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!



 

    

One Mama in Congo

This is a small shack in the heart of Goma.   It is where Mapendo's sister lives, with 7 of her children.    She is a widow, with 9 children, raising her children on her own, with extremely limited resources.  Mapendo has taken in 2 of the girls (Neema and Ziada), and the other 7 remain here.

This is the shack, that 2 nights ago, thieves invaded.  Breaking down the door.  Threatening guns and taking everything.  The mattresses, the clothes, the pots and pans. Mapendo's sister provides for her family by selling beans in the market, and had recently borrowed money to buy beans and other items to sell. The thieves took all of those supplies, leaving only the debt behind.   

Eventually the neighbors heard the family's cries for help, and started raising a commotion, scaring the thieves away, before they could harm any of the kids. We are very thankful for that.

Here is the family (Mapendo's sister is on the left, all the others are her children).  Here they are in their stoic poses, as is traditional for photos in Congo.

And here they are, the older ones breaking into laughter, and even Mapendo's sister biting her lip to keep from laughing.


These photos were taken today.  2 days after being threatened with guns and losing virtually all that they had.

This is Congo.  Where a family this poor can still be robbed.  Where the next day you wake up, and go on.  Stoic faces, and laughter interspersed.

Let's do this for Mapendo's sister, and all of her children.  For every single item we sell today, SHONA will donate 25% of the sales price of that item to Mapendo's sister.  Buy a $20 bag and you are putting $5 directly into Mapendo's sister's hands.  Keep in mind that the SHONA Congo ladies are paid for every item they sew, when they sew it, so you are supporting 2 amazing causes: the dignity of an incredible group of artisans, and the emergency situation of one mama with a home full of children.

Shop by the end of the day on Thursday, May 1st and we will donate 25% of your order's total value to mapendo's sister. Can you think of a better gift for Mother's Day?

www.shonacongo.com   

The waves in Mapendo's life

So what is happening with Mapendo?


Mapendo is a strong and stable young woman. She works really hard.  But lately she has been wondering where her family's next meal will come from.   It is not one thing that went wrong.  It is a thousand little things.  One after another.  The waves keep crashing.

It started in the fall.  You may remember how Mapendo was traveling with her 2 young nieces and they got lost. For 2 weeks she searched for them. She couldn't sleep, could barely breathe, fearing the worst. And thankfully they were found. But not before she spent all her money looking for them. And then she had to pay what amounted to a ransom fee to set them free. But still, they were safe.

Around that time, people started telling Mapendo that she looked pale. Something wasn't right. She went to the clinic in the refugee camp and they told her she was pregnant. She refused to believe it. She was living in a refugee camp with her husband, her 2 nieces and her 1 year old son. She was not ready for another child.

For months she had been trying to get on birth control. But the doctors in the refugee camp refused to give her birth control until she got her first period back.

Suffice it to say that first period had never come. So here she was pregnant again.

The refugee camp had very poor medical care, so she went to the local Burundi hospital where Argentine had given birth the year before. It had an excellent maternal health program and Argentine had a very good experience there. But Mapendo was no longer welcome there. The doctors said the prices had been raised and Mapendo would never be able to pay. They advised her to go home to Congo.

You see in Congo a peace deal had been signed with the rebels, and there was increasing pressure in Burundi for the refugees to go home.

So Mapendo used all her money to get back to Congo as quickly as she could, before her pregnancy made it impossible to travel.

Thankfully she made it back to Congo. But immediately her son became sick, and she spent a week in the hospital with him. And then her husband got sick, and he was in the hospital for a week.

None of these hospitals are free. You pay for the bed, you pay for the medicine, you pay for the doctor.

And Mapendo began eyeing her situation warily. How could she sew enough to save some money for the new baby's arrival? She had only 2 months until the baby was due.

And then the doctor declared that she wasn't 6 and a half months along, as he had thought. In fact she was 8 and a half months along. The baby could come any time. And Mapendo sewed madly. Trying to save up what little money she could.

That money went for the entrance fee to the hospital. And there she was in the hospital, with a new baby in her arms, and a lot of pain from a difficult c-section. And no money to pay the remaining hospital bill. If you don't pay your hospital bill they don't let you leave the hospital in Congo. They hold you there until you pay. But each day they hold you, the bill goes up, another night is added to the stay.

So her bill kept going up and meanwhile her first born, Jonathan, who was at home with his father, developed a hernia. He cries a lot and can't sit down. And Mapendo couldn't even comfort him because she couldn't get out of the hospital.

SHONA loaned Mapendo the money to get out of the hospital. SO now she is home. And she desperately wants to get back to sewing. It is the only way she can keep food on the table. And still her son needs the hernia operation, and her newborn is only a few weeks old. And she is still healing from a 2^nd c-section. And her metal leg brace has broken so she can no longer stand. 

The challenges of poverty, of disability, and of war, are huge. In the midst of all this, it can seem impossible to change the tide. Indeed, what human hands can change the tide? But sometimes all any of us needs is that first unexpected reprieve. One time where we eye the coming wave, and hold our breathe, only to find that it didn't touch us. One wave falling short, reminds us that the tide can change. It does change.

So that's why I want to give Mapendo an unexpected gift.  A piece of grace. And the hope that the tide will change. 

SHOP in the next 24 hours and you will be supporting SHONA and 

putting an extra $10 directly in Mapendo's hands.  

Let's change the tide.

www.shonacongo.com

Home for the Holidays

Recently my husband, my daughter and I moved.  To a new city, a new apartment.  And there is something about this new apartment, or maybe just the cold outside the door, that makes me want to decorate for the holidays.  I want lights in the window.  And a wreath on the door.

So far none of those things have happened.

I have been so busy trying to keep up with SHONA that my head is spinning and I simply collapse into bed at the end of the night.  The ladies have been working for months now, to keep our shelves full this holiday season.  And I have been working to keep your orders going out the door, and new stuff coming in.

I have to admit that sometimes, especially around the holidays, I am tempted to imagine that my home wasn't strewn with packing boxes and colorful cloth.  Instead maybe I could just have that tasteful wreath on the door.  And maybe I could have those silent nights, those ones where all is calm...
And then I think of the SHONA Congo ladies.  Or I hear one of their voices.

And I pack another order. Because this is the busy season, and it matters to the ladies.

A few days ago, Argentine and Mapendo returned home.  Almost exactly a year ago, they fled their homes and their country.  And now they return.

Argentine returned carrying her daughter Rachel in her arms.  Rachel was born in Burundi.  She was born a refugee and now she returns to a home she has never seen.

Mapendo returned with her son, Jonathan.  But she also returned with a new baby waiting to be born.  She is 6 months pregnant.  Hopefully that baby will never know life in a refugee camp.  The baby is the reason Mapendo and Argentine came back to Congo.  The health care at the camp where she was living was very poor, and she wanted to go back to Congo where she knew she could find a doctor...and fruits and vegetables to eat.  Those are scarce in the camps.  So when the peace deal was signed a month ago, and the rebels started disarming, Mapendo began to count the days.  Praying that the peace would last.

Who knows if the peace will last?  Mapendo and Argentine return to a country that is still far from stable.  And they return to look for new homes.  The places where they had been living were long ago occupied by someone else.  But their loved ones are still there, eager to have them back. 

And their workshop?  The one they built with their own money, on their own land...it is still standing.  With table and chairs inside.

I think of that workshop, how silent and empty it has stood all these months.  And then I picture it in a few months, full of packing boxes and colorful cloths.  And the whir of sewing machines and the songs of praise.

And I turn back to the project at hand.  Unpacking a new box of stock that has just arrived and then packing an order for a customer.  Sending joy and hope in both directions.   Happy holidays to you all!

 .................................................................................................................................................................

Thank you all for keeping us busy this holiday season.  Your purchases mean so much.

I promise I would still love to pack your order! 
 We just got in our last shipment before the holidays!
 Now is the time to order!!  www.shonacongo.com

**And for those of you wondering about the other 2 SHONA Congo ladies, Riziki and Solange are still in the refugee camps in Burundi.  Solange is recovering well from her operation, and Riziki is expecting a baby this month.  They are both still sewing.  They will return to Congo in a few months if all goes well.

Life on the Edge: Part II

Because sometimes there is a happy ending!

After almost 2 weeks missing, Neema and Ziada have been found!  They are OK and they were reunited with Mapendo this afternoon!  We are all extremely thankful.

Let me go back a bit to tell you what happened.  As you probably already know, Neema and Ziada had been traveling with Mapendo.  They had last been seen waiting for a bus in the city of Bukavu.  Mapendo had bought them tickets and told them she would meet them at the other end of that part of the journey because her son was sick.

The girls sat and waited for the bus.  But then the bus was canceled for lack of passengers and the girls didn't know what to do.  They had only a little money and were in a city far from home.  They tried to call family but as is often the case, the phone didn't go through. 

So they sat at the bus station watching the sun go down, and a woman finally offered to take them to her home.  They went with her, along strange winding roads, far from the center of the city.  They were given some food and a place to sleep.  The next day they asked to be taken back to the bus station but the woman assured them that Mapendo would come to find them, that she was being notified.  And so they waited.

After a few days Neema, the older girl, waited for the woman to leave the house, then snuck outside.  She made it down the road, to a place crowded with many cars, and had no idea where to go.  Afraid of becoming lost and leaving her sister behind at the house, she went back.

After 10 days, the woman finally decided to take the girls to the local radio station to make a public service announcement and find their family.

The radio station saw the 2 girls and immediately called Mapendo.  Mapendo had been to the station more than a week earlier.  As soon as the girls were lost, she went there to make her own public service announcement, asking for help in finding the girls.  That announcement had been playing on the radio,3 times a day for over a week.  This is common procedure for lost children in Congo.  With no amber alerts or police investigations to turn to, you can only ask your neighbors for help, and the radio reaches into almost every household.  Unfortunately this leads to a lot of false leads.  Mapendo had already raced back from Burundi to Congo once, with the promise that someone had the girls, only to find it was someone demanding a cash payment, with no proof that he really knew anything of the girls. 

But when the radio station called Mapendo directly, her heart soared.  She thought this story could be true, if the radio station was involved..  They said there was a woman who had found the girls and that Mapendo could come and pick them up, but that the woman was demanding "compensation" for her expenses.

And it turned out to be true.  The girls were there, and they were safe.  Mapendo says they are much skinnier than when she last saw them, but that they are by all accounts unharmed.  They are all extremely happy to be going home together.

I talked to Mapendo on Thursday, a day before she got the call from the radio station.  She kept using the word "ninaishiwa".  The verb means "to have none left", it is often used for money or food but Mapendo was using the verb on herself, as in she had nothing left, inside herself.  She'd come to the end, of herself. 

And so, it is truly a miracle that these girls appeared in what seemed to be the darkest hour.  It is a miracle that there is a happy ending to a story that was far more likely to go the other direction.  Bad things can happen anywhere, but with a war escalating, a population that is in flux, and far too many young men with guns...

But the girls are found and they are well!  And yes, perhaps the woman who took the girls in, seized an opportunity to make some money.  She certainly could have brought them in sooner (like the day after she found them).  

But then again, she could have left them there.  If she hadn't taken them, imagine who else might have. So we will take this happy ending and celebrate it for what it is.  2 young girls brought home safely.  Mapendo's voice was trembling with joy when I talked to her today and I am pretty sure that she will sleep tonight for the first time in 2 weeks.

Mapendo sends her deepest appreciation to all of you for your prayers and your encouragement, and for making it possible for her to get Neema and Ziada and bring them home.

Neema means "grace" in Swahili.  Ziada means "an increase, an addition".  To me, this ending feels like just that, an overwhelming addition of grace.  And we are so very thankful.