It's Sari Bari's Birthday!! 20% off during the month of March!

Five years of freedom At the end of February, Sari Bari celebrated its fifth birthday.  In 2006, three women in one small room began sewing for freedom; they are now joined by over seventy women in three different locations, all with the same pursuit.  If that's not reason to celebrate, we don't know what is!  To invite you into our celebration, we are offering 20% off all your Sari Bari purchases during the month of March.  To receive this discount, enter "HAPPYBIRTHDAY" as the coupon code in your shopping cart and click "Apply Changes" (discount will not be applied to Suti Sana items).  Also, all U.S. customers will have the option of $7 flat-rate shipping when they check out!   New bag design - Jillik's hobo! The Sari Bari store has been re-stocked with many of your favorites, as well as our all-new hobo bag, named for Jillik, who has lead many others into freedom. Thanks for being part of the freedom story.  Happy shopping! Kathryn McRitchie, for everyone at Sari Bari Visit Sari Bari's website:  www.saribari.com

Suti Sana

Sari Bari has a new line of products available on their website made by a company called Suti Sana that is based in Bolivia. All of the following information is from Sari Bari's blog.


We are delighted to introduce you to Suti Sana, a business of freedom in Bolivia.  Their lovely bags are now available at saribari.com.

Here is their story…
Eight years ago in El Alto, Bolivia a naive gringo couple started visiting the dank, dim brothels in the main Red Light District.  As they got to know the women there, they offered to help however they could. Many of the women folded their arms over their chest and cynically asked, “How do you plan to help us?”
Through the years, the answer to that question has developed into medical and legal assistance, hospitality, small loans, and most of all friendship. And all of these efforts have culminated in the inauguration of Suti Sana.
Suti Sana is an economic and therapeutic option to prostitution in El Alto, Bolivia. Suti is an indigenous Aymaran word meaning “name,” and sana means “healed” in Spanish. Within caring community, women can finally experience holistic transformation of “healed names” and identities.
Women enter the Suti Sana program for six months of training, rehabilitation, and education. During those months, the women participate in individual and group therapy, economic and nutrition classes, devotions, and training in sewing on industrial sewing machines. After six months, the women can enter Suti Sana as full-time employees.

All Suti Sana bags are made of aguayo, an Andean wool cloth that symbolizes life in Bolivia. In El Alto, women carry their fruit, vegetables, and even babies in this durable woven material. Each bag is made from 100% pastured sheep wool and may contain natural inconsistencies.

Get your Suti Sana bag here

These bags are so cute!!   

                                                         Love,                                                             Jessica                                                      

All of the pictures and text were used with permission from Sari Bari.                                                   

Sari Bari

buy one now

   When I found out about Sari Bari, I knew I had to write about them! I love what they stand for; giving women a way out of a hopeless situation and offering them hope and a healthy environment to work. They are based in Kolkata, India. The following is a description about Sari Bari from their website.   

Sari Bari is a business. Our mission is to offer freedom to women who are trapped in the sex trade and to provide opportunity to women who are vulnerable to trafficking. We do this by providing employment in a safe, loving environment, where women are trained as artisans. The women create beautiful, sustainable, handmade products, while making their lives new. We invite you to journey into the freedom story of one woman with your purchase.

  All of their beautiful products are handmade by the women using Indian Saris, and are marked with a tag which shows the name of the woman who made it. You can find out a little about each woman on Sari Bari's website.

Here are some of the products these women make:

 

Purses

Blankets

Scarves, Makeup bags, and tablerunners.

   Please visit Sari Bari at www.saribari.com and check out all their beautiful products. You may notice that many items are already sold, but they receive new shipments about every six weeks, so keep checking back!

   I hope you are as excited to shop in a new way for gifts for Valentines Day or for birthdays that are coming up as I am! The idea of giving something beautiful to those I love and also at the same time giving towards a company that is helping women find freedom is so much fun to me. It brings a new joy to shopping for gifts!

e

Jessica

Pictures and information used with permission from Sari Bari's website.

Valentine Gift from Sseko Designs (with purchase)

   Right now seems like a great time to buy some Sseko sandals! Like them on Facebook, then leave a comment saying who you love right now, then purchase a pair of sandals from Sseko Designs and receive a piece of handmade jewelry as a gift!  Its not sandal season just yet, but wouldn't it be great to have a pair for the spring! You could ask your sweetheart for a pair for Valentines Day...nothing says I love you like a new pair of cute shoes.  :) But, maybe that's just me, because I really love shoes!! (:  

Give a gift of love that keeps on giving!

e   



 Jessica



P.S. Sseko just came out with a few new straps!! Check out all their straps at: www.ssekodesigns.com

Pictures used with permission from Sseko Designs.

Sseko Designs

   I am so excited to introduce you to Sseko Designs.  In Uganda, a war torn country, young women are hired by Sseko Designs to make sandals. These women are not given aid, but an opportunity. An opportunity to provide for themselves and their families and to save for their college education. These women are given an opportunity to have a better future.  

A letter from Liz, the woman who started Sseko Designs:

Hello.

My name is Liz.

I like to dream.

I went to Uganda  on somewhat of a whim when I graduated from college in 2008.  Over the past several years, my passion towards the Least of These had continued to grow. Yet, I had never experienced the effects of extreme poverty first-hand.

Now having just spent four years and a couple of pretty pennies for a university education, I couldn't just flee the country without a respectable response to the much dreaded "What are you going to do when you graduate?" question.  To justify such an outlandish adventure to another world, I (thought I) had to have something to DO; I had to have a plan.  My academic background is in journalism and communications, so I went to Uganda with the intention of using my communication skills to assist a youth development organization with their communications, donor relations and quarterly newsletter. 

And this made sense. All through college, that was the plan. To graduate and do PR and communications for a non-profit.

So I set off. To offer the world what I thought I had to offer.

But really, it was a guise.

I went to learn. To understand. To be changed. To break. And to grow.

So I went. And while I was there…

I changed. I broke. And I grew. And I began to understand.

During my time in Uganda, I came across an incredible community called Cornerstone. And in that incredible community there was an incredible group of young women. They were mostly my age.  They became friends.  The commitment of these young women blew me away. I was consistently challenged by the fact that these women saw this incredible education they were receiving through the Cornerstone Leadership Academy as such a gift. And these women were not only committed to learning their subjects,  but also so committed to learning how to love well. To love each other. To reconcile their lives. To lead their countries.

When I came to learn that many of these incredible young women were struggling to find work to finance their university education, Sseko was born.  It seemed so simple.  I designed a sandal that I thought was really beautiful.  I spent weeks, wandering around the city and the markets looking for the things I needed to make them.  I didn't know what I was doing. I laughed at myself, out loud, a lot. I also had a dramatic cry in the rain in the middle of a busy market. Luckily, it was pouring and I didn't bring any mascara with me to Uganda, so I don't think anyone could tell.

I had entered into a community in a world of brokenness and despair, where there was so much hope and success. I was just a small part of a simple solution. Some of these young women are from villages that have never seen one of their own women continue on to University.  And here they were, two years later. They had received an incredible education and were qualified academically to continue.  All they needed was an opportunity.

An opportunity to work.  An opportunity to succeed and earn and save. To work in a place that was dignified and honoring.  To work in an environment and with people who see beyond the now and have a vision for what they will become. 

So that is what I did.  We make beautiful things. We laugh and we love and we dance and we learn. And every nine months, we let go and we send these incredible women off to pursue dreams of their own.

I am still learning.  I am making mistakes and making a mess. But it is a beautiful adventure. 

I love to dream about the future of these women. About the change they will bring and the love they will give. 

But I love dreaming about the here, as well. About building a community of people right here, who love with everything.  Who see shoes as something more than a lifeless product on a shelf. Who see the lives and the dreams of the hands who made them.

Thanks for being a part of loving these women. Thanks for looking beyond the mess of the now and seeing a brighter future for them and us, for their country and for ours. 

Love,
Liz 

This is what the base of the sandal looks like, you just put the straps through these five loops to make your sandals different designs. 

The Sandals!

 

These are just a few of the straps that Sseko has right now. The last two are my favorites! 
 Check out their website to see all the straps. They rotate straps every several weeks so keep checking back for new designs.

   I absolutely love the sandals these women create! I love that there are so many different ways to tie the straps - over 30 ways! And I love that I can buy sandals and support such a great cause! Check them out at http://www.ssekodesigns.com/ or search for Sseko Designs on Facebook.

I will be blogging more about Sseko in the future!!

-Jessica

Pictures and text taken from the Sseko Design website. Used with permission.

The Christmas 2011 Challenge.

    The Christmas 2011 Challenge was inspired by my friend Vicki, who told me that when she shops for Christmas gifts she tries to find gifts that give two ways, a gift she can give to a friend or family member and something that also supports a good cause. So I told her that next Christmas we should try to see how many two way gifts we can buy. 

   So, I would like to pass on this challenge to you as well. Let’s give gifts that give back and support meaningful causes. Why just buy some random item that has no meaning, when you could buy something that makes a difference? Let’s make an effort together to make our money and our giving this next Christmas really count.

   This idea has inspired me to hopefully inspire you through this blog. Throughout the year I will be researching and finding organizations that sell two way gifts, then posting about them on this blog, to let you know what opportunities are out there. This year don’t wait till the week before Christmas to cram in your shopping.  Be deliberate, and look for ways to give meaningfully!

P.S  If you know of any companies that you would like me to post about, please leave a comment!