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Poor Honduran women find crafts outlet at UMW bookstore Date published: 10/8/2009
By RUSTY DENNEN They're simply made, sturdy and colorful. But the "eco-clutch" handbags for sale at the University of Mary Washington bookstore are much more than fashion accessories. They are one small step out of poverty for women in Siete de Abril, a wretchedly poor village in Honduras. Thanks to the bookstore and an enterprising group of UMW students, their professor and volunteers, the women are joining the ranks of Third World entrepreneurs. It began with Rachel Mason, a UMW senior who journeyed to the Central American nation last year with Students Helping Honduras, a relief agency founded at UMW. While visiting Siete de Abril, which means 7th of April, Mason taught some of the villagers to make clutches out of recycled potato chip bags and soda labels. The women then began selling them to SHH volunteers to buy food and medicine. At that same time, Shawn Humphrey, a UMW assistant professor of economics, was working with SHH on micro-loan opportunities for the villagers. "We thought it would be a great income-generating opportunity and fit with our La Ceiba mission," Humphrey said. La Ceiba is a student-run micro-financing initiative. The handbag project is one component and has been evolving since Mason first came up with the idea. "I had seen some similar projects at a green festival and I learned how to make the bags," Mason said. She taught the women to make them and brought some back to sell however she could, "by e-mail, through Facebook, the [UMW] Ecology Club, parents weekend." That approach was difficult, she said, and her involvement ended when she left to study in Brazil. RETOOLING EFFORT SHH volunteers Peter Bergen, a student at the College of William & Mary, and Ashley Cameron, now a UMW sophomore, were eager to help when Humphrey asked. "We spent the summer restructuring the program into a system of purchases, receipts and incentives," Humphrey said. At first, villagers were selling bags to student volunteers who make several trips there each year with SHH. But that became unwieldy and competitive. A larger goal was to expand the customer base to create a sustainable stream of income.
Date published: 10/8/2009
the instructions we get when we're on a plane...administer the oxygen to yourself first, then your child. If we aren't ourselves strong we can't help others. Right now, we need to strengthen up our country, then reach out to the others.
Sure they might not be as bad off as the folks in Honduras but there hasn't been a need this bad in our coubtry in many years. It might be hard for UMW to understand as it buys shopping centers and apartment complexes to get the big picture. Open up that ivory tower and look at the area you call home.
remark, I DO volunteer right here.
It might be nice to help people in other countries, but my heart is right here in good old America - we have a lot of people who are in need - we should start here first!
If we continue to help other nations, but never take care of our own, how can we ever remain the powerful nation we claim to be? Our people will diminish and we will continue to do "good deeds" for other nations putting the fake halo over ourselves. And YES I help the needy everyday and it is very sad to see so many suffer that I cannot help.
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