skirt pictures

Alice Mary, Rebekha, and Susan are pretty excited. Nickesh was telling me that they are sewing well, becoming best friends, and happy to know that the skirts are selling. We have got a lot of positive feedback on the skirts, and also have some bags and scarves coming in next week. Things are rolling.

We did a little photo shoot earlier in the week and got some quick shots thanks to Jen and Ashli. Below are some pictures of the skirts.















Thanks, everybody, for your support. Nivi Empowerment Initiative is lucky to have so much help from so many great people. Keep it coming.

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The trip was a great success. Things went way better than they should have, thanks in large part to the amazing people that we are working with. Initial reactions to the products have been very encouraging and we are going to get a couple events going on to get more input and sell the 40-some-odd skirts that we brought back. Stay tuned...

We are working with three of the most amazing ladies, Alice Mary, Rebekha, and Susan. We originally had five, but one lived too far away and didn't need the help, and the other had a husband that wouldn’t stand for his wife to earn money. He thought that his family should be able to live off what he earned. That made me sad, because the husband was on a power trip while that family definitely needed more income to provide for their needs. They live in a small, thatched roof shack that isn’t constructed as well as many goat sheds. The lady has good sewing abilities, loves to sew, and could do a great job of helping the family come out of poverty. She was excited to work with us, but declined to do so, saying that her husband would probably get angry and ruin the sewing machine. Perhaps the husband will reconsider after some time, and after he sees the success of others. I hope so.

The ladies that we were working with were chosen because they had some sewing experience, but mainly because they were good workers. They needed some help in life, and we needed their abilities. They come up with solutions to problems on their own, and this bag is proof. We asked them to make a couple sample bags really quickly for us. I was thinking a simple square bag, but this is what the team of Alice Mary and Rebekha (neighbors and best friends) threw together...



Do you like it? Comment on this post. Post up something random and eloquent, or just a simple “like” (as is done on facebook to express approval) and win the bag - the first bag ever to wear a Nivi Empowerment Initiative Logo. Handmade and designed by Rebekha and Alice Mary.

Other pictures...

Working up some samples for the tags. They took pretty long to get done and it put us in a time crunch. The guy ended up printing 2500 tags for us on paper that we didn't want. Nickesh couldn't stop laughing. We still got our tags though, barely in time.



The first tag that was signed.



Rebekha, showing off the folded skirt with the tag.



Some of the initial tags were hard to get quite right due to the lack of schooling in writing. They will come along though.




The last, rushed meeting to get all the skirts together, mark who did what, etc. Went really well. The first part was dedicated to setting goals and that was amazing. These ladies have great aspirations.



Rebekha, and one of her skirts.



The skirt signings and goal meeting

Rabekha and Alice Mary Update

You may have noticed some different spellings in this blog. That is because Rabekha and Alice Mary are not quite sure how to spell their names in English (Tamil has a completely different lettering system). We asked a few times, and got a few different answers. Reabekha, Reabekah, Alise Mary, Allish Mary, etc. The final spellings? Rabekha and Alice Mary. This is what they each decided on, and how their names will be spelled on the tags that should be ready by Friday.

Rabekha and Alice Mary are sewing quite well now, and are proud of their work. They are both super methodical about everything, and obsessed with stitching the skirts correctly. Rabekha told me that if she makes a mistake then she will undo the whole side of the skirt and do it again so she can learn to do it right. The first skirts made took about four to five hours per skirt. They are getting faster and better now though. Alice Mary and Rabekha have been taking lessons from Rabekha's sweet little grandma who is a "master tailor". The skirts are looking great and they are sewing much faster than they were before. And I think they are having a great time doing it.

One of the main goals Rabekha has in working with Nivi Empowerment Initiative is to send her son Daniel back to a good school. Right now he is at a public school. Public schools aren't so bad though, right? Well, in some areas they are. My friends that are Indian have told me that many public schools don't do a good job educating students. Teachers might not even show up for class. I didn't know if I should believe that.

A couple days ago though, Nickesh and I were checking up on how the sewing was going and Daniel came home from school. I asked him how school was and he told me that it was really good. I asked him what he learned and he replied, "Nothing! The teacher did not come! We played all day!"

Consultants

"Did you think of this idea really, really late at night when you were really bored?"

That is a fair question, one asked by 10-year-old Jessa when she and her mother were helping us pick out fabrics. It is always a bit awkward when someone ask what I do for work. "I, umm... have a company that makes skirts." People always ask if I'm serious.

In my defense, the original idea was not to sew skirts. I wanted to have a company that helped people, but the original medium for doing that was to make ski jackets and pants. I love skiing. I'm not a designer by any means, but at least I could test out the ski clothes on the snow.

Unfortunately for my ego though, the market research and logistics suggested that skirts were the way to go. Skirts are much simpler, and they are commonly made in Southern India where I have some great friends that I can trust. Besides, skirts fit in with the basic idea that I've been trying to figure out for years: Have a profitable company with the main goal of helping people.

So far, so good. I've been in India for about three weeks now and I have a little over one week left. I have been able to work with some of the most amazing people while here. Jessa and her mom, Teresa, are a couple of those amazing people.

They go to the same church building that I do here in India and I called them to ask some advice on fabrics. Not only did they take time to talk with me on the phone, they went to the fabric store with me to show me what would wash well, wear well, and generally be good for skirts. Jessa was the fashion consultant that helped match up the colors and patterns and Teresa was the fabric guru. We spent hours in that store, and the only shopping they did besides helping me was a few minutes to buy fabric to help someone else. Great people and I'm thankful for their help.

("I still don't get why you're sewing skirts")

On being a fighter

This lady has more reason to hate life than just about anyone. Her name is Susan.

Her husband committed suicide about a year and a half ago so his parents (who she was living with at the time) were livid. They thought it was all Susan's fault that their son took his own life. They promptly kicked Susan and her two kids out of the house and didn't even let her collect her things. She lost everything but her two children.

Susan has been living at her aunt's house in a small room and works for a pittance as an assistant. She is a smart lady and went to some college. But really, how much can you get ahead in life when the chips are down THAT MUCH? She is barely making it.

But she IS making it. She has made it through what I'm sure was lots of emotional turmoil. And now, she's stoked to be working with Nivi Empowerment. It gives her hope.

I chatted with her about what her goals were today and she was so excited to think that she could send her kids to school, and even go back to school herself. People like her make me pray that this business goes well so that Susan and others can have a way to a better life. People like her make me glad that I'm here in hot, muggy India. People like her inspire me.