Argentine On The Way Home...

In my mind this is really the most unbelievable story.  And yet entirely true.

As many of you know most of the SHONA Congo women left the refugee camps and returned home to Congo a year and a half ago. 

But 1 woman, Argentine, chose to remain in the refugee camp in Burundi with her young daughter. As a single mother she felt it was the only way she could keep her daughter safe.

That was until a few weeks ago, when the President of Burundi declared he would run for another term in office, and strong opposition began to take to the streets.  Argentine called and said that she needed to get out of Burundi before the war broke out, but she couldn't find a safe way to leave.

Imagine that... sitting in a refugee camp, having fled the war and insecurity in your own country, only to be threatened by war breaking out in the very place you have taken refuge.

 

  Imagine sitting in a refugee camp and looking at your 2 year old daughter, who was born in that camp.

 

Then looking down at your legs, covered in metal leg braces and the crutches that lay by your side. And then glancing at the work you have done for the past 2 months.

 

  Seeing the 80 bags that you have carefully sewn, and packed, ready to send to America.  And hearing that the roads are closed, and that fighting will break out any time now.

What do you do?

There was a moment of relative calm last week where Argentine saw her opportunity, and fled.  She fled with her daughter and her younger sister, a little of girl of about 8 years old, hanging on to whatever they could.

 

 They fled  to the capital of Burundi, where they found all the businesses closed and they were unable to mail the giant bundle of SHONA bags that they were carrying with them.  So they just kept going.

 

Argentine and the 2 little girls climbed on a bus with their possessions and their SHONA bags and made it to the Congo border.  They breathed a sigh of relief as they arrived at a town in Congo where a friend had offered to let them stay for the night.  But they found the house crowded and knew they had to push on, to make it back to Goma.  They borrowed money from their friend to buy tickets on a bus to Bukavu, the town across the lake from Goma.  When they made it to Bukavu they would climb on a bus for the last leg of their journey.

They breathed a sigh of relief as they sat on that bus.  But halfway through the journey that bus suddenly stopped.   Argentine peered out the windows and grabbed the little girls closer as she saw the streets had been blocked by angry protesters.  The population was rioting.  Angry people clambered on board of the bus and began to beat the bus driver.  A few Congolese soldiers happened to have been traveling on the bus.  They slipped out the back and went to look for more soldiers for help.  Meanwhile the angry population began to make its way through the bus, roughing people up, demanding all that they had.  Argentine grabbed her little girls tighter and began to pray.  She had only enough money on her to pay for their boat tickets for the final leg of the journey home.  What would happen if they took that?  The crowd got to Argentine.  They picked up Argentine's metal leg braces, which she had taken off and set to the side for the journey.  Without those braces Argentine cannot stand.

And then somebody said "she's disabled.  Leave her alone."

And they did.


Argentine glanced to the heavens and heard a thump from the roof.  People were on the roof of the bus, pillaging through the luggage that had been tied to the top of the bus.  SHONA's 80 bags, all of Argentine's work for the past 2 months, were up there.

And then she heard shooting.  The soldiers were back, this time with reinforcements and as they fired into the air the crowd began to disburse.  Argentine hugged her little girls tighter.  And someone started the bus again, and they fled down the road. Hoping this time to find an empty road to travel home.

Here is the crazy thing.  This happened in Congo.  Remember how Argentine was fleeing the unrest in Burundi?  She was right to flee.  Yesterday a coup was announced in Burundi and it is unclear what will happen next, but it is hard to imagine that it won't involve continued violence.  But when Argentine fled the refugee camp she fled back to Congo, and as it happened, she stumbled right into another conflict.  It isn't even the same conflict that plagues Goma.  It was local unrest that Argentine could never have forseen.

Argentine had fled her home country, found a refuge, only to find her refuge threatened with war, and as she fled that refuge back to a home that still remains insecure, on the road home,  she stumbled into a 3rd conflict.

And she did all of this with 2 little girls, metal leg braces and crutches, and 80 SHONA bags.

 

 When they finally did get off that bus in Bukavu, Argentine climbed out and looked at the roof.  And there was the bundle of SHONA bags, untouched.

Argentine asked me to tell those of you who pray, that your prayers matter.  That she should have died.  That she thought they were going to.  That those bags should have been lost.

But somehow, they have made it home.  Bags, and little girls, and mama.  They are back in Goma.  It was a long road home, but they made it.

 

      The bags that Argentine sewed are her income from the last 2 months.  That money that has carried her home and is keeping her and her daughter and sister fed and safe.  Your purchases matter infinitely.  Support the work of the 4 amazing women from SHONA Congo as they continue to fight for stability, safety and hope in the midst of chaos.

Who is your child's hero?

Who is your child's hero?  In this world of mass-marketed super-heroes, it may seem that there is a different answer each day.  But the truth is, sometimes you are the hero.  Even when you are exhausted, and out of patience, and covered with crumbs, you get to be the hero.  You somewhat miraculously deliver food when the troops are hungry and comfort when a toe is stubbed.  And that makes you a hero for a moment.

This is Mapendo with her 2 sons.  Cooking what seems to be an enormous pot of beans.  I'm not sure what I love about this picture.  But I think it is the way Joashe and Jonathan are looking at their mama.  They are literally looking to her for nourishment, with the little one trying to steal a sip of milk and the older one's eyes glued to her face as she cooks.  And look at the smile on Mapendo's face, as she provides for them.

Because that is where the key lies.  The ability to provide.

Mapendo is disabled.  Her childhood home was destroyed by the ongoing war.  Shortly after her older son was born she had to flee to a refugee camp.

If you were taking a poll of women who were likely to have to "relinquish" their children to an orphanage, she would surely rank fairly high.  All the SHONA Congo women would.  And yet they are such proud mamas. 

For the SHONA Congo women their sewing has made all the difference.  It has empowered them to provide for their children. It has empowered them to be their children's heroes.

It is an experience that perhaps I have taken for granted.  Every time my daughter asks for a snack, and I can give it to her.  Everytime I tuck her into a snuggly blanket and she says "thank you mama"...in her 3 year old world I am her hero.  I have what she needs.

And that's what I love about this photo.  Look at those little boys' faces.  They are looking at their mama like she is a hero.  It is no wonder she is smiling.

That should be a right of every parent.  To be their children's hero.  Oh I know, children grow and become teenagers and you can't stay a hero forever...or even for an hour.  But for a moment, when they are little, we are.

Sometimes I think we lose sight of this privilege.   We love children.  And in our rush to help other children, especially those in countries torn by poverty and war, we rush in and become the heroes.  We donate clothing, or make a doll, or pay school fees, or visit an oprhanage.

And I don't mean to dismiss those endeavors.  Perhaps sometimes that is the only way to help a child.  But often it is not.  Most children have adults in their lives, families that we can empower.  That is true even of a surprising number of children in orphanages in Congo.  Sure, it is difficult.  But I think there are actually a lot of organizations out there doing this work.

 There are products we can buy that empower adult by creating real jobs in Congo with real dignity.
www.shonacongo.com (that's us!)
 www.mamafricadesigns.com
 http://equalexchange.coop/congo-coffee-project

There are micro-finance loans that you can give small vendors in Congo.  By empowering a woman selling beans in the market to buy more inventory you help her to build a business which will sustain her family.  
www.kiva.org
 
There are programs that help educate and empower families and communities to support grieving children
www.newhopecenter.org

There are programs working to empower families to welcome home their children.
  http://reedsofhope.org/foundational-initiatives/

There are programs that hire local women, train them and empower them to support each other in the face of sexual violence.
 http://www.healafrica.org/womens_center

And I am sure this is only the beginning of the list.   Feel free and add more, because I am sure together we can come up with a great list of ways to empower adults in Congo.  And for every time that we talk about children in Congo we should talk about adults.  Because it takes only a second of glancing at Congo to realize that most adults in Congo have children that they care for, in one way or another.  Let's be honest, most adults have many children that they care for.
  
So let's make some new heroes today.  Being a child's hero is an experience that should belong to us all!  

 

Would you pick up that baby?

Imagine you hear a newborn baby crying.  The mother has died, leaving the baby alone and shaking as she cries.   Would you pick the baby up?

Now what if that baby might have Ebola and you have no protective gear?  What do you do then?

It is a horrific question, but one which is shockingly real in West Africa.  (Read this shocking story from the NY Times here to find out what happens far too often and from NPR here)

In this culture it is easy to imagine a world of medical solutions.  We can comfort ourselves with the idea that we would call 911.  We can imagine loving nurses in protective gear.  And there would be an incubator to keep her warm,  Formula to feed her.  And maybe a happy ending.

But in the West African countries reeling from the Ebola crisis, these solutions most often don't exist. These are impoverished countries whose medical systems were struggling even before the crisis.  For example before the Ebola crisis the Liberian Ministry of Health listed just 50 doctors working in public health facilities serving a population of 4.3 million".(according to the President of the World Bank)

How can we expect a country like this to respond to a crisis of this scale largely on their own?   Yes, we have sent some help.  But not nearly enough.  And so we have left the people of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea in an impossible situation.  Every day families bring their sick loved ones to the hospitals only to be turned away at the gate because there are no resources to care for them.  The Washington Post reports that as the epidemic rampages,there is increasing fear of providing maternal care for women in labor.   So pregnant women, who might possibly have Ebola, are turned away at the gates, sometimes dying in childbirth. This leaves an orphaned newborn behind, and the question of what to do with a possibly infected baby. 

And so imagine yourself in a place like this when you hear that  newborn baby cry.  With no one to call for help and no protective gear in sight, honestly, do you touch that baby?  What if it was your grandchild?  How could you not reach out a hand?

So how can we expect anything else from the people of West Africa?  As long as we continue leave people stranded with an impossible choice, the epidemic will continue to spread.  Because as long as medical care is  unreachable and protective gear is unavailable, people will continue to offer their sick loved ones the only thing they can, a comforting hand and a place to die.   No matter how much that puts them at risk of spreading the disease. 

But there should be another option.  We may not have a cure for Ebola but we definitely do have the resources to care for people much more safely.    We could provide a massive response in these 3 hard-hit countries, with adequate protective gear, medical equipment, and trained professionals.  Our government is capable of mounting massive wars, we are capable of this.  And it would make a huge difference to the course this epidemic takes.  But there is no will politically.  And that will not change until the American public begins to demand it.

So how is it that we have fallen silent?  Or worse, fallen into circular discussions about how much we are in danger here in the US.  No matter what you think about grounding flights or closing our borders, these are only secondary measures and will never contain the epidemic on their own.  The best way to make ourselves safe here is to end the epidemic there. 

But the epidemic in Africa continues to spread.  And we continue to remain largely uninvolved.

Lately, I have been thinking a lot about what it means to be human.  I have full faith in the humanity of the people of Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.  Without any other resources, and in the face of very real danger there are still people carrying a bleeding woman to the hospital or picking up an orphaned baby.  They refuse to turn away.

The question is whether we ourselves will find the humanity to share our resources and help them do it more safely.  

Labor Day

In honor of Labor Day, I thought these words from Argentine were fitting.  Here they are translated into English and in the video you can listen to Argentine speaking in Swahili.  

"Me, I am thanking God very much because of this work we have... Before we had a very poor life...we were sewing in a shop...and they were "eating us" (taking advantage of us). We didn't even have the hope that we could get work...work that we could see is helping us and helping our families."

Those words strike me...
"work that we could see is helping us and helping our families."  What a seemingly small thing to ask for.  The video continues and Argentine goes on to list all the things that they do with the money they earn.  She mentions "small things" like buying vegetables to eat and soap to wash their children's clothes.  And then she talks about the money having made it possible for them to flee Congo when the war escalated and find safety in a refugee camp.  And then she goes on to say that she probably would have died in child birth if she hadn't had the money from her work to pay for a good hospital and medicine.  Finally she points to the young woman sitting behind her in the video, with the baby. She explains that this  is her sister in law with a new baby, who has also fled the war, and who Argentine is providing for through her earnings.

To my American mind it is a scattered list with vegetables and laundry soap in between references to near-death experiences.  And yet in a world like Congo it makes perfect sense.  On the edge of poverty and war, there are no small things.  Buying vegetables is as vital as fleeing war.  And the SHONA Congo women have done both through your purchases.

In honor of Labor Day we would like to thank each of you for creating a world where Mapendo, Argentine, Solange, and Riziki can labor and reap the fruit of their labor.  Thank you for supporting the work of their hands.  
   

My problem with "reusable bags"

This is how it happens.  I am at the grocery store.  

Finally, miraculously, with my 2 year old daughter in tow, I am finished shopping.

I get to the check out line and realize I have no cloth bags with me.  I stare at the clerk as she readies her stockpile of plastic bags.  I calculate how many of those bags she is going to use on my purchases.  10? 15? Does she really have to double bag everything?  I consider the possibility of juggling my purchases home.  Or simply abandoning them on the counter.  But then I glance at my daughter as she ogles the candy display, and decide I have to get realistic.  And I have got to get out of here.

So I reach to my right.  Where I can happily buy a few brightly colored reusable bags for 99 cents each.  "What's a few dollars for the environment?" I tell myself.

But somehow it never quite sits right.  Either way, disposable or reusable, my stomach churns.   

Because there is something wrong with a disposable plastic bag.  But there is also something wrong with a reusable bag that costs a dollar.  Or 59 cents.

It's too cheap.
 
I want to know who is making these bags.  And how much their workers are getting paid. 

Because what on earth is the value of my "going green" so that I can support sweatshops?  

Still, stuck in that line, wavering between disponsable and "reusable" I choose reusable.  I promise myself I will really re-use this bag.  I will hang it by the door, and remember it next time I go to the store.

But sadly, this bag is utterly forgettable.  More likely than not, this bag will be stuck, like a dozen similarly colored bags, in a drawer somewhere I never quite remember.

So what is one to do?

I don't have any easy answers, but it strikes me that maybe this is part of the problem.  Maybe real bags don't belong in the checkout lane next to tabloids and cheap candy.  If I can buy new "reusable bags" every time I am at the store, something has gone wrong.  Maybe we have made "going green" just a little too cheap and easy.  Maybe all those "eco-friendly bags" are still far too forgettable and expendable.   

I would like to issue a challenge today.  Buy one of our stunning new SHONA shoppers.

 Yes, at $20, they aren't that cheap.  But this is a real bag which will carry your groceries for years to come. Do we really want it to come cheaper?  These bags honor the real work it takes to handcraft them in one of the most war torn regions of the world.  They are beautiful, durable, and they come with amazing stories behind them.  Leave the tag on and tell someone the story.

 

Because here is the thing.  These bags, and the stories behind them, are unforgettable. They are the bags you will not only remember to bring with you, but you will look forward to it.  And isn't that the point?  Buy a bag you will remember.

www.shonacongo.com

The difference between 12 cents and 7 dollars....

Before you buy that brightly colored bag...
the one that looks like it must be "fair trade"
Consider the difference between 12 cents and 7 dollars.

Stop and ask the person selling tthe bag, "Who made this bag?"
And then ask how much that person actually earned.
And if they can't tell you, then let's be honest.
It is probably a mass-produced, factory-made bag, just like you would find at Walmart.  Just in a different color.

Changing the color doesn't change how it was made.
And just because something looks like a celebration of another culture, doesn't mean it wasn't made in a sweatshop.  

Consider the graphic below and you will see an average $14 shirt allows for 12 cents for labor.

 A similar graphic could be made for most bags.  The person who made the bag usually earns only cents for their work. So when you see those trendy, "ethnic" looking bags for sale at a street festival, don't assume they have a beautiful story behind them.  They usually don't. 

 Pick up a Signature SHONA Congo bag instead. And you will know exactly who made your bag. It is written right there on the tag. right next to her picture.  And more importantly you will know that the woman who sewed that bag earned $7 for that bag. Compare that to 12 cents in a factory.

SHOP SHONA and celebrate real beauty.

Do the SHONA women blow your mind?

Have you ever noticed that most of the links on Facebook promise to be "mind-blowing"?   
I mean the lead in to almost every video that is posted proclaims something like...

"at 1:00 my jaw dropped."
"at 2:37 my mind was blown."

Almost nothing is posted without a promise of...

"This is unbelievable!" or perhaps "This will change the way you see everything"

Clearly we live in a world that is endlessly fascinating and shocking.  Or so they tell me.

It becomes hard to compete.  I mean should I even bother posting a link if it doesn't promise to change the world, or at least blow your mind?

I struggle with this question a lot.

For the past 6 years I have worked with 4 amazing women.  In all honesty these are 4 of the most poor and vulnerable women in the world. 

I could traffic in catch-phrases.  After all the women are refugees.  They are disabled.  They are poor and vulnerable.

And they are amazing.  And inspiring.  And complicated.  And their lives deftly refuse to be summarized into any kind of 3 minute clip.

One of our customers recently wrote  a review which read

I have been astounded over the years about the stamina, hard work ethic and product quality and development of the Shona Congo women. In the face of overwhelming odds they have continued their work...these women are the strongest I know in this day."

  And that's the thing that most of our customers would attest to... Watching these women on such a personal level, year after year, is truly mind-blowing.  But it isn't a 3 minute clip.  It is a friendship that lasts a lifetime. 

SHONA is tiny, with no outside funding and no staff.  This sometimes drives me crazy, because it is hard for us to get our message out there. 

But it has also made us incredibly real.  You all have followed the very real lives of these women.  You, our friends, have fled war with these women.  You have followed them to refugee camps, prayed as they gave birth to their children.  And touched the stitches they have sewn with their own hands.

And I'm willing to gamble that somewhere along the journey these women have blown your mind. That they have changed the way you see the world.

If that is true, would you do this for us?
1:  Share this video
2. But before you hit "share", make it personal. Add your own story, telling your friends 1 way that the SHONA Congo women blow your mind.  Or 1 way that they have made you see the world differently.

In the end, I think back to all those 3 minute clips on Facebook.  The ones that promise to blow my mind and change the way I see the world.

Mostly they have just blown my 3 minutes.  In an amusing way of course.  And there is nothing wrong with that.  Sometimes, we all just need a little amusement.

But we also need real friendships.  We need to share this journey of life.  My guess is that you buy SHONA because Argentine, Mapendo, Riziki, and Solange are real to you.  Would you take just a minute, and help make us real to somebody new? You can hit email this post to a friend directly below, or visit our Facebook page and share the video from there. 
Thank you!