Storm the Mighty visits One Mango Tree

Cross-posted from Storm the Mighty, by Brad and Nici Daniels

One Mango Tree. A “social entrepreneurship” aiming to provide opportunity and rehabilitation for women who were victimized by the LRA. The LRA or “Lord’s Resistance Army” is a group of rebels and are responsible for Africa’s longest running armed conflict. Led by Joseph Kony, the group has terrorized East Africa causing over 2 million people to be displaced from their homes and live in military guarded refugee camps.

“One Mango Tree uses a fair trade model to provide income generating opportunities for women in impoverished and conflict-ridden areas of the globe.”

We were so excited to arrive in Gulu, Uganda to see first hand the work of One Mango Tree and these amazing women! They were so sweet and so welcoming… and did I mention talented? You can order some of their products here at their online shop.

These two lovely Mzungus (white folk) are Jenn and Kaela! We stayed with Jenn, her husband Kaben and Kaela while we were in Gulu and did not want to leave them at the end of the week! Miss you guys ;)

One Mango Tree also provides a financial class for the women to teach them to budget, save and manage their money.

And here they are… the ladies of One Mango Tree! When you make a purchase, you’ll be given a tag with the name of the woman that made that item and you can find her photo on the website!

Keep your eyes out for these new fall bags from One Mango!

Visitor Spotlight: Hilary Dell

All week, we've been so thrilled to welcome a dear friend back into our midst that we have to share it with you.

Hilary Dell is an extraordinarily-loved past One Mango Tree volunteer and an awesome fashion designer/buyer for our friends and partners at Global Girlfriend. Before working full-time for Global Girlfriend and traveling around the world working with groups of artisans, she spent a summer living and working with our ladies here at the Workshop in Gulu, Uganda.

I wish we could've captured the faces and squeals of the moment Hilary entered the Workshop for the first time in over a year and a half. Because of the war and the plethora of NGOs meeting all different needs in northern Uganda, many aid-workers come and go... few returning to embrace the friendships they once made. For Hilary to return, to embrace the women with hugs and laughter, to sit with them and teach them about the new designs they'd be sewing was tremendous for them - and awesome to watch.

Needless to say, it was a fantastic week! Hilary, we were so happy to have you here and we can't wait for you to return! (We'll have your favorite 'Stoney' soda awaiting you upon arrival!)

xo lauranne

The Power of Encouragement

"I got my bag and I love it! Those women
are so talented. My support is forever."
- Cheryl from Florida, USA

You know, it's tremendous the effect that encouragement can have on an individual. Just think about it... has there been a monumental person in your life who is always cheering for you, someone you can count on to lift you up when you need it? It can transform an entire workplace when the employees are motivated by belief in their abilities to succeed rather than fear of making a mistake.

We want this to be true now more than ever with our hard-working ladies here in Uganda. They need encouragement just as much as the next individual. Recently, we decided to jot a customer's awesome review on the ladies' chalkboard to see if it could be a motivating factor.

We couldn't believe the response; because they're so far away from the US and our customers, they hadn't even heard a real specific review of their products. The women burst into a choir of cheers and claps, as if someone had just won the lottery. Seeing sincere smiles and laughs on the faces of our ladies is one of my favorite joys of working at One Mango Tree. It makes it all real, acknowledging the beauty of the human emotion and living life with them.

In a culture that has experienced so much oppression and discouragement, these small acts of love on behalf of our customers create sweet, sweet moments. If you have a comment or review you'd like to share with our ladies, simply leave your comment here! We promise we'll share it with them!

xo lauranne

Employee of the Month

We just began a sweet new monthly recognition program: One Mango Tree's Employee of the Month! The recipient is someone who's shown outstanding character, who's helped co-workers, who's gone above and beyond to bring unity and quality to One Mango Tree. Each month, they'll recieve an official certificate and 10,000 shillings as a bonus to use however they like. We're pretty excited about it!

This past September, our beloved Akwero Eunice (recognize her from our Fall 2010 photoshoot?) was chosen as our first recipient. She has a contagious joy about her and a willingness to make sure the impossible becomes possible. She comes in early, leaves late, is always laughing and joking with those around her, and even volunteered to help model for us in her spare time. She chose to re-invest her 10,000 shillings in the One Mango Tree Village Savings & Loans Association! Talk about a kick-butt woman.

To be honest, these will be quite difficult. We have so many terrific ladies that are consistently doing incredible work personally and professionally, that I can't even predict who will be chosen for October.

Stay tuned and we'll announce who the ladies have chosen in early October!

From the Workshop: Photo

Today, the ladies had a really sweet opportunity to be photographed. We can't spill the beans just yet but we'll definitely share more later.

For the shoot, they were to wear traditional Acholi-wear like this kikoyo wrapped with an iridescent band around the waste to accentuate the hips. This is what many women wear to weddings, celebrations, parties, and all sorts of community gatherings. With so much modern technology and culture making it's way across gulu, it was humbling and exciting to see our ladies tap into their own personal roots...

More updates coming soon!

WEEK 2 of Savings & Loans

The VLSA group is alive and kickin'! Today, the ladies met for the second time with Stephen (remember him?) and the Village Savings & Loans Association took form for the very first time. The laughter is still coming, by the way!

They received an official blue safe with three keys and a sweet One Mango Tree logo to collect weekly savings and loans safe. They also elected women who would hold chairperson, secretarial, treasury positons, etc. Stephen said that this is the most he's seen a group save at the first initial meeting. Our ladies are working it!

More photos to come!

The Making of Relax & Energize Eyepillows

She is a beautiful, strong woman that only speaks when she has something important and positive to say. However, she's also that quiet one that you'd never expect to crack the jokes that make all of us laugh. We love her and we're excited to introduce you to her... Meet Josephine.


When life is too much, put on some relaxing tunes, lay down and plop on a One Mango Tree eye pillow. These are sure to take you right from stress-face to bliss-land. Josephine and a handful of ladies worked on our Fall 2010 eye pillows today and we wanted to show you the making of.



The ladies measure and fill our eye pillows a sweet mixture of rice and organic herbs like lavender, lemon balm, marjoram



To be honest, I've never really had any sort of friendship with an eyepillow but when they were making these, I couldn't help but feel happy. I'm telling you, they smell good. I mean really good... in a subtle way.



When the size is right, they take them to the sewing machine for a last stitch...



On goes the One Mango Tree label and...



Voila! A sweet gift. Pick up a few and keep them around for a lazy day, a birthday, heck... any day! Always an excuse to relax and reflect. (P.S. Josephine stood so happily and patiently while I tested every tall stool in the workshop [and nearly fell to my death] to take this photo. We told you she's awesome!)

TGIF + Weekly Happenings (Sept 13th-17th)

1. Nassarine cutting fabric for a new fall order. Get ready, it's coming your way! 2. Each of our women receives a bicycle after 9 months of employment. Because many of them live in the villages miles away from our workshop, it's a tremendous help. 3. The ladies had their very first microfinance training with Stephen of Respond Renu. 4. We visited George and our friends/partners at Wawoto Cacel to see progress on the brand new fair-trade hand-loomed scarves we'll be launching for the Fall/Winter seasons!

It's truly been an INCREDIBLE week at the office. We're exhausted but full of hope. So many exciting things lie ahead. We're preparing booth designs for a handful of conferences and can't wait to get all our of new organic bags and apparel to your doorstep and into your closet. That's all! Expect lots more next week...

Love from all of us here in Uganda!

xo Lauranne

From the Workshop: New Program!

The women are exclaiming the most joyful laughs and we couldn't be more excited for them. Stephen, an Acholi and financial guru working for Respond Renu (Restoring Northern Uganda), is here for his very first microfinance training with our ladies and it's surely an exciting day. For six weeks, they'll be students again, growing in knowledge and expertise about how to become financial rockstars.

What's the impact of Financial Literacy? In the developing world, a woman who earns her own income in a male-driven society immediately earns social worth and respect; her community sees her as strong, powerful, and inspiring. That's how our ladies are viewed in their communities. Now take that same incredible woman and teach her how to save that money, how to give loans to others within her community, and how to forward-think about her finances. The impact of work in a developing country is multiplied exponentially when locals are able to take financial control of their future. This is a great, big (and possible!) dream for many of our women (remember Lucy's story?). It's an exciting day when their faces light up during a microfinance training. They're excited to learn and it's changing who they are and who they can become. The future for their children is getting brighter by the day. Powerful.



So, today, the women are beginning their very own Village Savings and Loans Association (VSLA), a microfinance group that comes together to pool their savings in order to have a source for lending funds. The women will make savings contributions to the pool and can also borrow from it. "VSLA represents a way to provide basic access to financial services, thus improving control over their future."

In the words of the awesome Adong Kevin... "The training was so, so nice! *gives thumbs up* You know, I'm dreaming to buy land and build a home someday soon. Stephen is going to teach us how we can do it... we are so happy."

It's a powerful day for the future of One Mango Tree. And friends, you're surely a part of this change. Let the joyful laughing resume and expect more updates soon!

From the Workshop: Organic Yoga Bags

It's hilarious trying to explain the concept of yoga to our women... mostly because it's just not apart of the Acholi culture. Someday soon, I really hope Halle can give all of us a big yoga lesson. It'd be the best day of my life watching them giggling, trying to contort their bodies in crazy positions. By the way, did you know that September is officially Yoga month?! We'll have WAY more on this topic headed your way but in the meantime...

Anena Betty was working away on this today! It's one of our new organic cotton Yoga bags (inside out and just about to be finished) that we'll be launching this Fall. We figured we'd give you, our beloved blog readers, a special sneak peak! Stay in 'downward dog' (that's a position right? halle's the expert...) and we'll keep you updated on its' release!



Can anyone say happy early christmas shopping for the yoga-loving friends in your life?!

xo lauranne

TGIF + Weekly Happenings (Sept 6th-10th)

(1) Eunice working on one of our sweet new lunchbags (to be released soon!), (2) The opening of the *brand new* Little Mangos Nursery, (3) Tea time is a must, (4) Halle's headed to the big and much-anticipated Fair Trade Futures Conference in Boston, MA today!

Check out these kind words that the Conference wrote about us!

The ladies are OFF today for a public Ugandan holiday so the weekend begins early! Celebrate! Have a great weekend, everyone! If you're at the FTFC Conference in Boston, come say hello and sport the new OMT tie or headband that came in your goodie bag!

The day has come!

Since we began, Halle has dreamt of opening a nursery for the babes of our women and as of today, we're excited to announce that its' become a reality!




In a culture where most youth receive little to no educational attention, our vision is to create an environment that celebrates and encourages learning from a very young age. Our women can better spend their time working and enjoying one another while their babies are safe, away from machines of any sort. We were also able to hire a new One Mango Tree employee, Alice, who we'll affectionately call our 'superwoman.' She's single-handedly taking on all of the babes (and she's great at it!), playing educational games, and giving them a head start with speaking/writing in english and the local language. If anyone has an extra cape, can we borrow it?! We think she deserves one.



Seeing the doors open for the 'Little Mangos' nursery is certainly a day worth celebrating and we owe a big thanks to Halle's mother and father for all the dreaming and energy they put into this nursery! They painted hours upon hours of their visit so we could collectively make this a reality. Joe and Cona - a big thanks for all the hard work and love you both poured into this!

We hope you'll celebrate alongside us and I'm sure you'll see plenty of entertaining photos and videos from this nursery very soon...

Now that the women have less distractions, they'll have more time to sew your bag! Buy a bag and share the story, exponentially multiplying and spreading the One Mango Tree impact on the ground here in Uganda, in the states, and across the world.

xo Lauranne

"Go crazy!"

We made some time at a staff party recently to snap a brand new staff photo of the women!

So, we introduce to you the ladies of One Mango Tree: mid-laugh, mid-jump, mid-wave. All unique and beautiful women being changed by economic empowerment.




Top photo: (left to right) Prisca, Betty, Pamela, Margret, Grace, Gladys, Concy, baby Jonathan, Josephine, Grace, Irene, Eunice, Nassarine, Margret, Concy, Santa, Lucy, Betty, Margret, baby Maria, Claire, Jenet, Grace, baby Sarah, and Morine.

These are the faces of women that will sew your handbag with love.

P.S. Did you hear, yet? Tweet and spread the love to win a Weekender!

Behind the Scenes: Fall 2010 Collection

This week, we had our Fall 2010 collection photoshoot! We were incredibly excited for the day to come, we packed up everything we needed, and were thrilled to find such a beautiful location. Imagine spontaneous rain spurts (in uganda, it's currently the rainy season so you're never quite sure when to expect a downpour) and chasing away chickens as they attempted to peck at our products.

The models in these photos are two of our awesome women, Concy and Eunice. It's really humbling to see these products come full circle as Concy and Eunice poured their hearts into producing this apparel line. A big thanks to the wonderful Stefanie Bammer (who works locally for Purse of Hope) and Halle, our modest founder, for being such a great sport (isn't she beautiful?!) after we begged her to model.

You'll see the entire shoot when our Fall line launches!






Stefanie goofing around during the first shoot


Keep your eyes peeled - behind the scenes video is on its' way!

Our favorite man...

is here today!


Every so often, we have the delight of seeing Faustino's face. He fixes things. Mainly, sewing machines and although he's not here everyday, he's an important part of keeping One Mango Tree flowing smoothly.

beautiful one mango tree video

Our friends at International Organization for Migration (IOM), with whom we partner on community reintegration, put together this gorgeous video of our tailors working in our new workshop. Check it out and pass it around!

our workshop: under one roof

2009 On July 1, 2009, we brought all the tailors from the market, Bobi and Unyama to their new workplace: our workshop on Obiia Road. A [pink] modernist building with a flat roof and fake rock facade, which was once a home to a wealthy Acholi family. The spacious rooms are now home to our inventory, cutting, production floor, packing room and office.

After thinking we would buy some land and build, Halle stumbled upon this compound for rent and decided to take the leap. With some support from Greater Good, we made the downpayment to finish up renovations and moved in July 1. One Mango Tree has a home.

our workshop: the IDP camps

2008 We quickly outgrew the space of our market stall, which was about 10 x 10 feet. Lucy brought on more tailors as we grew, but we knew we'd need more than six women sewing to meet the growing demand for our products. We won the Davis Project for Peace, which enabled us to expand our work into Bobi and Unyama - two internally displaced persons camps (IDP camps) outside of Gulu. We spent three months in each camp, training 10 women at each site to sew One Mango Tree products.

Auma Lucy trainging women at our site at Bobi IDP Camp

Aloyo Concy, learning to sew in our training at Unyama IDP Camp

Nagawa Grace, learning to sew in our training at Bobi IDP Camp

our workshop: the market stall

2007 One Mango Tree begins in a dark, cramped market stall

a walk down tailoring row - where it all began

we put up our first sign above the stall

Auma Lucy in the stall with Monica (left), Kevin (right) and Prisca (foreground)

For the first year and a half of One Mango Tree's existence, this market stall was our home. It's where I met Lucy, and where she still has her small business "Mama Lucy's Friendship Store." What was once a bare stall is now packed to the brim with kitenge fabrics and sewing machines. It's still the most popular place in the market.

Movin on up

It was over some caffeine at Good African Coffee that I hashed out the final details of the lease and signed off, passing the thick document back to Norbert, my new landlord. He was heading off to Gulu that afternoon with a truck full of tile to get working on finishing up the building in time for our move-in date - July 1.

I came across this compound last year while working on a consulting assignment - back then it was broken down and a different shade of Easter egg - bright blue - with lots of stains from the rainy season. I never forgot the place, and while working on another consultancy this year, I stopped by again. It's just outside town, and totally spacious, and Norbert was making great strides in the renovation. The modernist building was constructed during the 70s, and sits between ACDI/VOCA's food security program office and a bombed out building that housed a soldiers mess hall during Amin's regime.

It's about a 20 minute walk from downtown Gulu, but just far enough outside the hustle and bustle that there's a definitive peacefulness in the air - a noisy quiet that is so seldom found, combined with a golden hue from the setting sun and the whispering breeze through the leafy trees in the back. The place just has something about it...what a magical place to work. We have some big plans for the space, so stay tuned.

Greater Good is providing support on the rent, and coinciding with the move in, we're starting up training and production of an exlusive line of organic cotton knit apparel for Global Girlfriend.

Check out the photos! We move in early next week.