Meet Our Ladies: Anena Nassarine

It's incredible to see the way different people flourish when they're fulfilling their dreams, isn't it? As I walked into the office yesterday, I had absolutely no idea the ways I'd see this confirmed. Anena Nassarine grabbed my arm with a you-have-no-idea-what-I-have-planned-for-you smile of excitement on her face. "Work is finished for the day. I want you to see my home," Nassarine was bursting at the seams. I couldn't say no and to be honest, seeing women away from the workplace have been some of the richest experiences I've had in Gulu. "Yes! Now or now-now?" "Now-now. Let us go."

Anena Nassarine is a natural leader and she communicates this daily by taking time to intricately cut all of the fabric for the other ladies. She adores her job and is an incredible worker: she's one of the first to arrive, one of the last to leave, and sometimes I'll find her working away on a saturday morning as a deadline is approaching. As we hopped out the front door, I could see in her mannerisms that she was excited. "It's not far. Do you see that mango tree? It's near." We crossed the street and weaved in and out of mud huts like a well-constructed obstacle course at 5th grade summer camp. We arrived at her hut to find that we were anything but alone; the air was filled with a thick smoke and my ears were filled with the delight of local music blaring from a single radio... surrounded by a swarm of dancing children. As we passed, they let out cries of "munu, munu!" ("white person, white person!")

We entered her hut and without missing a beat, she offered me a seat. Her home was immaculate, split into three separate areas: one for seating, one for sleeping, and one for cutting. The children outside were peeking in, shouting "ah, she has a very big bag!" Many women keep small photo albums, collecting photographs of themselves, their family, and friends. She opened hers and glimpsed each face, recalling what seemed like bittersweet memories and old faces. She began to tell me about her family: stories of her beautiful daughter (3 years) who is staying at the Bobo IDP camp some 15 kilometers away with her sister and her husband whom she only sees on weekends because he's studying construction. At only 20 years old, she confessed, "I live alone, my baby will begin nursery school in January. She will be here, I am so happy." She revealed that she was one of five children and her mother passed away when she was very young. I asked about her siblings; her brother was kidnapped by the rebels and escaped some years ago.

I asked her what life looked like before she worked with One Mango Tree. "Uh-uh" she shook her head strongly, "work wasn't there." "An organization connected me with Halle. I am so thankful." We sat together, in a silence filled with heavy gratitude. I could feel the weight of her heart and through the silence, I could see very clearly the distinct ways in which the model of One Mango Tree had lifted her to a place of opportunity and empowerment. We stepped outside and the families around welcomed us as we all began to dance, each in our own way, to the music from that single tiny radio.

A Day at the Owino Market

Here at One Mango Tree, I’ve discovered that one of the most exhausting but extraordinarily rewarding times of the season is spent searching for the brand new fabrics our women use on the items they continually sew and create. Updating our fabrics gives us the much-needed freedom to move with the seasons and consistently release new items, thus empowering our women and giving them ownership through sustainability and a regular, fair-trade income.

There’s really only one place in Uganda that we can find the fabrics we use... and that’s Owino Market. Choosing fabrics may sound easy but to be frank, it’s a tough job. In all its’ glory, the infamous Owino lies in the heart of Kampala and is an absolute circus of people, second hand gems (if you dig long enough!), and our favorite - local fabrics. When we say circus of people, we mean it - the streets are absolutely cluttered and everything begins to look the same after you’ve spent an hour or two wandering the streets.



Last week, I was introduced to what it felt like to be knee-deep in the process of finding Spring fabrics for our favorite ladies. It took three of us, lots of serious hunting, endless amounts of walking, two full 8-hour days, and our not-so-shabby bargaining skills to emerge with the brand new Spring 2010 fabrics. Needless to say, we at One Mango Tree are more than excited for you to see and wear the treasures the women are making for the upcoming season and for the ways in which their lives are sincerely being transformed your purchases.

Thank you for being apart of our story and get ready to be inundated with brand new media and stories!

- Your new friend, Lauranne

OSU throws down, fair trade coffee-style

connecting uganda and columbus, ohio

Last Saturday I had a unique opportunity - to give a virtual opening lecture for an event. I opened up the Ohio State University SoBE Fair Trade Throwdown - via video Skype on the banks of the Nile River in Jinja. I spoke to students about my studies at Ohio State, and about taking the path less chosen and starting One Mango Tree.

Following the kick off conversation via Skype, the students - all members of OSU's Society of Business and Engineering - formed teams for the competition. The task was to role play as a Fair Trade coffee roaster and work together to develop a business model and packaging prototype to be pitched in front of a discerning panel of judges.

the winning team with their prize bags

The winners were a "team from Ethiopia," and they developed re-usable packaging covered in beautiful Ethiopian artwork. As a prize they received a One Mango Tree Weekender bag filled with all sorts of goodies.

eyes on africa

Eye care in Africa is terribly difficult to find - and when it exists, it is extremely expensive. Sherry Grigsby discovered this problem on a safari trip to South Africa a few years ago. After realizing the amount of change that a $1 pair of reading specs could make, Sherry started Eyes on Africa - a non-profit that provides reading glasses free of charge for people who do not have access to eye care. Eyes on Africa provided more than 5,600 pairs of reading glasses across the continent last year. Next week they are visiting One Mango Tree, and our tailors will have the opportunity to try on specs - to see if a small vision adjustment can make a big difference for them in their work and lives.

Check out the video above to learn more about Eyes on Africa and the work they do across Africa. We're thrilled to welcome Sherry and her team to Gulu next week.

celebrate international women's day

Monday, March 8th is a public holiday here in Uganda - celebrating International Women's Day. The holiday is recognized globally, highlighting the economic, political and social achievements of women in the past, present and future.

In Gulu, we're celebrating the achievements of the One Mango Tree tailors - all of whom started out with no work, and who all now put their children in school, food on the table, and count their savings each day. We think that the change they've created in their lives by earning their own income is astounding, and we're eager to see more women in Northern Uganda working, growing and achieving. They've done it all not by receiving handouts, but by working hard and earning a respectable income - they are changing the dynamic in Northern Uganda, one woman-one family-one village at a time.

There's really no question that women have the power to change the world.

Have you seen The Girl Effect? Take a few moments next Monday to appreciate the amazing things women have done, and if you're a woman, think about your contribution. We'd love it if you shared Women's Day with us - help us create more jobs by shopping on our site - maybe buy a little something for a fabulous woman in your life? Or further the reach by helping our ladies send all of their kids to school with our Share the Love program.

Tell us how you'll celebrate International Women's Day - we'd love to hear from you.

internship opportunity : social media

Are you a change-maker with an internet habit? A do-good tweeter with a penchant for handbags? One Mango Tree is on the hunt - we're looking for a Social Media Intern. You can be based absolutely anywhere (even Timbuktu!) - as long as you have reliable internet and a love for fair trade, organic, and economic empowerment, you're eligible.

Here's what we're looking for:

• A really good Tweeter - we need some help in growing our following on Twitter. It's an excellent tool to help grow our retail customer base, but we also want to be THE source for interesting and exciting news in fair trade, organic cotton, eco-fashion, and market-based poverty alleviation.
  
• A Facebook Group Grower - just like on Twitter, we need some help growing our Facebook group, and coming up with creative and fun ways to use this tool.
• A blog-o-rific writer - do you like to write? We need someone that can add content to our blog on a regular basis, related to the topics mentioned above (fair trade, organic cotton, etc.)
• Get others to write about us - there are tons of people out there writing about the above topics - help us get recognized by connecting One Mango Tree with bloggers and journalists to increase our presence online and in print

The point? You'll get to make a difference without leaving the comfort of your computer. Every additional sale means more jobs for women in Northern Uganda, more kids in school, and micro-level changes in the household that add up to big changes in the social fabric here (read: PEACE).

You'll work very closely with moi (OMT Founder and Director, Halle Butvin - based in Uganda) - via email and Skype - first to assess our current social media, and then to make suggestions and move forward. This is a results-oriented internship, so you must be able to plan and deliver results, in the form of large increases in followers (we're talking thousands) on Twitter and FB, and resulting increase in retail sales and web hits.

Sound like something you'd like to do? The One Mango Tree Social Media Intern is an unpaid position, but you will enjoy 50% off retail price on all One Mango Tree products, all the time.

Send me an email (halle@onemangotree.com) explaining your interest, plus your CV and some proof - let's see your blog, Twitter stream, writing samples, etc. Show us what you've got - and come be a part of One Mango Tree. Apps reviewed on a rolling basis.

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momenta workshops : project uganda 2010

portrait: lucy & coin purse

One Mango Tree has been fortunate enough to benefit from the skills of many talented photographers in the past couple of years. Nevertheless, I could not believe my luck last year when Momenta Workshops contacted me for their Project Uganda 2009. Momenta runs a series of workshops targeted at educating photographers - giving them an opportunity to hone their skills in the field, while providing multimedia for NGO partners.

I just met with Jamie Rose, Director of Momenta Workshops - she arrived in Uganda last night for Project Uganda 2010. This year Momenta is bringing five photographers to Gulu, and One Mango Tree is once again lucky enough to benefit - one of their photographers will spend a week at our workshop.

The project appropriately kicks off on Monday, March 8, which happens to be International Women's Day. Stay tuned for photos and multimedia from the workshop.

Check out last year's work - by photographer Stephanie Makosky.

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