Georgina and Lydia
Nmaa and Teni
Hudu and Nafishetu
During the month of June, which is also our birthday month, we want to introduce you to the artisans who make the products we sell in our shop, and we thought the best place to start is with the women of Rising Village! They live in three different regions of Ghana - the Ashanti region in the south (Georgina and Lydia), the Northern Region (Hudu and Nafishetu), and the Upper East Region (Nmaa and Teni). Four of the women are seamstress apprentices, and two are experienced basket weavers. Each women is also a single mother, and the income that she earns making the products we sell help her support her family.
When you visit our shop at 1404 E. 11th Street in Tulsa, you will see batik fabric aprons made by Georgina and Lydia, Bolga baskets weaved from elephant grass by Nmaa and Teni, and upcycled rugs handcrafted out of fabric scraps by Hudu and Nafishetu. The apprentices in our Income Generation program do not receive income during the three years of their job training, and so products that we purchase from the women help them pay school fees for their children and provide them other basic necessities. Instead of a charity handout, we are purchasing the beautiful products they make and then offering those products to shoppers in the U.S. This is why we call them "Products with a Purpose," and why we encourage you to "Shop for Good." It's an intentional way to shop that directly benefits the producer of your product.
We're celebrating one year of our shop being open, so stop in and let us show you the beautiful products these six women have made. This week, we'll be giving away an upcycled rug created by Hudu and Nafishetu. You can win by 1) stopping by the shop in Tulsa and putting your name in our Unity bowl from Ghana, 2) signing up for our newsletter on the homepage of our website, 2) Liking one of the Instagram posts this week (we're at @risingvillage on Instagram). Good luck!