Look good, feel good, do good

We want to make sure that Samunnat does not depend on the presence of any one person. (Mind you, we probably need to clone Kopila).  So we try to make sure information is shared and stored and that skills are trained to more than one person.  Sometimes this is not possible but it is always our goal.  Some of our next posts share this underlying theme of independence.

 One goal for the past few weeks was to trial and train some new ladies to select one or two who would join the polymer team.  Another was to train trainers. 

 Together, before training started, we reviewed our polymer training program to work out what we’d train and how we’d do it.  We shared teaching to see who of us had good skills to become teachers.  We know that we can’t all be good at everything!  We taught like we’d teach our daughters or young sisters, showing a skill then getting them to help with more and more as they could.  We trained both bead making and jewellery assembly, beginning with more simple things.  (No nativities but we did make sari beads!!!)

 We have some wonderful teachers and it was good to see how naturally some took to the task – this especially included one who had very little formal schooling herself.  She taught the ladies how to improve their work in such a clear, encouraging and effective way. 

Here are some comments the ladies made about being teachers:

 When I learned to make jewellery with polymer I was SO happy and even happier that I can give someone else this knowledge to make their life better.

 What we have been given, I realise that I can give this.  If I can give this and other ladies can use this knowledge, they will know what we have got.

   I never thought I would get to be like our teacher and am so excited to be doing this now.

 I loved teaching the pumpkin beads because the new ladies learnt so quickly to make them and loved them so much.

 Teaching well is not easy but when you teach you learn from them and get so much from that.  I divided the people into small groups and that meant we could all become so close to them and see how to help them. We could see what they did right and wrong and could help them more.  Teaching them in the small pairs it was easy to teach them.

 I was nervous when I was going to teach new bahini haru (sisters).  Would we be successful or unsuccessful?  But then I was very comfortable to teach them and now I will be so happy to teach them.

 I am .so happy to teach and that I have my chance to teach to other bahinis…

 Of our 5 potential trainees, two are continuing with the jewellery making – Sita will focus on stringing and Rita will continue to be apprenticed in the polymer.  One was not in our target population and another decided that this was not the right time for her to commit the time required to undertake training.  She will stay with Samunnat for ongoing legal support which is her priority right now.  Meenukha had lots of other really good skills and will receive income generation training in other areas as well as legal support with her divorce case and quest for compensation.

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So much happening!  This will be a quick post and we’ll flesh it out later! We just want to say Happy New Year and tell you of some of the things happening for us.

We realised that one of our new trainees, Sita, had really significant eye problems (nothing like some beading to make this pretty obvious!!).  An early diagnosis and treatment with gorgeous pink magnifying glasses donated by the travellers (Terry I think!) on our last Colourful Journey tour made a small difference but her comments that the table still looks uneven suggested a proper diagnosis was in order!  So we sent her and the lovely pink glasses off to the eye hospital and eventually the magnifying lenses were replaced with proper ones that corrected her other eye problems.  She was delighted because she rather likes the pink frames.  Not to mention being able to thread a needle. 

On Saturday, 5 ladies head to Kathmandu by overnight bus (approximately 16 hours) to begin their training at Casa Nepal with Project Apeiron.  One will be studying Beauty Parlour work, two others are looking at training with the Bakery Cafe – a chain that employs deaf people – and a fourth is doing Computer training.  The fifth lady is doing short term training and will be back in a few months and the others stay for 12 months.  Project Apeiron covers the costs for one Samunnat staff member to accompany them and we are paying the costs for another to go because it has long been our policy to give as many of our ladies as possible the experience of travelling to Kathmandu and meeting with the people we operate with or visiting our suppliers. 

We don’t actually have paid staff and it is the polymer ladies who have become part of the backbone of our organisation.  Kumari and Sharmila went to Kathmandu last time so their names were excluded but we drew lots and Pramila and Gita were the lucky ladies chosen.  Neither have been to Kathmandu before so that their talk, as we work, has been of little else!!!!  To say they are beside themselves with excitement is a massive understatement.  Words can’t say!   They will stay for nearly a week and are busy planning.

Another of our new polymer trainees is settling in surprisingly well given her situation.  Her story is tragic and her problems ongoing and awful.  But her spirit and determination are incredible.  Yesterday, after an absence due to her dreadful circumstances, she returned to the office and quietly shared her awful experiences of the day before.  She now has new sisters who comforted and encouraged her in the way that only those who have made a similar journey can.   She talked about how the training has been a refuge for her.  And she has been an inspiration for us with her hope and resilience.  She has two small children (one 5 and one babe in arms) and lives alone with her mother.  Their vulnerability was confirmed yesterday but the support of their helpful and caring neighbours reduced this a little.  Legal proceedings against her estranged husband are underway and efforts to reduce their vulnerability are in place. 

So, from all of us here to all you who have love and encourage us, Naya Barsha ko lagi subba kamana.  Happy New Year and may 2069 be one of great joy and love for you all.

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In Nepal, we pay for our health care.  It is very sad but sometimes parents see their children die because they cannot afford the proper treatment.  TB treatment and snake anti – venom are the only two treatments that the government provides.  The cost of  someone medicines, therapies and surgery is often so much more than families have and even if they sell cows or land, it may not be possible to afford them.  Some Nepali people go into great debt to treat especially parents and it is very hard.

Last year, a lady known to many of us died leaving small children orphaned because she was unable to get enough money for the ambulance in time.  We were all so sad and we helped with her funeral because there was no money.  We really don’t want this to happen and we have decided to establish a Health Fund where ladies can have an interest free loan only for themselves or their children for health care.  Obviously, this will be a limited amount but it will be a start.

This is only possible because of people being so generous in buying our jewellery and thinking of us.

Even in our office we think  about our health and how we can prevent problems and improve our knowledge.  We are going to buy some books to help us learn more and have lots of talks about how we help our children, especially our daughters, learn about their bodies so they are not so vulnerable.  And every day we do exercises and stretches to make sure our muscles don’t get sore from our work.  Each lady takes a turn to lead us for just a short time every two hours and we enjoy this!

We hope that all the supporters of Samunnat are in good health.

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A quick post, hot on the heels of the last one but we are very excited….

Last year, Cynthia Tinapple  of Polymer Clay Daily carried over a slicing machine designed by Carol Simmons and Craig Brodahl.  Under normal circumstances, we would not be able to even think about owning this but Carol and Craig were very generous and made it possible in a very gracious way.  It arrived at a really busy time and because we wanted to be very careful with training and safety, we have only begun to regularly use it.

We are over the moon.  At first, everyone was a little scared of using the slicer but healthy respect for very sharp things is good and now we are using it with cautious confidence and DELIGHT.  We think it will have such a big impact on our work and one thing we have already noticed is that our bead sizes are much more consistent because there is less variability in the thickness of the slices we cut.  We are not using it to cut canes as large as those Carol and Craig do but we have found that we can line up several small canes and cut them at once. 

Each lady was a little bit scared as she knelt down to use the machine but then, after using it for just a short while, would look up and happily sigh and smile and say Kati Ramro? (how good?) or Malai dherai man parcha (I like this a lot!) 

Our complicated canes will go further and we are very excited about the applications it has for our creations.  We are so grateful to Craig and Carol for working out a way for us to own such a wonderful machine and to Cynthia for carrying it over.  DHERAI DHANYABAD.

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There has been a reunion in Birtamod.  Our nomadic Australian returned and the last few days have been a flurry of flowers, catching up and felicitations.  We have shared new designs, outcomes of court cases and applications, feedback from our buyers and love from all the people who support us. Now that we have made some Masala necklaces and Black and White necklaces to fill orders waiting for polymer to arrive, we are able to get stuck into some other things.

Over the next few weeks, as well as practising safe and careful slicing with the Simmons Slicer that Craig Brodahl and Carol Simmons made it possible for us to have, we will be doing out first production line of the shisha bangles that Cynthia Tinapple taught us.  Much excitement about that.

And for some days each week, some new ladies will be trained in basic polymer skills by some of the “old” ladies who arebeing trained in further teaching skills.

Five very vulnerable ladies are heading to Kathmandu for programs run by Project Apeiron.  Four are doing a 12 month program and one is doing a short term project.  We are really excited about our collaboration with this organisation which has already helped another woman who came to our doors for help.

For many women, coming to Samunnat takes great Courage and leads to an awakening.  An awakening to their rights,their potential and resources they can use.  That is why we called our latest necklace design Jaagariti- which means awakening.  And one of the colours -a fabulous, strong, rich red - is called Courage.  We hope that wearing these necklaces awakens whoever wears them to a particular strength for them.  Maybe it is Courage, or Peace, or Calm, or Clarity.  We put so much love into what we make and we hope this comes over in our creations.

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Many of us are being regaled today with lists of well known women who have done great things.  Rightly so.  I just want to take this opportunity to do a little rave about some women who will never be on lists, or have their faces splashed across newspapers, or be recognised with international awards.  But they are truly women who deserve recognition and encouragement.  And I know I am preaching to the converted here.

Kopila Basnet and the women of Samunnat Nepal are truly extraordinary.  (And so are the men on the Board but today is not their day!)  In the face of political unrest, subtle and less subtle resistance and opposition, fear, ignorance, poverty, entrenched cultural practices and so many other things, these women courageously and ever so resiliently strive to challenge the status quo and make life for women better in a country where a woman’s life can be very tough. 

It has been such a joy for me to watch formerly fearful, cowed woman  respond to sharing with women who have endured what they have.  They slowly lose that traumatised look and even start to smile and joke.  They realise they are not alone and that they do not deserve to be treated the way they have been.  They become increasingly brave and empowered and in turn they become mentors to the new women who arrive at Samunnat’s doors.  They encourage them to speak out against insidious torture and blatant aggression.  They encourage them to learn new skills and take those first steps to independence.  And fearlessly and hopefully, they go out into their community to talk about human rights and their rights as women.

Slowly, slowly things are changing.  Police will still tell a beaten women who comes to them that they are powerless but then, when she returns with her entourage of confident, supportive (and, it has to be said, sometimes rowdy) Samunnat sisters in tow, some police listen.  And some even help.  Some even send women to Samunnat to get the help they need to lay charges against those who have been hurting them.  High ups who beat or, in some cases, even kill their unwanted wives, may now be found guilty and charged.  Years ago, this would not have happened.  Cast aside wives who may have been forced to work on the streets are now learning to manage their own small businesses so their children can be educated and parents of beaten women are realising that taking their brutalized daughters back home can work out.

So, today, International Women’s Day, think of those thousands of unnamed women who fight for the rights of their sisters when the fight is really tough and often unacknowledged.  And give yourselves a quiet thank you for supporting and encouraging them.

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Recently, Kopila was invited to speak at a local college where young Nepali students are studying for their Bachelor of Business.  The teacher had heard about Samunnat and wanted to know more. Kopila wrote about the morning (which started very early-schools can start at 6.30 am for seniors!)…

It was cold February Monday morning  and Mankumari and I had to travel 12 kilometres away from Birtamod at 7.15 am.  So I started my scooter and we headed off to Tridev Multiple College to talk to the students about Samunnat and our Polymer jewelry work. It was very interesting class for us, standing in front of the students with our jewelry and a block of clay.

There were many questions for us and 45 min was not enough for time for both of us.  We had divided in two sessions.  Mankumari talked about Production and I told them how do we market them.

This was very different experience for us in the college. We had prepared what we were going to say. It was Bachelors second years’ students class so our presentation was not too bad.   They had lots of comments after the session. The students want to know the price of the jewelry and even bought a key ring and ordered some earrings that Mankumari was wearring.   They queried about the process of making jewelry and how do we sell them.  They also wanted to know do we sell them in a shops.

Mainly the college’s motivation was to encourage the students in the field of small business and entrepreneurship.  From 1996 to 2007, Nepal was in the middle of the civil war and violence was common.  Now it has settled a little but our political situation is still very unstable.  Our economic condition is worse than before.  Corruption is everywhere and law and order is powerless. So women and children and youth are vulnerable.  Young people mainly want to work overseas and society admires it.   But we are losing our young people. 

This college was very impressed by Samunnat ladies’ work so they want us to encourage the business class students and I think they were motivated a little bit.

(In Birtamod, the ladies are becoming well known for their independence and drive. WM)

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Our regular readers will know that we love it when the Colourful Journey travellers visit.  We are finalising the dates for this year’s journey- stay posted!  Last year we were lucky enough to have a fantastic photographer on our Journey and her photos capture some of our times together so well.

Here are a couple of photos and you can check more out here.  Thanks Terry.  You can see the gorgeous Terry posing with the ladies in this photo below:

Another exciting thing for us is that more galleries are selling our items.  It is great for us to be dealing directly with the gallery owners if we can.

We like to develop a relationship with the gallery owners.  THANK YOU to whoever wore one of our spice necklaces into Echidna Handmade in Torquay. Sue, the gallery owner, liked the necklace so much that she has contacted us to order some!  So, when you are in Torquay, visit her there and say thank you!!!

Other people who display our products and enthusiastically support our cause are Robin at Flourish Arts in Birchgrove, Julie and Mia and the team at the Art Vault in Mildura,  and Angela at Blue Star Elements in Newcastle.

We are currently somewhat Australian centric but, especially when we have built our stock up again (we are waiting on a BIG clay order) we’d would love to hear from others who may be interested.  Check out our updated Products and Policy page for more information.

We’ll leave you with an image of our new slicing machine.  We have really only begun to familiarise ourselves with this and will begin using it in earnest in about 6 weeks time.  Just thought this photo showed it well.  Cynthia and Wendy obviously found lots of pointing helpful as they worked it out!

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This is New Year in some countries but not Nepal where it is still 2068.  But we will still think about the year that we have had and our plans for 2012.  One exciting thing was we had a talk with Praagya from the Apeiron organisation for training women in skill development in Kathmandu. They provide basic to advanced skill training for the women in vulnerable situations.  They could provide training and accommodation for three ladies in Kathmandu and this would be good for when Samunnat can not able to provide Training.  Unfortunately this time, for ladies sometimes it is very difficult situation to leave their place.  For example, Manuka was ready to go to Kathmandu with her 6 year old son but she was worried that when she leave her husband’s house (her husband had already left her) her in-laws would not let her stay as soon as she go for training in Kathmandu. She was scared that she would no longer have any means of support and that she would not be able to fight for her legal and property rights.  The tradition where the wife stays at the in-laws even when the husband leaves makes it so hard for ladies.

Every year some good /bad things happen for Samunnat.  Some good things I will mention later. For us the very hard thing is that women are in so vulnerable situation that they can’t straight away say “No,  I am not going to tolerate this now” .  Many endure dreadful things and wait for the sake of their children education.  They know if they start to fight against the violence their children suffer.  Their husband or his family would stop supporting her children and she could not send them to school.  It is hard for us and we do not agree when women choose to stay in violent situations but when Usha* asked us to initiate registration of her case in the court, that was all she would do because her three daughters were having their university final exams.  Her husband is a high school teacher and giving her sexual torture.  She wants initial safety and security from the government and she want to take first steps with Samunnat.  She is not leaving him yet for her girls.  I feel that this was her motherhood sacrifice but we will not give up.  This was her first steps.

This new year 2012 has given us some good start.  We are planning to have some skill development training for our ladies who have been waiting for long time.  We had our Australian embassy funding training for two years ago.  The outcome of the training was very good.  Now ladies are waiting for us to conduct similar types of training.  Last year our tour group friends support us by shopping in our office small display shop.  We are heartily grateful to the friends who loved our jewellery.  We also had made up orders for Australian friends who bought them with love and we had made some more money.  This is not just the work that Samunnat ladies are doing.  This is your inspiration and feeling of purity with love and well wishes.  We are all around united and supporting behind the scene.

To all of our Samunnat family near and so far, happy new year and many blessings to you all.

*Name changed. 

Also, the photos accompanying this post are from a spectacular religious diorama at Arjundhara temple not far from the office.  In this case, divine protection from violence was available for the wife involved.  (Complicated story-we’ll get Kopila to confirm the facts before I attempt to go into further details! Ed)

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