In my earlier Crafty Minds post I mentioned that RPCV KJ Lewis (Namibia 98-00) had written to me about Globalsistergoods.com, a fair trade import business that partners with women
artisans in several countries. At the end i promised another post with the story of how she got started, because I'm kind of nosy about these things. So here it is, in KJ's own words...
"I was a grade 1-4 teacher trainer in Peace Corps, and
worked with ten rural schools in Owamboland in northern Namibia. I was also
quite interested in educational leadership and management, and did some
leadership development work with principals. I'm proud to say that I was the
first PCV in my village, and there has been one ever since-- they must be on
PCV #8 or 9 now. When I returned to the U.S. in 2002, I landed in Portland,
Oregon, where my little sister had recently bought a house. My husband and I
loved Portland, so we bought a house and I attended graduate school at PSU, where I received a Masters in Public
Administration and an MS in Education Policy. It was the latter that took me
back to Namibia, and I conducted some field research there (again, on school
management in emerging democracies) in 2005. My mom was to join me later for a
trip through Botswana, but for the research part of the trip I had asked along
a British friend who happens to be in global marketing.
We had an amazing trip. My friend had grown up in
Zimbabwe but hadn't been back to the bush since she was 12, and it was
beautiful to see how this return to Africa transformed her. We spent many
nights sitting at my best friend Kaino's shop, talking with women I had lived
with, catching up with each others' lives. The best moment for me was pulling
into the village and calling out to Meme Ndiftu, the headman's wife, my "mother".
She (age 65? 70? she's not sure) was carrying something like 50 gallons of
traditional beer on her head, which she carefully set on the ground before
ululating, calling all the other women out to greet me in song. (Now, that's a
great welcome home--and I am not ashamed to say, I cried.)
It takes a long time to drive from place to place in
Namibia, and we had a LOT of time to talk...it was a transition point in my
life which is always stressful but always transformative. I was finishing
school, and had job offers waiting... but really, I told my friend, I have
always wanted to do some work with the strong, entrepreneurial rural women I
knew and worked with as a PCV and in other contexts in Africa. Women, it seemed
to me, are the key to development. Women work hard to feed their children, to send them to
school, to make a better future. Projects that focused on women's
self-reliance, and skill building seemed to have the greatest potential for
sustainability, for women truly invested themselves in their community and
their future. Microenterprise projects involving crafts were particularly
interesting to me, as they had the added value of preserving cultural
traditions and at the same time providing avenues for skill transference (using
traditional techniques on new products, for example). Plus, I admired these
women, and wanted others to know them, and about their lives. As PCVs, we all
know this is the greatest gift we can give each other: understanding and
acceptance.
But, starting my own NGO seemed particularly daunting; I
had no idea where to begin. My friend pushed me: what about a business? (Now
THAT was really out of my ken).
My friend is very convincing, and I have to say that when
I dropped her off, the thought was lingering.
My mother and I set off for Botswana, and another
transformative experience. My father had recently passed away after a long
illness, and this was a time to reconnect with my mom, have a little adventure,
and get some much needed vacation in. And it was--amazing.
On the drive back to Windhoek, and home, we passed
through a small town with a small crafts shop selling ostrich eggshell jewelry
made by San women. The long and short of it is, they asked me if I could help
them find a market in the U.S., and I, not being sure, responded with an
"I'll try." That was the beginning.
When I arrived back in Portland, I wasn't really sure
what was next, but I was quite sure I needed help (one of my skills is knowing
where my deficiencies lie), and my little sister, who had recently left her
policy job to raise her daughter, seemed the best choice. We have the same
worldview but very different skills.. a good thing for a partnership.
At the beginning,
we thought Global Sistergoods would be a side project, and we would work from
home. But now, coming up on our first anniversary of full operations, we have
an office, and employees and such and a distinct lack of free time! But it is
so energizing and fulfilling, connecting women to the market here. And our
customers are amazing, too! We feel so lucky to be part of this circle.
Of course, there are frustrations (as you may
imagine)--most notably in the conflict between "American time" and
time in other places!
Luckily with email and faxes and the like, communication
becomes much easier, even than when I was in Peace Corps (when I had to walk
uphill both ways through the deep sand for 30 k to get to a phone).
We are also grateful to have the support and friendships
you can only find in the Peace Corps community and we have been very happy to
work with several current PCVs on their secondary microenterprise projects. Our
Namibian products are some great examples of the work current PCVs are doing
with women artisans.
We sell our products retail through our web site at www.globalsistergoods.com, and also
wholesale to small stores, boutiques and museum shops. Part of our joy is
sharing the wonderful stories of these strong, entrepreneurial women with our
customers.
And the feedback we get from them is amazing--which makes
me hopeful that I can "bring a little of the world back home."
The RPCV Archival Project is an informal network of RPCVs who work directly with the John F Kennedy Library to preserve the Peace Corps’ legacy through oral history interviews and the collection of archival materials from those who served as volunteers in the field. In the five years of its existence, more than
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