Muktagacha

Tuesday we were supposed to go visit another village that was about 3 1/2 hours away, but after about 3 hours we weren't even half way there. The traffic was stopped because millions of people in Dhaka were leaving the city to go to the villages to celebrate Eid. Our driver told us that if we were to try and keep going the whole trip would have been 20 hours! So, sadly we turned around. We were also told that the trip for the next day should also be canceled because of the traffic - we were so disappointed. This meant that we might as well fly home because we could not travel at all, we were ready to change our flight. But we got a second opinion and we were told to leave extra early - so we did and we made it! (Although there was major traffic on the way back, we arrived back at our guesthouse at 1am!)


This project was working on pineapple thread. Here she is weaving pineapple and silk threads together to make an expensive piece of fabric.


The threads of pineapple are only about a foot long so they HAND TIE each thread together, that's what makes this expensive!


The pineapple fiber in raw form.




Hand tying each thread...








We visited another paper project, Bonoful. These women were talking to me in Bengali and pointing at my camera, so I took a picture of them. When I showed them the photo on the camera they laughed so hard, it was great!


Making marble paper, genius.


They used left over cotton scrap from mills to make cotton paper. These women are cutting the scraps up.


My favorite project was the Sacred Mark. Women who want to leave their form lives of being prostitutes come here to work. They are put through a year of training on how to enter into a normal life again, and they are trained on how to make natural soaps. It was very, very moving being there. More here.

Barisol {2}

The second day in Barisol we visited two more projects: Keya Palm and Biborton Paper. These women are very skilled, its so impressive to watch them work. And once again, they were pleading for orders. I didn't come with the intention to help them find jobs, but now I want to do what I can for them - so, if you or anyone you know is interested in ordering fair trade products...

















Annika posted about this day on her blog too.

Barisol {1}

We drove about 6 1/2 hours southeast to a village near Barisol - it was so beautiful and clean, so picturesque - we couldn't believe it, it was a different world than Dhaka - we really wanted to soak it all in. And it was truly amazing getting to meet the artisans. All the artisans are local women who provide for their families. Some are divorced, widowed, and others have husbands who do agriculture, so they are the providers for the family. It was amazing to see them use the resources around them to make such beautiful things.

The first project we visited worked with straw to make baskets. They are very low on orders and are in desperate need of work. There are usually about 50 women working, but when we were there there were only a few. So if you know any companies that want to order baskets... I know some people!

We then took a rickshaw ride on a beautiful brick bath to another village to visit women who make things out of hemp. Last year they had a large order of bathmits from the Body Shop, but because of the economy they weren't able to order again this year... They also are in desperate need of more orders. They were pleading with us to get them work. So if you know anyone who wants to order fair trade hemp products... you know where I'm going with this...

The women here are so beautiful, I love their colorful saris. Every project we visited they all greeted us with flowers, it was very sweet!

















They gave us a little demonstration on how they spool the hemp. They get it as this hairy fiber and they brush it out, then put it in this contraption that spins it and they pull it out little by little as it spins and it makes a thread.

I feel so blessed to be here and to meet these women and learn these things! I have so many more photos to share, but I have limited time on the computer... which is a good thing, right? I will post more soon. Oh! And Annika is posting on her blog too, she is better with words, and she is using my photos ;)
XOXO!

Dhaka Day One

Dhaka... where do I begin? Our first day here in Dhaka I was feeling a bit jet lagged and overwhelmed. But meeting the people at Prokritee, and learning about all the fair trade projects was so inspiring, it was the perfect way to start the trip.

There are people EVERYWHERE here. I live close to LA, so you think I'd be used to dense living, but this blows LA out of the water... Dhaka is so densely packed... and the traffic - its' what everyone said it would be and more. It took us an hour to get to the Prokritee office, and it was about 3.5 miles away.

Anyway, I feel so grateful to be here. I am loving it more than I thought I would. And, I can't wait to post photos from the villages that we visited over the last couple of days... AMAZING.

12 hour layover

in Hong Kong