Shova Handicrafts

Our first artisan visit this afternoon – to Shova Handicrafts, a group that employs approximately 50 women to make wheatstraw cards. (The cards themselves originate at other coops in Bangladesh.)

We were made very welcome and learned a lot about how they operate, and how they’ve benefited from the business relationship with Ten Thousand Villages. It was a very moving experience for us to directly learn what a difference it makes to their lives. I’ll post more in a future blog.

Shova treated us to a lovely lunch of spicy noodles and rice pudding, then presented us all with a gift of cards and flowers – such generosity from people who have so little. It was a great introduction to the hospitality of Bangladeshi people. A group of kids gathered to wave goodbye as we drove off.

Our host, Suraiya, then took us to see steps in the creation of saris, from weaving on hand looms, to decorating and retailing. The first two stops were in quite a poor part of the city, where we attracted significant attention and gathered a huge crowd of kids, all of whom wanted us to take their picture and to tell them our names. Unfortunately we also got to see kids the same age working on the decorative process. We were assured that they go to school in the morning, and the working conditions did seem relatively good, but it was a sobering reminder of how manufacturing works in this part of the world.

Most of us are very tired, so an early night for many, in preparation for a busy day with Prokritee tomorrow. The call to prayer is echoing from the minaret at the local mosque.

A couple more pictures from a fascinating first day!

Henna hands working with wheatstraw

A girl at Shova about to enjoy some fair trade chocolate from Canada!