SALES!

I realize that most of my blog-readers are out of state and won't actually be able to make it to any of our local sales, but I figured they're worth announcing anyway.
And yes--to all who are wondering--we are working out how to sell online.  Everything goes in slow motion when everyone who is working on this project also works full time.  Our current hang-up is getting our non-profit checking account in working order.  SO....it'll happen someday.  I'll let you  know.
Until then: SALES!
1.  September 25 (YES--this weekend!) at Gifts of the World--a fair trade store in Schaumburg.  Resilient Crafts will be featured and will be giving a live weaving demonstration.  We'll also be serving Nepali tea which on its own is worth coming for.  We'll be there from 1 to 4.  The address is 888. S. Roselle Rd. Schaumburg, IL.
2.  We'll be hosted at a house sale in Aurora on November 14 from 2 to 6 pm.  Since it's a personal address, I won't be posting the directions here, but if you live in the area and would like to come, send us a note and I'll send them to you: resilient.crafts@gmail.com
We'll be having quite a few sales this fall, especially approaching Christmas.  As soon as we nail down details, I'll be sure to post them as well.

We Weave!

We've recently discovered that a member of our group from Burma, Thin Mya, has experience weaving and has been wanting to weave here in the U.S. but never had the supplies.  Weaving was her source of income in the Thai refugee camp where she lived for 21 years.  We'd been looking for weavers, but until now hadn't found anyone with the inclination.  We also needed to find someone who knew how to make the backstrap looms they use.  As it turns out Thin Mya's husband Wah Koh is a loom-maker.  What a great pair!  Sue and Heather took the couple on a trip to Home Depot where they had a grand time buying the right supplies to make a backstrap loom.  We figured with their limited spoken English, it would be better to take them along to the store rather than try to have them describe the things they needed.  They totally enjoyed the outing and the Home Depot sales associate was completely charmed by these two new clients.  Wah Koh took the parts home and within a few days they had not only a new loom, but a new Karen-style bag to show for it.

Wah Koh also 'rescued' a broken crib and took it home to use to make more looms.  He told us he had enough wood to make 4 looms.  On her next visit, Heather even got a weaving lesson.

So I fully intended to update before our next sale, but Sue's church hosted one on such short notice I didn't get the chance.  Christ Community Mennonite Church--our parent organization for the time being, has been very supportive of our whole endeavor.  This past Sunday they had Sue give an update of our progress and hosted a small sale afterwards.  Some of the items we sold included our ubiquitous winter scarves--the staple at every sale--washcloths (made by beginning knitters), and flowers (made by beginning crocheters).  Our most exciting sale was that of our first woven bag.  It will be a gift for his daughter's birthday.

The Latest and Greatest

It has been brought to my attention that it's been a while since my last blog entry.  So here's the latest:  We've found a sponsor.  We are now a ministry of Christ Community Mennonite Church in Schaumburg, IL.  What does that mean?  In short, we're legal. (Pause for cheering.)  The church has, in effect, lent us its non-profit status, which in addition to getting us tax-exempt status, allows us to receive tax-deductible donations.  Now when people write us checks, they write them payable to the church, then the church pays us.  It's a slower process than what we had been doing--paying the ladies in cash--but it's more reliable and keeps us out of trouble with the IRS.  Plus it forces the artisans to use a bank account, which is a new concept for many.  We'd like to get a little financial literacy training into the works since most of our artisans have never had a job here and have relied on others to keep their accounts.
We've also filed our name with the county, which was an interesting process.  We had to put an announcement in a local paper that we'd be doing business as Resilient Crafts.  So I'm sure all you avid readers of the Hinsdale Hinsdalean sat up and took notice.
Our next step legally will be to file for non-profit status on our own, but there are several things that need to happen before that.  We'll need to raise some funds to pay a lawyer to help us.  Some of that we'll be able to get via sales, and hopefully we can make up the rest in donations.  We may need as much as $3,000.  Ideally then we can apply for grants and possibly branch out into other areas of ministry as we see fit.
Our goal for the time being is to get some summer/fall sale locations.  We'll be hitting up all our contacts at local churches. Stay tuned for future sale announcements.  We've got some great new summer merchandise.  Our artisans have switched from knitting to jewelry-making for the summer.  It was a slow beginning because very few of our artisans had any experience, but now that they've learned a few basic skills, their innate senses of artistry are starting to come out.  Several have been coming up with their own designs and we're happy to let them do their thing.  Our role now tends to be giving advice on which colors do and don't go well together for an American eye.  I never knew how nuanced color tastes can be.  We try to encourage creativity while making sure our products our sale-worthy.

During the winter we outgrew the apartment living room we were meeting in.  We now meet in the community room of Christ Community Church in Wheaton.  They've been very gracious to allow us to use the space and keep a lot of our stuff there.  It has the added bonus of having fresh coffee (pause for another cheer) and childcare rooms available so the women can bring their kids and pretty much forget about them for a few hours.  I imagine it's a lovely break for the moms.
The church has also plowed up a significant portion of its 'back 40' to have a community garden for refugees. Many of our artisans and their families have their own plot and have started growing vegetables.  So now our Saturdays always begin with us all checking up on the gardens, tracking the progress of everyone's tomatoes, peppers, mustard greens, eggplants, and more.  The families are very appreciative.  Most of them live in apartments surrounded by parking lots and miss being able to grow their own food.  Now they walk to the church when the weather permits and work in the garden.

I'll post again when we nail down the date of our next sale.

On Community

I learned how to knit this weekend.  It's not really something I'd ever pictured myself learning until pretty recently.  But now that I've learned, I really see how relaxing it can be.  I thought it might be monotonous, and it probably would be if you did it alone, but in a roomful of people, it's a different matter.

When I arrive at our crafting meetings every Saturday morning at around 9:30, there's a definite order to things.  I come in, greet the family and any other attenders who have come early, and shed a few layers of winter outerwear.  I'm not on the couch two minutes before Deoka or Goma comes out of the kitchen with hot chai.  Over the next half hour or so, the other crafters wander in, and the conversation consists mostly of greetings and asking about everyone's family.  If we were only there for a visit, things might get awkward after that since we don't have a whole lot to talk about.  But early on, someone gets out their week's worth of knitting.  We all ooh and ahh over each piece as they pull it out, occasionally stopping to try one on for size or to pass it around so everyone can feel the softness or inspect the pattern closer.
Next we pull out the new yarn and spend a good amount of time discussing who will take which skeins and which colors can be used together. When everyone is satisfied with their lot, the knitting needles come out and Deoka's living room takes on a different feel.  Everyone finds that they have something to chat about.  Usually the loudest conversation is in Nepali.  Sometimes we have concurrent conversations in Karen (Burmese), Arabic, and/or English.  Knitting takes the pressure out of the need for talk, though.  On the rare occasion that the room does fall silent, there's none of the awkwardness of a lapsed conversation.  No one feels the need to entertain or be entertained since we all have a common purpose.
Sometimes the kids or non-knitting relatives come in and put on Nepali TV shows (complements of youtube).  All the Nepalis watch with rapt attention, and I love to watch the expressions rise and fall with every emotional twist and turn--of which there are many.  Episodes ricochet from passionate love ballads to epic battles or emotional final goodbye scenes that would put the most gut-wrenching of American soap operas to shame for their blandness.
Can I say we're building a tightly-knit community without getting boo-ed off the stage?  One of the biggest problems in the refugee community is loneliness and isolation.  Time alone is time in which a refugee's mind inevitably returns to horrors of the past or memories of loved ones lost or left behind.  Spending a Saturday afternoon in amiable conversation and pleasant company is intrinsically valuable.  Sure, we offer a way for the unemployed to supplement their family's income, but I don't think the money is what keeps people coming back.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have some knitting to work on.  --Kara