7 Reasons That Keep Us Motived To “Change the World”

Being a start-up and trying to make Elevyn work can have some serious ups and downs. Connecting buyers directly to marginalized communities to purchase craft online has never been done before, so it’s a pretty steep learning curve for the team.

“Downs” include the economic climate and the shrinking of our team as Su Li’s (who was one of our field coordinators) 10 month attachment with us through a special project grant with the support from the Non-Timber Forest Products Exchange Program (NTFP-EP) ended.

But as social enterpreneurs – we welcome these challenges as opportunities to learn and improve. As new challenges approach, I’m taking the opportunity to reflect on all the great things that have recently happened. Here’s what has been happening which has been keeping us motivated everyday.

1. Photographers and models take a shot at Elevyn

The team taking photos in Cheng Huat's garden

Wan Cheng Huat @ Fotogelafer organized his groups of friends - Lycnx Liew, Kian Ming, Loong Yik Hoe @ Loong Photography and Alisa Wong – to help take some product photos.

Next was the ‘modeled’ shots – whom we roped in long time friend Wendy Khoo who got her friends Sharifah Syed Jaafar, Jacqui Chan, Jaycee Koh, Looi Mei Lin (Estelle) and Azlin, to help model the products. Symphony House was kind enough to allow their great looking office to be used as ’stage’.

Group photo after a long and tiring shoot!

Asther Lau who specializes in newborn and baby photography, is also pitching in her talent for some modeled shoots. Her photoshoot was rather unusual because it rained on the scheduled shoot date. Since the shoot can’t be postponed due to everyone’s busy schedule, Asther bravely shot in the rain! The result was amazing with the gorgeous models Shafinaz Suhaimi, Sharyn Shufiyan and Meera Supramaniam working the wet look.

Making the rain work for us...

Sneak preview of the photos! © Asther Lau

Asther is also taking the products to be photographed with her gorgeous clients during her shoots. What a great way to give back while on the job.

2. New interns join the team.

Mei Ting cooks too!

Good interns are hard to find. We’re lucky that Mei Ting is a fantastic member of the team! Her first field visit was at a Burmese refugee community, as we launched their online shop. This is Mei Ting’s account of the trip.

We recently accepted two interns from Monash University Volunteer Program (MUVP) from Monash University Malaysia – Heng Yee Chin from Malaysia and Wandile Mashoba from South Africa. They will be visiting a partner shop this weekend.

3. Super supporters!

In a recent call out on Facebook for sponsors to help sponsor tables for some of the shops on Elevyn to sell at a local charity bazaar (Gift of Love Charity bazaar), two generous sponsors, Arika Allen and Dawn Boey sponsored 4 shops for the event!

4. Elevyn’s in the running for Asia’s Top 50 Apps.

Don’t forget to vote for us!

5. Aki and Odu, Sinompuru Women’s Group’s oldest members recently celebrated their birthdays!

Photo by Soning Craft

6. We’ll have a video soon!

Elevyn co-founder Devan Singaram being interviewed.

Volunteers from Germany, Robert M. Linder, Felix Schlegel and Federico Jüttner came all the way to help us make a video on how Elevyn works – with a focus on the refugee shops.

7. Mang Tha’s first big open day

It’s great to see how the shops on Elevyn grow as an organization. Mang Tha only had a tiny room when we first met them. Now they have a nice spacious center to organize activities such as sewing classes and other basic skills like English and financial management.

For those based in Kuala Lumpur, they can visit Mang Tha at their special weekend Open Day this coming Saturday.

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To everyone mentioned here (and many not mentioned) – your support and help means a lot to the team at Elevyn as well as the community shops we work with. Many thanks!

Updates from Mang Tha: Open Day, Call for Volunteers and More

Some updates from Mang Tha, a social development project for Myanmar’s Chin women refugees based in Malaysia.

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Mang Tha Open Day, By Myanmar Chin Refugees In Malaysia

Mang Tha will be having its inaugural Open Day on Saturday, 28 August 2010 from 1pm onwards. Expect a fun afternoon with activities like a lucky draw, games, songs and traditional dances.

If instead you prefer to come and see Mang Tha women at work, meet them while they learn and create Mang Tha craft, we invite you to come to “Mang Tha Workshops Open House” every first Friday of the month (starting 1st of October 2010).

Mang Tha needs helping hands, and maybe you also can help! There are plenty of promising opportunities but not enough hands to make everything happen. We are looking for volunteers (to help mend our stalls, to supervise the handicraft making, etc.), but also for opportunities to expose, promote and sell our products! Drop us a line if you are interested to help.

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You can stay updated with the latest news, products and activities happening at Mang Tha through our Facebook page!

Harvesting Energy Out Of Human Waste

Refugee Camps. Image via DW-WORLD.de

Environmental engineers in Germany are designing portable lavatories which can produce energy out of methane produced by human excrement. The energy can then be used to light up the camps at night for better safety and for cooking meals without relying on limited fuel supply or firewood.

Refugee camps typically house thousands of people in a small space of land, where energy shortage and poor sanitation are common problems. According to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), some 2.4 million people around the world are currently living in about 300 refugee camps. Averaged-sized refugee camps hold about 20,000 people.

A Field Report By Elevyn Volunteer Mei Ting

Elevyn welcomes How Mei Ting, who will be interning with us during her summer break from the University of Warwick in UK, where she is pursuing a degree in Accounting and Finance.

Mei Ting got whisked into action right from day 1, where she had a chance to visit a group of Burmese refugees based in Kuala Lumpur and helped launch Kaoprise Beauty, an online shop selling handmade soaps.

Here’s her writing of the experience so far.

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Hi my name is Mei Ting. I am a student at the University of Warwick in UK studying Accounting and Finance.

The reason I joined Elevyn was because I had a long summer break and decided to do some voluntary work to pass my time. Therefore, I contacted Sze Ning about any work that I could engage in.

Initially, I was unsure of what to expect. At my first meeting when the team, they asked me whether I had any special skills. Having studying accounting and finance, my main skills were accounts and maths which was not really relevant for this job. Nonetheless, they welcomed me on board and had an implicit agreement that things will work out by itself.

My first job with the team was to visit a Mon refugee community from Myanmar to witness the launch of their online shop, Kaoprise Beauty. They were based in a small apartment crowded with 22 refugees. The apartment was partitioned so that everyone had their own privacy. However, with the limited space, it felt very cramped.

Online shopping training with the Myanmar refugee coordinators of Kaoprise Beauty.

Nonetheless, they treated us with kindness and gratitude that made us feel at home. Devan went through the detail of how to run the online store. We also followed them to the post office to send their first official order.

The refugees expressed their gratefulness for the help of the team. Their expression of happiness gave me a realisation that I have joined the right cause. Also, it made me feel more grateful with how lucky and am and motivated me to help other communities as well.

I would like to that the team for welcoming me on board, and I look forward to working with the team on more future projects.

Free PDF Download: Voices From The Forest

Voices From The Forest, a free publication available as a PDF download.

Voices From The Forest is an informative magazine highlighting how organizations and communities harvest non-timber forest resources in a sustainable manner.

Think honey, rattan, bamboo and tree barks – all of which can be churned into viable income sources for forest-based communities without cutting trees, killing endangered animals and destroying forests.

The twice-a-year publication is produced by the Non-Timber Forest Products Exchange Programme (NTFP-EP), a network of NGOs and community-based organizations from India and South East Asian countries.

The latest issue sees 2 contributions by Elevyn – one detailing our trip through the Philippines, and one on Pesta Penan, a festival to celebrate the culture of the indigenous group from Sarawak.

Free PDF download: Voices From The Forest

The Two Burmas

Young Burmese children at the tourist site of Bagan. Image via TIME.

Burma, also known as Myanmar, is the largest country in mainland South East Asia (commonly known as Indochina). It is also one of Asia’s poorest countries, and one of the most militarized states in the world.

TIME takes a look at the class divide between the elites of the ruling military junta and the majority of its citizens in a country that Transparency International ranks as the third most corrupt nation, outdone only by Afghanistan and Somalia.

See also the Photo Gallery, where the country trains its next generation of military and business elites, while the people continue to live in poverty.

Mobilizing the craft network

Field coordinator, Puah Sze Ning, recaps on her recent trip through the heart of Sabah with other network organizations in joint effort to mobilize the craft network to strengthen ‘crafts and women empowerment’ initiatives.

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After spending 10 days travelling through logging roads in Sabah with what we’ve dubbed the ‘craft dream team’ – I’m back in the city.

During our visit to meet the Non-timber Forest Products Exchange Program (NTFP-EP)’s partner groups in the Philippines earlier this year, I met Eleanor Goroh, coordinator for Indigenous Peoples Network of Malaysia (JOAS), while in Manila. She was there for a conference and took the opportunity to meet up with us to meet NTFP-EP and Custom Made Crafts Center (CMCC) based in Quezon City.

Old Murut basket from Ulu Tomani (© Puah Sze Ning)

As friends and colleagues through our work with JOAS, we bonded through our passion for indigenous crafts. Seeing the work of NTFP-EP and CMCC, where they revived traditional crafts and customized them into products that are functional while maintaining elements of the producer’s culture and heritage, really got us excited and inspired.

That eventually lead to us organizing a trip through the heart of Sabah, Malaysia from 22-29 June 2010, to mobilize the craft network within Malaysia.

For our pilot road trip, we got the help of NTFP-EP to invite an amazing resource person, Jenita Eko, an indigenous T’boli woman who is the coordinator of the Lake Sebu Indigenous Women Weavers Association Inc (LASSIWAI), to share her experience in developing her women’s group over the last 10 years.

Dinner with the Sinompuru Women's Group in Kg Tinangol (© Puah Sze Ning)

Our road trip started with a visit to the Sinompuru Women’s Group in Kg Tinangol, Kudat (north of Sabah), to follow up on their shop on Elevyn and to introduce some people from the network and spend time with the women’s group.

We came back to the city, Kota Kinabalu, to meet Jenita Eko and Reita Rahim from Gerai OA, a non-profit stall which helps indigenous communities revive and sell crafts in the city, who continued with road trip with us to Kg Mengkawago.

Kg Mengkawago, Tongod

Laying out their crafts for display (© Puah Sze Ning)

The people at Kg Mengkawago are from the Sungai Rumanau ethnic group, a group whose culture and crafts are poorly represented in Sabah. The village committee (Pertubuhan Rakyat) at Kg Mengkawago is a very strong group that is currently resisting encroachment into their traditional land through the help of PACOS Trust (Partners in Community Organizations in Sabah).

Jenita shared LASSIWAI’s efforts in using non-timber forest products in their crafts, as a way of strengthening their group’s claim to the land for subsistence. The women in Kg Mengkawago make a variety of crafts for daily use but lack market access as their village is very far from town.

Doris from PACOS, mediated the sharing sessions (© Puah Sze Ning)

Jenita (right) and Ele (left), who helped translate from English to Bahasa Malaysia (© Puah Sze Ning)

During our trip, we found out that amongst themselves they have already initiated weaving classes so that their tradition will be passed down to the younger generation.

From this visit, the group joined Gerai OA’s network and will start making crafts for sale for supplementary income while Reita’s expertise will help them refine and develop their crafts to marketable quality. We are also eager for the community’s on-going effort in their Community-based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) project to be followed up through this crafts and women empowerment initiative.

Kg Alab, Sook

Our next stop was Kg Alab in Sook, also belonging to the Sungai Rumanau ethnic group. While travelling through the logging roads, we passed vast areas cleared from forest to be converted to rubber plantations.

We stopped to photograph and video the destruction which we compared to the movie Avatar where indigenous sacred land was destroyed purely for exploitative commercial means.

Documenting the land conversion (© Eleanor Goroh)

We reached Kg Alab to be warmly greeted traditionally with a big party and lots of rice wine.

Playing the gong while visitors drink the rice wine (© Puah Sze Ning)

During the introductions that night, our convoy introduced ourselves and the community shared a little on their struggle to maintain on their traditional land.

In a heart-wrenching moment, Jenita said to the community “Even though I do not understand you, I feel what you are going through,” in reference to the land destruction which we passed for hours to get to this village.

The women in Kg Alab are normally overshadowed by their male counterparts. Jenita’s sharing on the importance of women in taking care of the forest, introduced the potential for the women to be in the front line, instead of just playing the supporting role in the community.

Prospects of organizing visits for the women to other craft making groups within the JOAS network is currently being discussed. Kg Alab has also joined the Gerai OA network and will receive help from Reita in product development and market access.

Jenita being taught the Kg Alab style of weaving (© Puah Sze Ning)

Kg Alutok, Tenom

Our final leg of the road trip brought us Kg Alutok in Ulu Tomani, Tenom. The people here are from the Murut ethnic group. While their culture and crafts have a strong presence in Sabah, there’s much to be improved in product development and empowerment for the group to control the sales and copyright of their craft.

Jenita Eko presenting to the group (© Puah Sze Ning)

The women there already have a women’s group called Pasisimpungan Ambatuh Ulu Tomani (PAUT). When Elevyn just started, we approached this group to start their own online shop but that has to be put on hold until they’ve grown stronger as a group.

Jenita shared with this group what they can achieve if they work strongly together. Jenita gave examples such as how LASSIWAI has been able to support the schooling fees to educate many of their member’s children and how they improved the quality of their traditional woven cloth made from the fibers of abacca, the T’nalak. The T’nalak is now known and recognized by the local and international community despite the T’boli group being a minority in the country. This has given the T’boli people leverage to be involved in policy making decisions.

PAUT also joined Gerai OA’s network and will be receiving expert assistance from Reita in product development, quality control and pricing consistency.

Lumi (center), coordinator for PAUT sharing ideas with Doris (left) from PACOS and Reita (left) from Gerai OA (© Puah Sze Ning)

Looking forward…..

This trip is significant because it is the “craft dream team“. Every organization has it’s strength. NTFP-EP with its regional network and expertise, JOAS for its Malaysian network and advocacy for indigenous rights, PACOS for its grassroot community organizing work, Gerai OA for its local market access and product development expertise, Center for Orang Asli Concerns (COAC) for its documentation and community-based media approach, and Elevyn for online market access and media.

Here’s my personal take on the achievements through this trip and the prospects for the future:

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  Bead work by Kg Alab (© Puah Sze Ning)

  The experience and knowledge of LASSIWAI, a successful women’s group which achieved empowerment through crafts, was well shared and received by communities within the PACOS and JOAS network.
• A trip organized specially for crafts and women empowerment, gives prominence to the initiative which we hope and will take proactive steps to develop further.
• Communities visited received immediate local market access and product development expertise from Gerai OA.
• Continued exchange of ideas and experience within the NTFP-EP network.
• Formalizing the network to better mobilize the initiative, with long-term goals and a board of advisors to ensure that opportunities are offered fairly and suitably across the network in Malaysia.

This trip was not only fun and informative, it is definitely the starting point of something bigger.

Many thanks to JOAS, NTFP-EP and NTFP-TF for sponsoring the trip.

Wallet activism

A fair trade story on the Star Newspaper posted yesterday – go here to check it out.

2 things though:

- Elevyn.com’s work with Indigenous Peoples was inspired by Sze Ning while she was in Sabah, by Gerai OA and ebannok.com. Without them, Elevyn might never have engaged any of the Indigenous communities.

- 45% percent of Malaysian fair trade buyers referred to are those that purchase on elevyn.com. Some of which are friends of friends. We’ve yet to sell these items offline, so I don’t know what challenges we’ll face.

Ok, enjoy the story : ) Click here

Winners of gifts for Mothers for Fair Trade

Do not forget your mother language, nor forget your origins - Maznah, artisan on Elevyn @ Tompoq Topoh women's group, Carey Island, MALAYSIA -

Your friends say I look like you, sound like you, and even have the wide hips. I got it from my mama! I am so proud and blessed to be your daughter -Shafi, MALAYSIA-

Take good care of your children so they can be leaders in their communities and countries. -Iang Ku, artisan on Elevyn @ Mang Tha (women's refugee group), KL, MALAYSIA.

At the end of the day, the job that matters most is being a mom - Dura Muhammad, Project Engineer, KL, MALAYSIA-

Maznah and Gendoi Samah from Tompoq Topoh, Carey Island, will receive a special gift from elevyn.com, Shafi will receive a free family portraiture from Anna-Rina Photography and both Iang Ku from Mang Tha and Dura will receive a RM200 Tiny Tapir gift voucher each.

Congratulations to the winners of the gifts! May we spend everyday celebrating and appreciating mothers all over the world.

Visit our Mothers for Fair Trade wall to see all the photos uploaded here, or view our Facebook album here.

The Chin Fabric Trail

Historically, many great travelers have made their way through trade routes made famous by important commodities being traded at that time. There was the Silk Road across the Asian continent, and the ancient Incense Route linking the Eastern world to the Mediterranean.

Today, trade routes have become a relic of the past as countries are more connected to each other than ever. The ease of transportation mean products from all over the world can be  flown around to fill up shopping malls – available for purchase every day from dawn till dusk through every season.

Competing against the variety and availability of mass-produced products, one might not give a second glance at handmade crafts, such as those made by Mang Tha, an organization to empower Chin refugee women from Burma, based in Kuala Lumpur.

A closer look at the craft however reveals tales of bravery, history, heritage, pride, love and suffering – found in the traditional Chin fabrics of Burma.

From Burma to Malaysia

© Goiyoo

The Chin fabrics routinely make its way from Burma to Malaysia, though at an economic scale much more microscopic compared to the other historical trade routes, but no less significant to its market.

My first introduction to the Chin fabric was Mang Tha’s red sling bag – almost passing as a generic souvenir commonly found in any South East Asian country.

“This is our traditional fabric used in all our Chin costume,” Ma Engi explained, who escaped the oppressive and violent Burmese military rule in 2008.

There are several versions of the origins of the fabric’s pattern, described by the women in Mang Tha.

© Benny Manser

One is a story of a man who once fell in love with a beautiful mermaid. The mermaid told him never to tell anyone of their relationship or a tragedy would happen. One day, the man could no longer keep his love for the mermaid to himself anymore, told someone about their love and of how she is the most beautiful creature he has ever seen.

He died right after telling the story. The grieving mermaid came out of the water to see her dead lover that night. Only one person saw the mermaid, it was an old lady. The old lady saw the beautiful mermaid dressed in red fabric which she later weaved a copy of. That fabric is what we now recognize as the traditional Chin fabric.

Another story of the fabric’s origins is that it was inspired by the rainbow.

© Benny Manser

Amongst the red fabric, many other colors and fabric patterns enough to put a fabric collector in seventh heaven – are made into phone pouches, pencil cases and other functional products.

“Every one of the 17 ethnic groups of the Chin people have their specific costume and thus (different) fabric (for each costume)” explained Susan, coordinator of Mang Tha.

© Mang Tha (left) © Khing Su Li (right)

Browsing through the wide selection of scarves, table runners and bags, I was advised to buy whatever I like – because there is no guarantee that the same fabric will be available next time.

UNCHR registration card offers limited protection in Malaysia (© Benny Manser)

This erratic supply of fabric is explained through the travelling that each roll of fabric had to make before reaching the capital city of Malaysia, called the “second country” by the Chin refugees as they await to be resettled through the help of the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) to their “third country” where most of them hope to make their home.

“Malaysia does not recognise refugees. Our legislation, namely the Immigration Act 1959/1963, does not differentiate between an undocumented migrant and refugees. Hence, refugees here are usually treated as undocumented migrants by the authorities. The government on various occasions expressed that they are reluctant to recognise refugees at it would bring an influx of refugees to the country,” explains Temme Lee, refugee coordinator for Suaram, a human rights organization in Malaysia.

The fabrics are brought to Malaysia by Burmese workers coming to Malaysia to work as labourers in construction sites and restaurants, which are then sold to a middle man. The middle man resells the fabric in Kuala Lumpur at the range of USD 20-100, depending on the complexity and rarity of the pattern.

Chin refugee working in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (© Benny Manser)

“One set (2m) fabric that is hand-woven takes 3 days and more than 5 days if woven with traditional looms” Susan explained.

The value of these fabrics is not only in the hand-crafted element nor the ’shipping’ surcharge – these fabric represents the Chin people’s heritage and culture.

“We can only bring what we wear and one more set of clothes,” Susan explains.

On the move (© Benny Manser)

Their journey by car and boat to get here is difficult, with sometimes up to 30 people cramped into a van. On top of that, they also face the danger of being caught and detained by the Thai authorities.

According to Ngun Thluai who has been a refugee in Malaysia for almost 3 years, many people don’t survive the hazardous journey.

“Refugees continue to come to Malaysia not by choice. In Burma, certain communities are highly oppressed and often are subjected to forced labour. If they do not obey the military, they are subject to persecution. Refugees leave their homes out of fear that their lives might be threatened or even taken,” Temme adds.

Those who managed to make it to Malaysia, struggle to make ends meet as opportunistic employeers take advantage of their vunerable situation by paying them low wages.

“All our income is spent on food for our family and rent. We can’t afford much else,” Ma Engi shared.

Prisoners sentenced to hard labor constructing a road in Chin state (© 2007 Vanlalvura)

Ma Engi is one of the lucky ones to own a piece of traditional Chin fabric, given as a gift from a friend. She uses it as a baby carrier to carry her daughter.

Ma Engi in her rented flat with her children (© Puah Sze Ning)

Mang Tha, making sweet dreams come true

At Mang Tha, which means ’sweet dreams’ in Chin – the women tailor these traditional fabrics into functional products such as handphone pouches, purses and bags, to be sold to generate income for their livelihood.

“Often, these women are too scared to go out of their apartments, and some can spend most of their time between four walls for several years waiting to be resettled. Mang Tha allows them to have an activity while staying in Malaysia, to earn some income and improve the living conditions of their family, to acquire a sense of purpose, self worth and dignity, as well as skills they can continue using when they move to their third country,” said Ariel, a Mang Tha volunteer.

Ciang Thian Wung (left) and Wung Suan Mang knitting at Mang Tha (© Puah Sze Ning)

Apart from helping the Chin refugees in Malaysia, Mang Tha also reaches out to other Chin refugees in other countries such as India, by buying fabric from All Burma Democratic Lushai Women Organisation (ABDLWO) based in Mizoram.

“India is not a signatory country of the Geneva Convention 1951 and the UNHCR has no operations in Mizoram. Chin in Mizoram face security abuses, severe discrimination, religious repression, (they) lack job opportunities, housing and affordable education. They live largely at the mercy of the local population in Mizoram,” explained Elodie Voisin, a volunteer for Mang Tha since 2008.

Mang Tha gets the fabric from refugees in Mizoram coming to Malaysia in hopes of getting recognition by UNCHR. By buying fabric from ABDLWO, the working conditions for the refugees there can be improved.

Looking at a simple purse made by Mang Tha, it feels as if the purse is whispering heroic tales of a weaver braving oppression in her Chin homeland, or a Chin refugee in Mizoram hoping to weave a better future for her children. Or maybe, of a refugee in Mizoram taking the fabric on his or her way to Malaysia where hope resides.

With the iconic twin towers almost at the backyard of over 27,000 Chin refugees residing in and around Kuala Lumpur, I wonder if every one of them managed to get a hold on a piece of fabric unique to their ethnic group. Something to remind them of their heritage, which tells the tale of someone’s brave escape to a safer place, something to hold on to through rough times in a strange land and something which would travel with them in hopes of a brighter future for their next generation.

Notes:

• Mang Tha’s products are available here
• Keep in touch with Mang Tha through Facebook here
• Names of some interviewees are not their real names at their request to protect their identity.