Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Farafina Tigne Shout Outs

It’s been a long road but there are people who stood out all along the way. Here’s my tribute to the following people at Farafina Tigne who made the Hallmark bogolan bag project happen.

First of all, I wish I had a group photo of our tailors. Without them, literally nothing would have gotten done. Thanks


Peace Corps Baba – what else is there to say? Without his energy and enthusiasm everyday, the team couldn’t have stayed together. With his confidence boosters and his ever famous, “Do you see it?”, we made it!


Sembe, Farafina Tigne’s manager. His diligence to working on Quality Control and eventually managing the Mopti workshop paid off.


Amadou Cisse. This is Baba’s little brother who’s in charge of money for Farafina Tigne. Without him and his endless trips to the bank to get ‘the sauce,’ we couldn’t have paid any of the tailors or other expenses. Just because he’s resting on top of our bags ready to be shipped to Bamako, doesn’t mean that he didn’t work hard the rest of the time.


Baba Fima is PC Baba’s apprentice who fills in for Baba when he’s away. On his two trips to America, PC Baba left Baba Fima in charge of going to Bamako and dealing with the final leg of the packaging and shipping of the bags. Trips Sunday through Thursday to Bamako 3 and 4 weeks in a row aren’t easy for anyone, but he made it through.



Alpha Toure, the best tailor in all of Sevaré. Alpha gave us the idea to set up our own workshop and get a production/assembly line started. He also worked all day at his own shop and joined the team of Farafina Tigne every night from 6PM until 4AM to help out. Talk about dedication. He’s also my tailor who does the best job, ever!



Bozo, called that after his ethnic group, was a lifesaver. Constantly running up and down the stairs with bogolan bags in hand, there was never 5 minutes that passed without hearing someone scream, “BOZO!!!” An all around good guy, Bozo’s time and investment into the project have been wonderful.


Thanks to everyone in San, Mopti and Sevaré who produced and helped to create the final version of our bags.

Thanks to Vina and Mali Chic in Bamako for dealing with Malian customs and ministries to get all of our packages out in a timely manner and for all of their “ground support” when we couldn’t be there.

It’s been a crazy ride. Stay tuned for Hallmark bogolan bag publicity and websites/information. It’s definitely forthcoming!

Monday, October 15, 2007

Life and Death – Fatoumata and Sida

*Note: Despite being really excited about Hallmark and bogolan, I couldn't wait to post this. Continue below for bogolan information.

About a month ago, I got a phone call from someone in Douentza telling me that my host Mom had given birth. I was so excited but I was so busy with Hallmark that I couldn’t go for the baptism and to visit. I sent some money but I was really excited when Peace Corps was headed out to Douentza to visit the new volunteers because I hopped a ride with them. On Wednesday, October 3, I headed out to Douentza with gifts in hand. I got to see my new baby sister, who incidentally was named after me, and she is gorgeous!


Baby Fatoumata.


It was hot, she was tired.


Precious, tiny, little feet!


I saw Umu and the rest of the gang, and I got some good home cookin’ and it was a great day. I came back to Sevaré the same day, despite Umu wanting me to stay the night. I plan on going back to visit and see everyone, but with being in the middle of projects I just can’t right now.

Then Monday, October 8, I got a phone call from the volunteer who replaced me in Douentza. He lives at my house and with Umu and called with really bad news. He said he didn’t know what happened but that my host sister died. I immediately thought it was Fatoumata because it’s so easy for babies here to die. But he told me it was Sida, the 5 year old, not Fatoumata. I was devastated. I love that little girl. She’s so beautiful and full of life and had such an energy about her that I couldn’t believe it. I talked to Umu and she was just so matter of fact, “Fatumata, Sida is dead.” There wasn’t any sadness in her voice, nor did it sound like she had been crying or that it had even taken a toll on her. Life and death here are just so different. We think that Sida had malaria, but all Umu said was that she had a fever in the morning and died by the afternoon. So, with one new life, someone has to die also. It’s tough when those people are close to you.

So, in an effort to honor Sida and show her off to everyone, here are some photos I’ve taken of her.

Sida washing dishes.

Being hesitant of the camera.


Her and that sassy attitude. Has 'model' written all over it, doesn't it?



After crying, trying to calm down inside of her house.


Mango eating. Food pictures are the best!


Standing with her brothers, Hassin and Hama.


The last day that I saw her, she wasn't sad or sick - despite how she looks - and we had a great time.

I'll miss you, Sida.

Monday, October 08, 2007

The Unveiling of my Project!


Finally, the unveiling of my life for the past few months! Before I even get into details, I’ve become really emotional about this project because it has such amazing implications in Mali and throughout Africa. I’m really proud to have been part of it and I’m really happy to share it with all of you. So, drum roll please…I’ve been working with Hallmark Greeting Cards and Bono’s Product Red to help Malians produce a handbag made of local materials for sale in Hallmark stores. Bags hit stores TODAY!

Below you’ll find The Story of Bogolan Bags in Mali and The Economic Impact on Mali. Read them both and check out the photos because it’s all very exciting. It’s been my life – inside and out – since I moved here in May and it’s been stressful but amazing. First of all, for Hallmark to even come to Mali – third least developed country in the world – is a huge step. Hallmark representatives came three times, once with an English NGO called AfricaNow who conducted a labor assessment to ensure fair labor standards and another time with an amazing videographer named Nicole who shot bogolan for a week in order for Hallmark to put a video together about that (website forthcoming). Hallmark has been nothing but a pleasure to work with, but the stress came in trying to act as the intermediary between Hallmark and Malian producers. For me, it was a crash course in Business Management and honestly, I’m probably more than half way to getting my MBA. I sacrificed having the “normal” Peace Corps experience of sitting around in village and reading or traveling around to visit friends. My friends never saw me, but always knew where I was.

One of the most exciting parts about this all is that my friends and family (and American consumers) get to see the fruits of my – and my Malian counterpart’s – labor. It’s so rare for a Peace Corps project to hit American soil and for our friends and family to really understand what we’re working on. My project is tangible for each and every one of you. Though you’d never be able to understand the process and every drop of sweat that went in to it, I’m doing my best to paint you a picture and I hope that you can appreciate it all.

Now, I’m not asking you all to rush to your closest Hallmark store to buy a bag. But, it is Columbus Day and most of you have the day off and it would mean so much to me and to my team here at Farafina Tigne if you at least checked them out. They aren’t going to every single Hallmark store, but there are close to 3,500 stores, so there’s a good chance it’ll go to yours! There are a limited number of bags for these 3,500 stores, but I do know that they're supposed to be around until March - in theory. I know a lot of you are in DC, and they’re only at the store at L’Enfant Plaza, but they’re also in Bethesda, Arlington, Alexandria and around. Go, right now! Here are the two designs that we made at Farafina Tigne:


I would love to hear from you about what you think. Anyone who wants to take photos, I would welcome that with open arms too. I’ve worked on the production side of it and I would love to see the publicity and marketing. Speaking of that, the bags will be on the Rachel Ray Show Friday, October 12. So, tune in, tape it, do whatever you have to, but watch it! They may also be promoted on The Today Show and Good Morning America and the video that Nicole took of bogolan here may be used. This means that my interview could be on TV (though, let’s not hold our breaths). Trust me, you’ll be the first to know when and where to tune in to check it out.

So, like I said, GO TO HALLMARK RIGHT NOW and check the bags out. I can’t wait to hear from you all!

Hallmark’s Economic Impact on Mali

We worked closely with the West African Trade Hub, a USAID organization based in Accra, Ghana. They compiled the following Fact Sheet regarding this bogolan project:

Fact Sheet Hallmark Order in Mali
Companies: Mali Chic of Bamako and Farafina Tigne of Sevare

Total Order: (information omitted)
Total Value: (information omitted)
221 workers in Bamako, San, Sevare and Mopti
Average monthly earning for tailors working on the order: 103,283 CFA ($219)
Average monthly earning for bogolan dyers working on the order: 69, 497 CFA ($147)
Minimum monthly wage in Mali: 28,000 CFA ($63).
210,000 meters of bogolan (made in Mali from 100% Malian cotton)
White interfacing also made an purchased in Mali
Imported materials: needles, thread, lining and labels
Duty Free under the United States African Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA). First textile product exported under AGOA in Mali.
Upcoming orders: 128,000 beaded strands for greeting cards.
Technical Support: USAID, US Peace Corps, MBA’s Without Borders, Africa Now.

Those are the hard facts and hard numbers, but what about how people are actually feeling? Despite it being very tiring and there being a lot of forces to overcome – rainy season, the holy month of Ramadan – all of the people working on this order were extremely pleased. It gave everyone the opportunity to have more money than they otherwise could have. An average tailor probably wouldn’t have earned even half of what they did without the order. People were able to better provide for their families, buy new sewing machines for their own shops and even one tailor saved up to buy land for a new home for his family. This order meant different things for different people, but in the end it offered everyone additional income, and as an effect of that additional happiness and less stress at home.

From a development standpoint, things didn’t always go smoothly. They were hard, every day. But in the end, now that I can see these bags and see all of this hard work in stores for the American consumer to buy, I’m so happy. A mostly locally made bag, contributing to the overall development of the Malian economy, plus the added benefit of the Product Red label giving money back to Africa. What more could we have asked for?

The other great thing is that new orders are coming in already for both Mali Chic (our partner company in Bamako who we split the bogolan order with) and Farafina Tigne. The Hallmark endeavor will hopefully be just the beginning of a successful economic development scheme here in Mali.

The Story of Bogolan Bags in Mali

Here are the details, with lots of photos! Two weeks after I site changed and moved to Sevaré, Hallmark engaged in a project with a local artisan here named Peace Corps Baba. He’s named as such because he has a long history with PCVs and just an overall amazing person. He owns a shop called Farafina Tigne, or African Reality. He’s a character and one of the most amazing people I’ve ever met. His normal business is mainly in traditional jewelry and he creates his own necklaces to sell around the world. He also specializes in beads and has a small bead museum in his shop, displaying antique beads from all over Africa, and beyond. Here is his shop:


The front of Farafina Tigne.

An example of the amazing beads that Baba has in his museum.


Shameless plug, but check out http://www.farafinatigne.com/ to see what he does. He had a successful business and did some work with bogolan – or mud cloth - which is a cloth here that we dye using mud and is used for all sorts of purposes (to reintroduce you to my blog on the making of bogolan, check out A Day in the Life of Bogolan from June). Hallmark decided that they wanted to make some handbags for their stores. We met with tailors and chose a core team to work with for our additional order bags. We set up schedules and workshops and an assembly line – things that had never been done here before. We taught tailors the importance of using a tape measure to get accurate measurements, instead of just eyeing it, which is what they commonly do here.

We went through every stage of production and quality control and shipping. Production started around June 18th, and we’ve been producing almost every day and shipping every week since then. Production starts with measuring and cutting the bogolan into preset dimensions. We made models that could be traced in order to make sure each piece was exactly the same. After all of the pieces are cut, they’re brought down to the workshop, or in French atelier, and the assembly line begins. Here are some photos of the production:

Measuring and cutting the body of the bags.


Hundreds of bodies and bottoms cut out, ready to head down to the workshop to be sewn.


Day 1 of production. People were fresh eyed and the workshop was still clean!


Attaching the popline, or black lining, to the bottom of the bag.


We set up an additional workshop in Mopti and didn't put motors on the machines. He was making the bags with his feet (foot pedal), literally.


The day that Hallmark came to shoot, everyone got dressed up in traditional clothes.


A bag in progress. He sewed the Hallmark labels on the inside of the bags.


Hard at work lining the bodies of the bags.


It's always nice to see a huge pile of bags done and waiting to be controlled!


Cutting the handles for the bags and attaching them.


This is how the workshop normally looked - cluttered and messy with random bags and pieces of bogolan around.


At the end of every shift, bags are piled – and I do mean piled – into a storeroom to await finishing touches such as labels and then they’re sent off to Quality Control.

Hundreds of bags piled awaiting finishing touches and to be controlled.


Quality Control was probably one of the most frustrating parts of this project. Things here aren’t QC’ed. Tailors will make your clothes and give them to you and if there’s a problem you can bring them back. They don’t cut off loose threads, they don’t verify measurements – they just don’t! So, the education aspect of all of this, trying to teach people that we needed 20,000 identical handmade bags was hard even for me to imagine. In the end, in all worked out and we were able to successfully QC most of our bags.

Our Quality Control team working on verifying measurements, cutting off excess strings and making sure the bags were ready for shipment to the States.


Quality Controlling continues.


At the end of every day, we count the bags into stacks of 20 for packaging. The RED labels amongst the sea of black and white is pretty awesome.


The bags are then bundled up into big fabric or plastic sacs to send down to Bamako.



There was even one night we took all of our finished bags to Peace Corps Baba’s house in Mopti and I worked with his wife and some other women until 2:30 AM to control them. Most Malians don’t work like this, but Baba is almost American, so I can’t expect anything different!

Peace Corps Baba's wife and family friends working late into the night controlling bags.



After we QC everything, we pack it up. We have to ship everything down on public transport, so it’s important that the packages aren’t too big. We normally put between 300-500 in each package and take them to our friends at Bani Transport to haul all the way down to Bamako.

Our good friends at Bani Transport were always really excited to see us every week and try to get more money out of us for shipping these packages. On average, we paid $4-$6 per package to go to Bamako.



Once in Bamako we do another QC check, but also sort and count everything and add a silica gel pack (to absorb any moisture). Our team in Bamako packages all of the bags in cardboard boxes and we haul it all off to fumigation. Of course, during the process of QC –both in Sevaré and in Bamako we find bags that have problems. Maybe it’s a hole where the sewing machine didn’t catch the fabric, a missing label or a measurement gone terribly wrong. Either way, we have to deal with all of these things and it takes time.

The team in Bamako. Here they do one final QC check and add silica gel packs to each bag.


It's tiring, especially during Ramadan, so breaks are often taken. The bags provide a comfortable resting place, not just a trendy handbag!


After all of the silica gels have been added, packaging for fumigation begins. We put 150 bags in each box.


Good thing we did that 2nd QC check - these are all of the bags that we found fault with.


Just an example of the fault - this piece of bogolan for the body was not well cut.




After a day or more in fumigation, all of the boxes head to the airport to fly out, via DHL. I haven’t spent enough time on the Bamako side to photograph the latter two things, but you get the idea.

So, there you have it. The birth of a bogolan bag produced especially for Hallmark’s Product Red line. Oh, I didn’t mention that, did I? Yeah, these bags are a part of Bono’s Product Red line in which a certain percentage of profits goes to the Global Fund to help fight AIDS in Africa. Talk about the perfect project – bogolan bags produced in Mali with local goods and the profits from sales come back to help them.

Hallmark RED label on the inside of each bag. It reads: "This authenic mudcloth bag was made by artistans in the Republic of Mali in West Africa using traditional Bambara patterns. Natural earth dyes are used to make this 'bogolan' - or mudcloth - bag. Dyes may rub off on light colors. Hallmark is a proud partner of (Product)RED.


Here are the (RED) labels on the outside of each bag.

Tuesday, October 02, 2007

Dakar, Senegal

Instead of taking a vacation to Senegal, I decided to get sick and be Medivac’d there. Joking…kind of. I had to take a trip to Senegal to have an MRI done because there is no MRI machine in Mali. Crazy, huh? It was nice to get away from Mali for a few days and enjoy the sites and scenes of Dakar. Of course, there is the unmentionable amount of money that I spent. Oh well, who knows if I’ll get back there again, right? And I got some amazing items that will last a lifetime.

Here are some photos from my journey there, and back:

Me, on the Île de Gorée, overlooking the colorful houses and the ocean.

The Dakar Skyline.


Leaving the port of Dakar to head to Île de Gorée.

Arrival at the Île de Gorée. It's so colorful and I wasn't used to that. It gave me a real good feeling to be there.

Like most places on the coast of West Africa, the Île de Gorée has slave history. This moment was given to Senegal from the island of Guadeloupe in rememberance of the terrible history of the slave trade.

At the Maison des Esclaves (House of Slaves) there were a lot of quotes left by famous/important people and they were pretty heartfelt.

Me, on the ferry heading back to Dakar. Île de Gorée is so beautiful!

A random photo of the villa-esque streets of Île de Gorée. I could probably live there.

Coming up next, I attended a basketball game between the women's national teams of Senegal and Mali while I was in Senegal. Can't wait to show you the footage.

Oh, and Ramadan is going amazingly, but more on that later too!