Lend With Care
Akoua Tchalla, pictured left, is a single 29 year old woman living in Togo. Akoua has been running her business for about 6 years selling shoes, handbags and beauty products. Akoua buys her stock in Lome and resells them in Atakpame on a stall next to the main highway No.1 - but what Akoua really wanted to do was further develop her small buisness and significantly increase her stock to generate increased income thus securing her financial independence and making a real difference to her and her family. With the loan from JoJo Boutique she managed to buy all her stock with an additional 30 pairs of shoes and 12 handbags.
Akoua has now repaid all the money we lent her through care.
If you want to find out how it works visit www.lendwithcare.org.
Care International and India
Having worked closely with charities overseas and in the UK for a number of years I believe whatever we do we should all try and give something back and in doing so to charities where giving has the maximum effect.
Living in India I saw at first hand where most of our clothing is made, I met with buyers who came to pick out and approve their collections and I followed the life cycle of our fashions years before they come to our high street. The clothing industry is the only source of income for many, and many people migrate from small rural villages to live in cities already swollen to capacity just for the opportunity to work, and most end up living in slums.
Watching a life cycle like this unfold in front of you when you know the outcome is a hard pill to swallow particularly when one cannot do much about it.
So my philosophy was born, jojo Boutique –would make a difference – I learned through projects with CARE International and the International Federation of the Red Cross the best you can do is to keep people in their own villages. Women are also the cornerstone of the community.
India is a highly supersticious country and although getting more modern by the year, tradionalists still rule. For women this means the curse of bad luck such as those who have girl babies, give birth to still born babies, cannot get pregnant, have sick children or any other complications are expelled from their family to fend for themselves on the street ..... and what new man will come along and rescue them now these untouchables who transfer bad luck? Women who have become widows too young, sick women, fatherless girls also do not escape and will struggle to cope.
Modern India is trying to cope but issues keep arising for example the flight of so many of it's children leaving India and living abroad - Old people were once looked after by these very children leaving.
The last solution is for this expanding group to head for the citys and live on the streets, but surely it is best to keep communities together and in situe and that said jojo Boutique through CARE International in Delhi, have found and commissioned these women in various different tribes around India to make silk shawls for jojo boutique. 100% pure silk- colours ranging from black right through the muted pallett to a few brights. They cost £39 each.
To complete the circle and to think about the future - jojo boutique has agreed to donate £5.60 for each shawl sold to the Girl's Education Programme run by CARE International. You will be amazed to learn that all it takes is £5.60 to give one girl full time education and this project reaches out to the most vulnerable and marginalised children in rural and tribal regions of India to ensure that they get better primary education, this in turn will improve their life opportunities. The boutique has already donated £90 to this project which has given 16 children education.
