What makes us different?

We operate in a particularly difficult environment

While there are a number of similar projects in more stable regions of Africa, SHONA is located in Eastern Congo, a region torn by war and insecurity.  In November of 2008 our craftspeople had to flee to a neighboring country for a month because of the escalating insecurity.  It was their SHONA income and  generous gifts from SHONA customers that enabled us to move temporarily to a safer area.

Congo also faces the additional obstacle of corruption.  In a 2005 World Bank report, Congo was ranked the worst business operating environment in the world.  This is precisely where fair trade and just incomes are needed most.

Handicapped Craftspeople

We work exclusively with handicapped craftspeople.  Handicapped children are often unable  to attend school, and it is assumed that they will never be able to provide for themselves, except through begging.   The opportunity to work for themselves and provide for their families is especially meaningful to our craftspeople.

A reliable income

We pay each craftsperson by month for each piece that she has completed.  This is instead of asking our craftspeople to wait until goods arrive in the US or until they are sold, to receive their earnings.  This means that SHONA absorbs the risks, while providing a reliable income stream to our craftspeople. We know that we work with the poorest of the poor and one of the greatest  keys to moving out of poverty is income stability.

Wages set in conjunction with the craftspeople

Poor people are often unclear about the conditions under which they will be paid, and have no input into those conditions.  The wages we pay per piece are set in advance and in conjunction with our craftspeople, balancing both the price we can sell a piece for and the amount of work each piece requires.  Sometimes our craftspeople will elect to lower the wage per piece of one item in order to raise the wage per piece of another item that they know is more time-intensive.   This helps keep work distribution and remuneration fair.

Our craftspeople earn 100% of our profits.

The wages that we pay each month reflect 100% of our estimated profit from the items they have sewn.

Limited expenses

We have no paid staff at this point and we are determined to keep our expenses low so that your money returns to the craftspeople directly.  Expenses include material, shipping, brochures, internet fees (website hosting, ebay, paypal),and  the cost of our education classes.  All administration, marketing, and shipping continues to be done on a 100% volunteer basis (by me).  In order to create a long term sustainable business, we will eventually need to include a modest salary to cover this work, but we will only include this expense when it is clear that our organization can sustain it without reducing the income of our craftspeople.

Independence and Ownership

In Goma there is a strong sense of dependency on foreign aid.  There is a sense that no viable project can exist without heavy funding from outside sources and this often creates a sense of dependency.  Because we started with no outside funding, our craftspeople understand that they are SHONA.  The vast majority of our income comes from the work of the craftspeople themselves.   And this creates a sense of ownership.  In essence, each of our craftspeople operates independently as  a small business.  Each craftsperson plans her own work, purchases her own cloth, tracks her own  income and determines her own success.  We believe that this provides a unique opportunity for the craftspeople to own the change in their lives.

• 100% of your donation will be put into our Working Capital Fund
• This fund will be only used to cover the costs of material, shipping and wages up front.  As items arrive in the US and are sold, these costs will be taken out of the sales price and returned to the “Working Capital Fund” so that the fund is continually replenished.
• When you donate to many charities 15-20% of your donation is typically used to cover administration and overhead expenses at headquarters in the US.  With SHONA 100% of your donation will be used in Congo and none of it will be spent on overhead costs.
• If we can get $2500 in our Working Capital Fund (50 members at 50 dollars each) it will cover

*3 cartons shipped ($250 for  20 kg. ea. ) $750

*100% of monthly  wages for the craftspeople $1250

*new cloth $500

• In very real terms, if we can raise the fund quickly, it would allow us to immediately ship the cartons that are already finished, pay our s without entering into debt, and provide a minimum of cloth for the next month.
• If we can raise more than $2500 in our fund, we will be able to invest in more new cloth.  Our craftspeople are fully capable of sewing up to $1000 in new cloth in one month, and their ability expands each month as the new craftspeople become more experienced.   Beyond this, we would like to begin to expand our stock to include items made from brocade cloth (which is twice as expensive as our usual cloth) and we would like to begin adding embroidery to some items (which will cost an additional $8 per piece).  Although these items require a high investment, they are also in high demand and would help us attract a larger customer base.  If our working capital fund expands to over $3000 we will be able to invest in brocade cloth and embroidery.

Members will be listed  on our partners page, as a small token of our appreciation.  If you would like to remain anonymous or if you would like to  give in honor of a friend or family member we will be more than happy to accommodate.

Share your membership gift

We will wrap and mail your free gift to anyone you like (in the US).  What a great way to get your shopping in and donate to our capital fund, all at once!

Give your membership

Do you know someone who would appreciate the work we are doing?  Why not give them a membership to SHONA?  We will wrap their free gift along with information about their discount privileges and a personal card explaining the donation that has been made in their name, and how it will affect the lives of our craftspeople.  This world is full of stuff!  Give something different this year!

If you wish to take advantage of any of the options listed above, or if there is anything else we can do for you, just send us a quick email or write a comment in the comment box when you are reviewing your papal payment.

Whether you have bought from our store,sponsored a craftsperson or an education class, followed our blog, linked to our website, or shared your prayers and encouragement along the way, you have helped make this possible…

What we have already accomplished…

We are a sewing and education group in one of the most war-torn regions in the world.

100% of our craftspeople are physically handicapped.

85% of our craftspeople have never attended school.  Not one day.

60% of our craftspeople are refugees from the ongoing war.

Almost all of them are women

Per Capita income in Congo is  about $15 a month.  Handicapped people would be expected to earn even less.

Our craftpeople earn an average of $250 a month.

And they support their families…

• Mapendo has put over $500 into rebuilding her mother’s house (destroyed in the war) so that her mother can leave the refugee camp.
• Roy used his most recent earnings to enroll four of his children in school.  Two of them for the first time!
• Argentine pays for her younger brother to live in Goma and study at a hair salon.  When he became sick last month, she paid his hospital fees.

In a country torn by tribalism, our 5 craftspeople represent 4 different tribes.  The women live, work, eat and pray together.

And they pass on the gift…

Argentine and Mapendo have been using 1/3 of their time to train our two new craftswomen, Riziki and Solange.  Both Riziki and Solange are handicapped and have never attended school.  Solange is also an orphan.

All of our women take courses  in French, math, and basic accounting.  They are required to budget their money each month and save for healthcare or other emergencies.  This means when they get sick, they can actually pay for medicine and hospital visits.

We are thankful for all the many blessings that have brought us this far.

Help us make this change a lasting reality.  Become a member today.

We have just begun to train our two new interns, Riziki and Solange (pictured above). They are incredible young women, both handicapped from polio, who truly deserve the chance to become independent craftswomen. For this month it will cost us $100 to train each intern and provide for her living expenses. Would you like to sponsor one of these women? We are accepting donations for any amount that you would like to contribute, and will provide you with specific information about how your contribution is being used. Follow this link…

Can you imagine growing up in a war-zone, as a young handicapped girl, barely able to walk? What you must realize is that the war in Congo is not a war fought with battle lines and tanks, a war in which there are clear lines between civilians and soldiers. The war in Congo is ugly, in every sense of the word. It has seeped into the daily fabric of life, destroying every place of refuge. What war means to the people of Eastern Congo is that soldiers (from any number of waring groups) may appear in their village and in their homes at any time. And too often those soldiers will steal their crops, burn their home, and rape the women and girls.

And so people run. But how do you run if you are handicapped?

Argentine, one of the SHONA women, tells incredible stories of her mother. As a child, Argentine was completely unable to use her legs at all. She grew up in Masisi, a beautiful area of Congo which has been the ravaged by war for years. As the war grew worse and neighbors and family members fled, Argentine’s mother faced perhaps the most difficult question a mother could face. How could she protect her oldest daughter and her younger children with no money and no means of transportation?

She went to the forest and looked for a quiet place. She dug a ditch and surrounded it by branches. Then she carried Argenine on her back and placed her in the ditch. She told her, I have to leave to look for food, but I will return every two days. Stay here and stay quiet. No one will see you. If i don’t return after two days, go and look for help. God will protect you. But Argentine’s mother always returned. Argentine stayed in that ditch for months at a time, and today she credits her mother for saving her life during that time. What a terrible story of war, but a beautiful story of a mother’s love.

But what happens when you have no mother to carry for you?

Solange, our new intern, has this story. She grew up in the same war-torn area as Argentine, and with the same inability to walk. But her parents died when she was a child. Her grandmother and aunt cared for her when they could, but there came a time when everyone had to run. And she was left behind. Her relatives told her to stay in the house and she would be fine. And so she stayed all alone in the house as the world ran away. Soldiers eventually arrived. Miraculously they didn’t touch her. They stole some things and then asked her why she was still in the house. They told her that she had to leave, because others would arrive and they wouldn’t be so kind. So she made her own way to a small forest near her house. And hid there.

Eventually Solange made it to Goma and was treated at the Handicapped Center. She has just completed four years there, during which she underwent an operation to straighten her legs, learned to stand again, learned to read and write, and sew. Last week, she graduated from the Handicapped Center, and was required to move out. And yet again, she was faced with the question of where to go. She has no home to go back to. It has been destroyed by the war. Her two siblings live in a refugee camp, along with her aunt. And yet she has learned a skill, and she is ready to begin a life on her own.

But she is not alone. Argentine and Mapendo are here to help her on her way. Solange and Riziki have moved in with Argentine and Mapendo, and are working side by side with them, to train them. They are teaching them classes, monitoring their progress and guiding them each step of the way. We hope that at the end of the internship, the women will be able to join SHONA as full-time craftswomen.

But this part, the internship, is what it is all about. I have spent a year and a half working with Argentine and Mapendo so that one day that would be able to teach others.

We could have grown a lot faster. We could have added interns sooner and brought in “experts” to teach them. But I wanted the SHONA women to become the teachers. That takes time, and it takes a lot of training.

But I truly believe that this is the way forward. These women will make the best teachers because they have been there themselves.

After all, they are the ones who hid in the forest. They deserve to be the ones to lead the way out.

Argentine teaching the new interns