the spirit and the economy of a community.”
In 2009, Blue Marble Dreams partnered with a group of women in Butare, Rwanda, to open the town's first ice cream shop. The woman went through business training for a year before ever touching an ice cream machine, learning basic business finance, operations and culinary production. The shop opened its doors in 2010 and provided job opportunities as well as sourcing ingredients from local farmers.
It was so successful that a similar one was opened in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, after the devastating 2010 earthquake. The country was literally in shambles and presented unique challenges to setting up the shop, both bureaucratic and logistical. Prices were constantly changing and so was the government.
The store was built out of repurposed shipping containers and equipped with a custom-built, micro grid that uses solar power. It's designed to function independently of the unreliable local power grid. It opened its doors in 2016 and the sweet shop has provided employment and a place to find fun, hope and empowerment, especially for the women who run it. "When you empower a woman, it impacts her family and community as a whole," says Alexis.
Indeed, the impact of Blue Marble Dreams has stretched far beyond the frozen treats and the women who sell them. It's created a space of healing for the communities to come together and move beyond the pain of the past, and work towards dreams of a sweeter future.
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