Little by little the bird builds its nest

It took a while to find, not the proverb itself but one that is written with Bambara letters. From this proverb came the idea to ask Sarata to have baskets woven with ngongonili, an aromatic grass in Mali that women put in their drinking water. It smells lovely; natural and fresh. And is perfect to keep in the shower. Now that they’ve arrived the most fitting would be to include the proverb in with each basket or nest of shea soap “eggs”.

The proverb represents what I’m working toward as I imagine many of you out there. Perhaps especially the mompreneurs who are at home much of the time with kids and making small steps to bring another vision to life.

The baskets are an ode to all those, in Mali and elsewhere, who continue to work toward a goal, undeterred, no matter how slow the progress may seem.

Decorated friendship box, calabash & aromatic grass basket

I was very happy to see the artistic expression on some of my new eco containers. Let’s see what customers think. I’m obsessed with the possibility of natural and/or recycled material packaging. There are so many options to explore. So far I’ve got calabash, hide, and aromatic grass, but it’s all at the infant stage. Let’s cross our fingers that I’ll be able to go to Mali this year for a few days and work on it some more.

Why am I doing this you may ask? I’ve ranted in previous postings: there’s so much plastic in the world, too much superfluous packaging. I don’t see a future in it. Not one where people, animals and wildlife can prosper.  Since living in Mali, I realized that “poor” countries are not poor, they are poorly managed. There are amazing natural resources everywhere. If we’re creative, we can  benefit from them and put ourselves on a sustainable path.

Life in other places follows the agrarian calendar. While looking into finally returning to Mali to work on more products, I realized that it’s best to not go during the rainy season because most of the people I’d need to visit will be in the fields planting.

Actually the seasons play a role in product development and delivery in my line of business too. Cooperatives spend more time during non-planting season working on other income generating activities. It’s especially important for me to keep this in mind when collaborating with them so that I respect their schedule and avoid disappointments if they cannot deliver on time.

Those in developed countries might not readily think of this because they are no longer closely linked with agriculture and, to be honest, do not live on subsistence level.

I just came across an episode of the Daily Grommet where they highlight Arghand soaps “Pebbles” variety bag. I appreciate the detail the moderators delve into about the look and feel of the soap. Equally important they succinctly explain the difficulties the cooperative struggles with. So glad it was brought to a larger audience!

It’s a good watch!

A few months back though the couple repatriated to New Zealand. I wondered how the cooperative would fare after their departure.  Turns out they are all doing great, and business in Thailand is good enough that they can focus mainly on local sales which the women can manage completely.

I learned that although the cooperative has more than 10 members, four women are dedicated to the Yonjai Spa product line, and others handle gift boxes, photo albums, and other products. This explains sometimes why I was told there would be quite a wait during their busy times!

I asked if the cooperative had any plans for expansion, since I see many possibilities for the lovely products. No, they told me, the women do not want to grow. They are satisfied with each person having full-time work.

Then my thoughts returned to the current talk these days of “sustainability”; a term that can mean something different to pretty much anyone who uses it. In this case though the women have struck their perfect balance and are getting along completely independently from the expat couple. And that perhaps, is the best example of sustainability. It can be small, as long as it works for the people who are involved.

Then as millions of us do, I took it to google, and lo and behold got lots of information. My take on it is that people work with local artisans and alter their products it in some way to appeal to tastes in the developed world so that the artisans can sell more and thus become self-sufficient.

On the surface this seems super. For example I used to work with a small group of women in Mali to crochet change purses out of used plastic bags. Another take on this I saw a while back was a large beach bag also made out of recycled plastic bags.

However that cynical voice in me asks why we are having them change their style for us and the hopes of mass consumption? Granted, this is a very esoteric and rather whiney question when the reality is that people in developing countries are struggling to survive day to day and simply seek income. I place a high value on authenticity when sharing culture as is reflected in the Africa line, and only make modifications such as the size of my wusulan burner to fit ‘inside living’. Or the aromatic grass basket soap holder to make it easier to place in the shower.

I read an interesting article: http://www.chfinternational.org/files/craftscenter/craftsnews/CraftsNews66_lo-res.pdf

It was fascinating to see the impact on craft development with bogolan (or mudcloth) in Malian culture. There are so many layers to this culture it’s amazing. For example, I just learned that bogolan, like wusulan, is traditionally a women’s activity. I used to pass artists working on large bogolan projects, but never saw women doing it and never knew it was theirs originally. Not to mention the sublime motifs and imagery!

This is when that cynical voice arises – bogolan, unlike recycled plastic bags, is a centuries old tradition passed on between women in Mali. However as the international appetite for all things exotic blossoms, how far should artisans stretch to sell something?

I wonder if artisans can remain true to the authenticity of their cultural motifs and also reach a larger audience. Perhaps by including a story with each item? Shouldn’t we be the ones to accept something that is unusual to our sensibilities yet real and unique?

It became ever more present to me how many similarities there are between India and Mali: weather conditions (a long hot dry season followed by torrential flooding rains), plants and trees, etc. However India is far ahead in rural development and making appropriate technology accessible to the masses. It reminds me of what Dan Nocera at MIT is promoting as personalized energy, but that is a separate blog entry.

One particular site I visited recently (www.tinytechindia.com) caught my attention not just for the cute name but that they devote an entire section of their website to Gandhi’s teachings on the topics of industrialization, mass production, village versus city, machinery and western civilization.

As I read it I was astonished at the truth of Gandhi’s predictions in today’s world, and wanted to share it with you. I found it sad that we ‘lived up’ to what he saw coming.

Perhaps we can return to some of his views to reconstruct a sustainable society. What do you think? I’m going to read further.

http://www.tinytechindia.com/gandhiji1.html

I don’t know about other cultures, but Americans seem to always seek the “silver bullet”. That is, the one thing we can do to solve a problem. Life isn’t linear though, and often we need many tools to bring about the desired change.

On the surface cooperatives seem great. A group of people band together to attain certain goals. However it’s useful to look at the other side, in each country.  Some people start cooperatives because they’re told that there are added benefits such as financing from donor agencies.  Yet, working closely in a group is a challenge in any country, perhaps even more so in countries where basic necessities are stretched thin and people must engage in multiple activities just to make ends meet.

I’ve heard a number of times, in Mali at least, of cooperatives that fall apart, creating bad feelings between the members (who are often neighbors, or friends). Sarata currently struggles with her cooperative, mainly because she needs members who are as strong and determined as she is to pick up the slack when she is not present so that operations continue. In fact, the other members recently told her that she is the only one who can bring things forward and direct activities! So this has given her pause for consideration.

Also, Kadja of Djenuman Cooperative spent the last 10 years whittling down the number of members until she had a group who really worked well together. She says that it’s better to have a 2 person coop that works well than 100 people who cannot function together.

Other cooperatives work well when they are ‘centralized cooperatives’. These types focus on a specific activity, and in reality are run like a small business offering members some kind of steady “pay” or other support. Especially in poorer countries where as I mentioned earlier it is difficult to make ends meet on a daily basis even for basic necessities like sauce ingredients or children’s school items.

So while I support cooperatives I think we in developed countries should also look to support small business owners, artisans and others as directly as possible. As always, I am interested in your thoughts.

I instantly became a fan of the high quality, handmade French-milled shea butter soap that is truly made with love in Mali, West Africa. The cooperative use local ingredients that are known for nutritive and healing properties such as henna, neem, wild African honey, and balanites leaves, which are collected from wild trees of the same name.

Wanting to get to know the cooperative better, I called the President Kadja Fofana. She is a fascinating woman who became interested in soap making over 10 years ago. She is an example of a person who possesses amazing tenacity. She enrolled in numerous trainings, and even sat next to chemists at major soap companies in Mali to learn more about soap formulations.

Over the years Kadja has worked hard to create a small, dynamic group that crafts all natural handmade soap. If you ever worked with cooperatives, you know that it is not always easy and sunshine as we think from the Western world. In reality it is very difficult to piece together people with the same work ethic, strategic views, entrepreneurial spirit, etc. (One of my next blogs will be about cooperatives).

We applaud her efforts and are proud to bring you this product. RoukiBeauty will be working with Djenuman cooperative in the future to help them bring these lovely soaps into hotels and other establishments.

Made with love and botanicals from Mali

Her son Papou (his real name is Drissa, but we all call him Papou), is in university. He is the first person in her immediate family to go this far in education. I sponsor his books each year because he too is industrious and is progressing nicely despite the many challenges of studying in Bamako. The family never asked me for help. If you’ve been to Africa you know how difficult life is. So when I see people who fight for something, I try to support it the best way I can.

It’s not that much money in our terms, but Sarata is very grateful. She was speaking about it this weekend, when she told me that Papou told her he really needed a computer in order to keep up with the schoolwork. My mind started thinking of how to make it happen.

But then she told me that her daughters all pitched in to buy him one already! She has four girls and Papou. Each girl is working, but in Mali that doesn’t mean that she is by any means comfortable. They are frugal and save whatever they can. One daughter gave him the equivalent of $400 USD. That was probably all the money she had.

It is so inspiring and touching. For one thing, I used to have lunch every day with them when they were children at home, and it is heart-warming to see them be united siblings, responsible adults. Also that they have hardly anything at all for themselves but they will give whatever they have to help their little brother continue in school.

I am emotional just recounting it. This entry is for them.