Loss and Hope

Solange

The child was named Asante. What a beautiful name. In Swahili it means "thanks".

Unfortunately this was the child that I mentioned earlier. The child of Solange's sister. Solange has only 1 sister and 1 brother. Although she is only 20 herself, Solange is the eldest in her family. Her parents died years ago and her younger siblings have had a hard time of it. For a while they were living in a refugee camp. During which time, Solange's sister had a little boy and named him "Asante".

Eventually they moved back to their family home, in an area that has been all but deserted because of ongoing fighting. That is where they were living, way out in the bush, and in the midst of insecurity, when Asante became sick. Medicine didn't seem to help. They had no money. They took him to a "kishenzi" doctor. That is a "traditional doctor" or an "herbal doctor".

I am sure there is a place for this type of medicine, but I also know that these are often the doctors of last resort.

When there isn't a hospital nearby... when no one knows what is wrong with you... when you think someone is poisoning you... or when you just don't have much money...

you go to these "doctors".

You get the idea.

The Kishenzi doctor gave Asante some form of treatment. But he died. And now the family owes $50 to the doctor anyway.

But what other options did they have? Doing anything feels better than doing nothing.

When Asante died, Solange was summoned by her sister and brother before she had a chance to get a hold of me.

She had no money in her back account because all her savings went into the small plot of land that she bought 6 months ago. She is still waiting to save more money to build a house on that plot of land, so her brother and sister can live there in safety.

She planned for Asante to live there too. But he didn't quite make it.

Solange went back to her rural home, full of shame, because in Congo it was surely her duty to contribute to the cost of a funeral for this little child. And yet she had nothing, but the promise of some land she bought for the future. They couldn't bury Asante for 2 days (a long time in Congo) because no one had the money for even the simplest of burials.

I can't think of a more clear example of what it is like to live in Congo. There is an endless, unimaginable balancing...where somehow you have plan for a future when the present is barely hanging on by a string.

Do you save money to buy the land and build a little house, so that a year from now your family can live in safety? But what happens in the meantime?

Or do you cover the emergencies that arise each month, shelling out month after month, but building nothing for the future. The tyranny of the urgent, leaving you just as destitute next year as you were the last.

It is a balancing act. Solange has now paid for the medical debt to that kishenzi doctor. And she remains with the promise of a small plot of land. If only she can find the money to build upon it, her brother and sister could have a safer place to live. It may seem a small consolation to the loss of a child, but it is also the best way to avert the next disaster, before it happens.

A tiny house in Goma, can mean a lot. It means better security, and better health care, and it means hope to continue forward. It is SHONA sales that bought that land and it is continuing SHONA sales that will allow Solange to build upon it one day.

I wish for all the world that Asante had a different life, the opportunities he surely deserved.

But I remain forever impressed by the strength of those who face these losses, often too many to count, and still believe that a different future is possible.

Please buy SHONA products and reward that hope. For Solange and her family your purchases really do make all the difference in the world.

One step closer

This is my dream. My dream is to bring you and Argentine together. I know your lives are a million miles apart. And she lives in a place that you can barely imagine.

But you and she have more in common than you may realize.

She sews beautiful bags that you have gone out of your way to buy. And the money you spend on those bags, is helping her to create real change in her own life and in those of others.

I can't wait until she can tell you about it herself.

Because in the end it is not about bags, no matter how beautiful they are, but about creating connections between people.

So check out our store today. We've got brand new stock, but more importantly we're bringing you and Argentine one step closer together...or maybe it is Mapendo you want to connect with. Or Roy or Solange or Riziki. The choice is yours.

Because now you can search our store by craftsperson, and check out the unique talent of each individual.

You'll see that each craftsperson has a unique story, and also a unique talent. Remember each person goes to the market, no small feat on crutches, chooses her own cloth, cuts it by hand, and sews it herself. Each bag she creates is an extension of herself, her beauty, her story.

So try it. First, pick a craftsperson, and go back and read about her life again. Then go to our store and click on her image. You'll see all of the work of her hands. I guarantee it will inspire you.

We're busy working on more ways to connect you directly with these amazing individuals. Pretty soon you'll be able to read a tweet from one of them, instead of from me. And leave one of them a message, instead of me.

Because, we shouldn't live in a world where the stories of the poor and the vulnerable are are always told by other people, no matter how well meaning we are. Doesn't everyone deserve a chance to tell her own story? And, for that matter, to sell her own bags?

This is just one step. But I am celebrating because it is a major step, and one which took a lot of preparation. You see, it is easier to just throw everything together and slap on a corporate logo. Just look at how everyone else does it.

But I am committed to putting in the extra work, so that our craftspeople truly sell their own work. Because a world in which Argentine can sell her own bags, and profit from them, is one where her voice matters. And a world where you can choose whose work to support with your purchase, is a world where your voice matters more. So take a minute, if you can, and check it out. Support our effort to bring us all one step closer together.

Our shelves are empty! We need your help!

This is it. If there is one critical step for SHONA, it is right now, right here.

We have the chance to become a self-sufficient organization.
And we absolutely have to take it.

We are a completely independent organization with no outside funding. Becoming a self-sufficient organization is the only way we can continue our work.

Now this is quite a proposition, when you consider that our income is built exclusively on the work of of handicapped craftspeople in one of the war-torn regions of the world. Can we really do it? That is what I have spent the last year and a half figuring out.

The answer is a resounding yes. We can and we will. The market is there, and our craftspeople are more than capable.

But we need your help. We need to maintain a much larger stock. In order to do that we need a Working Capital Fund to cover the upfront costs of material, shipping and wages. Those are costs that we must cover long before products arrive in our store. When products do arrive, and they are sold, those costs will be recovered and the fund will be renewed, providing a foundation for our work for years to come.

We know this is a stretch. “Working capital” just doesn’t have emotional appeal. It would be much easier to ask for donations to...

• help put food on the table
• provide medical treatment for handicapped women
• send poor children to school
• rebuild the homes of refugees

But the truth is that this fund literally will do all of the above. Or rather it will allow a small group of handicapped craftspeople the honor of doing these things themselves.

Our craftspeople use the income that they earn from SHONA to do all of the activities listed above, and many more. That photo above is Gloria, one of Roy's six children. With his income from SHONA he has put four of his children in school this year, two of them for the first time. In the past year our craftspeople have worked hard and created incredible change in their own lives, and in the lives of others. Will you help us make that change a lasting reality? We are starting a membership club for SHONA. If we can find fifty members, we can become a self-sufficient organization.
Join us today!

BECOME A MEMBER

Learn more about why this is important

Hillary Clinton in Congo

On her visit to Congo a couple weeks ago, Hillary Clinton snapped. Ok, so she didn't really snap, though she perhaps got slightly bent out of shape. And for a woman as cool as Hillary, apparently this is big news. I snap on a daily basis in Congo, but of course, I am not the Secretary of State.

In case you didn't read about the incident, it involved a town hall event in Kinshasa where a university student asked a rather inappropriate question. Again, this is hardly a shock. People asked me what I considered to be inappropriate questions on a daily basis in Congo. The questions aimed at me usually revolved around the fact that I have been married 8 years and do not have children. You can take it from there. But in this case, the student asked Mrs. Clinton what Mr. Clinton thought about a trade deal with China. Hillary was rather put out that the student wanted to know about her husband's opinion, rather than her own. I suppose that if I were Secretary of State I would have reacted similarly.

Afterwards, the student approached Clinton (Hillary, that is) and explained that he had meant to ask President Obama's opinion, not Bill Clinton's. Perhaps. Or perhaps that is simply the easiest thing to say when you offend the US Secretary of State.

For a while the incident was also reported as a translation error. But that does not appear to have been the case.

So what do I have to say about this incident? I feel that I should weigh in somehow. Surely the world is waiting for my voice...

I get it. I totally understand why Hillary Clinton would be quick to feel that she was being overshadowed by her husband. I would feel the same way.

But I also find it totally believable that this student did not make a mistake. That he intended to ask her husband's opinion. And I think very few Congolese, men or women, would find this question offensive. Why shouldn't a wife be asked about her husband's opinion?

Hillary answered the question saying...
Wait, you want me to tell you what my husband thinks? My husband is not the secretary of state, I am. So you ask my opinion, I will tell you my opinion.
Diplomatic or not, I like her answer.

Perhaps that student really did make a mistake. But, in a country where physically handicapped women are not considered "marriage material", where wives are routinely deserted if they don't bear children, and where sexual violence has risen to horrific levels perhaps an indignant response was not the worst thing in the world. Hillary came to Goma to address (or at least learn about ) the problem of sexual violence in Eastern Congo. She made the usual remarks and speeches, and showed the appropriate level of concern. But pretty speeches can only carry us so far. The solution to the plight of women in Congo must come from many directions. Yes, laws must be written and enforced, and a culture of impunity must be changed; but women themselves must also demand better.

The media spun this minor incident into a hot debate on whether Hillary feels threatened by Bill's reputation. But I would argue that we are looking in the wrong direction. This "minor incident" may be the most valuable thing Hillary did on her trip to Congo. Speeches and conferences about respecting women's rights are all well and good, but that one minute exchange where Hillary Clinton arches her eyebrows and demands better from that young man, may be worth a thousand words.

Hillary Clinton in Congo

On her visit to Congo a couple weeks ago, Hillary Clinton snapped. Ok, so she didn't really snap, though she perhaps got slightly bent out of shape. And for a woman as cool as Hillary, apparently this is big news. I snap on a daily basis in Congo, but of course, I am not the Secretary of State.

In case you didn't read about the incident, it involved a town hall event in Kinshasa where a university student asked a rather inappropriate question. Again, this is hardly a shock. People asked me what I considered to be inappropriate questions on a daily basis in Congo. The questions aimed at me usually revolved around the fact that I have been married 8 years and do not have children. You can take it from there. But in this case, the student asked Mrs. Clinton what Mr. Clinton thought about a trade deal with China. Hillary was rather put out that the student wanted to know about her husband's opinion, rather than her own. I suppose that if I were Secretary of State I would have reacted similarly.

Afterwards, the student approached Clinton (Hillary, that is) and explained that he had meant to ask President Obama's opinion, not Bill Clinton's. Perhaps. Or perhaps that is simply the easiest thing to say when you offend the US Secretary of State.

For a while the incident was also reported as a translation error. But that does not appear to have been the case.

So what do I have to say about this incident? I feel that I should weigh in somehow. Surely the world is waiting for my voice...

I get it. I totally understand why Hillary Clinton would be quick to feel that she was being overshadowed by her husband. I would feel the same way.

But I also find it totally believable that this student did not make a mistake. That he intended to ask her husband's opinion. And I think very few Congolese, men or women, would find this question offensive. Why shouldn't a wife be asked about her husband's opinion?

Hillary answered the question saying...
Wait, you want me to tell you what my husband thinks? My husband is not the secretary of state, I am. So you ask my opinion, I will tell you my opinion.
Diplomatic or not, I like her answer.

Perhaps that student really did make a mistake. But, in a country where physically handicapped women are not considered "marriage material", where wives are routinely deserted if they don't bear children, and where sexual violence has risen to horrific levels perhaps an indignant response was not the worst thing in the world. Hillary came to Goma to address (or at least learn about ) the problem of sexual violence in Eastern Congo. She made the usual remarks and speeches, and showed the appropriate level of concern. But pretty speeches can only carry us so far. The solution to the plight of women in Congo must come from many directions. Yes, laws must be written and enforced, and a culture of impunity must be changed; but women themselves must also demand better.

The media spun this minor incident into a hot debate on whether Hillary feels threatened by Bill's reputation. But I would argue that we are looking in the wrong direction. This "minor incident" may be the most valuable thing Hillary did on her trip to Congo. Speeches and conferences about respecting women's rights are all well and good, but that one minute exchange where Hillary Clinton arches her eyebrows and demands better from that young man, may be worth a thousand words.