Page 234 - 2027 A5 Catalog OGI (Final)

Our factory has always been close to the communities it operates in, and we
EMPOWERING know that there are many unemployed women in our community, many of whom

have been left to support their families on their own. We cannot o er all of them
WOMEN permanent employment, but wanted to find a craft that could earn the women
money from home between their daily chores. Hand crocheting was an obvious
THROUGH choice: it is fairly easy to teach and requires virtually no capital investment.

Crocheted products are well-sought after locally, and Indonesia has a strong
HANDICRAFT culture of producing beautiful handcrafted products.

Aside from making outdoor cushions for us, the women also crochet intricate
purses and bags that are sold on the local markets. We’ve also shown them how
to market and sell their products online via Tokopedia.com, the largest online
trading site in Indonesia. Our ladies say it best themselves:

“There are thousands of stories behind our smiles – stories of how we struggle to
survive, looking after our families, often as the only income-earner. We are strong, but
in our lives, hope is more beautiful than reality. We often do double duty as mother and
father, the backbone of the household, with everything revolving around our children;
educating them, feeding them, loving them. Jobs in our community are scarce, and
what jobs are available would take us away from our children, leaving them at home
unattended and with nobody to help them with their homework. The factory in our area
has given us new hope; empowering us and guiding us on earning an income, while
working from home and being parents to our children. As you’ll see, we make high
quality products because we are observant, thorough, sincere, proud and happy in
every pull of the yarn we make. It never even crossed our minds that we could make a
product that could be shipped across the seas – we hope you feel the warmth in every
piece we make. By buying one of our products, you help us in our struggle to give our
children a better life. A bunch of love from us, Strong Single Mothers.”

Hand crocheting is a time-consuming endeavour: a 50x50cm scatter
cushion takes roughly 18 hours. On average, the crochet cushions can
supplement a woman’s income by US$ 80/month, in a community where
the monthly income is typically around U$ 160.

The crochet covers are produced on a not-for-profit basis. We source an
outdoor grade yarn, supply it for free to the women and pay them a fee
for their work. For the products the women market themselves, we have
negotiated favourable rates with a local yarn producer so the women can
obtain raw materials at a much lower cost, than if they were to purchase
the yarns from other sources.

MIMPI

Scatter Cushions 40 cm x 40 cm

233