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!

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

Celebrating Mothers for Fair Trade

A Mah Meri Indigenous Artisan in Malaysia. Photo by Sze Ning.

At Elevyn, many of the artisans we work with are struggling mothers, who rely on craft-making to feed their children and send them to school.

Having worked with and getting to know these artisans, we truly admire their strength and perseverence in overcoming the adversities in their daily struggles.

Fair trade provides an assurance that a reasonable amount of the selling price go back to the artisans, and that they are afforded proper working conditions.

Throughout the month of May, we would like to invite all fellow moms, sons and daughters to join us in recognizing these brave artisans who may not change the world, but are working hard to provide a better one for their children.

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How It Works

1. Email us (info@elevyn.com) a photo of you and your mom, or, if you are a mother yourself, one with your children. Include a short message to all fellow mothers out there.
2. The photo will be posted on The Wall (see below). At the end of the month, all the photos and messages will be compiled and given to our partner artisans from Tompoq Topoh (indigenous women’s group) and Mang Tha (refugee women’s group).

The Wall - Mothers for Fair Trade at www.elevyn.com/mom/

What Do I Get?

A warm fuzzy feeling that you are connecting to all mothers out there, regardless of their nationality and background

What, not enough?

OK fine… we’ve spoken to our partners, and they are more than happy to contribute!
Here are the goodies: *

1. ALL approved submissions get a 10% Discount Voucher from Lollietots.
2. For every 20 entries received, we will pick one with the best photo and message to receive a RM200 Gift Voucher (+ free shipping) from Tiny Tapir.

ONE Grand Prize Winner for BEST photo & message *

1. A family portrait shoot worth RM600 from one of Malaysia’s hottest wedding & lifestyle portrait photographer Anna-Rina.
2. A special mystery gift from Elevyn.
   

We are still finalizing the sponsor prizes even as you read this, so expect more to come!

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* Terms & conditions apply, and may be subject to change

Gigantic Boost for Elevyn Artisans

I had a chance to drop by MDeC’s headquarters today, and while looking for a parking spot, was greeted with this huge poster from the side of the building:

Elevyn's Mah Meri Artisans

Yup, that’s Maznah anak Unyan, group leader of the Tompoq Topoh indigenous group and her fellow artisans who have set up an online store on Elevyn.com.

The Mah Meri folks were featured as part of MDeC’s “Senang dengan ICT” (Easy with ICT) campaign to highlight communities and entrepreneurs who have successfully used information & communications technology (ICT) for a better livelihood.

Tompoq Topoh’s online store features intricately hand-woven pouches, bookmarks, pandanus bangles and other accessories.

Note: The Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) is an agency responsible for spearheading Malaysia’s Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) initiatives. Elevyn is a recipient of MDeC’s Pre-seed Grant in 2007.

Improving Livelihoods Through Market Feedback

As you are well aware, Elevyn works with indigenous groups and marginalized communities to commercialize their crafts to a worldwide market, via www.elevyn.com. A big part of the proceeds then go directly to the artisans to improve their livelihoods.

As a concept, that is how it works. But just like any other business, we are subject to all the challenges of the open market. For example, it is not enough to just list the crafts on the website and expect sales. The products must be competitive in terms of pricing, quality and design.

With that in mind, Elevyn has been paying a lot of attention to the items that are sold. We solicit feedback from buyers, and work closely with artisan organizations to continuously improve the products. This has resulted in a number of attractive, high quality crafts that do not look out of place in the urban home.

As part of our efforts in product development, Elevyn, alongside our network partner NTFP-EP would like to invite your participation in a Focus Group Discussion (FGD). We intend to seek your feedback on a number of crafts produced by the Dayak artisans of Kalimantan, Indonesia. It is open to urban professionals interested in fashion, heritage and culture. Details as follows:

Date: 06 March 2010 (this coming Saturday)

Location: Marmalade Cafe in Bangsar Village II, Kuala Lumpur

There are 2 sessions:

• A: Institutional / Corporate Buyers @ 10am-12pm
• B: Consumer Groups @ 3-5pm

You don’t have to buy anything – we just want to hear your opinions on a range of products that we have planned for market commercialization. Light refreshments will be served, and on the house!

Your feedback will go a long way towards improving the performance of the products in the market, and help better the economic livelihood of the craftmakers.

To confirm your attendance, or if you have any enquiries, please write to szening@elevyn.com.

Hope to see you there!

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Our Network Partner, the Non-Timber Forest Products Exchange Program (NTFP-EP)

NTFP-EP is a collaborative network of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and community-based organisations in South and Southeast Asia. NTFP-EP works with forest-based communities to strengthen their capacity in sustainable management of natural resources. Learn more at www.ntfp.org.

Anywhere and everywhere Gerai OA will go ! 

If you want to see autumn in Malaysia, just head to Gua Musang, Kelantan before the seasonal March-May dry spell hits the area.

©2010-Suli

The russet-coloured trees (pic) are the Hevea brasiliensis trees or more commonly known as rubber trees.  Reita Rahim, the founder and coordinator of Gerai OA and I (the car volunteer whose duty during the pick-up trips is to drive and pack crafts) were treated to the beautiful autumn roadside scenery during our drive from Kuala Lumpur to Gua Musang using the Bentong route.

Our 4 1/2 hrs long drive (without stops) from Kuala Lumpur to Kuala Betis via the Bentong route

Both of us were on our way to Kuala Betis, Kelantan, to be more specific, to meet up with the Temiar craftmakers.  The Temiar craftmakers are from Pos Tohoi and Kampung Peralong villages, about an hour, and half an hour away from the town of Kuala Betis respectively.

Reita and I had to meet the craftmakers at Kuala Betis because the villages aforementioned are only accessible via a logging trail from Kuala Betis onwards.  For this trip, we only had the service of a MyVi that is incapable of trekking through rough off-road conditions of an hour’s logging trail.

Elevyn’s first and only trip into Pos Tohoi and Kg Peralong was about 4 months ago, back in October 2009.  That trip was to seek free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) from the Temiar craftmakers to sell their products online on www.elevyn.com under Gerai OA online.

Elevyn promotes buying directly from the artisans but not all artisans especially from the more rural indigenous groups, are capable to sell directly online as yet.  Some of the more rural villages are handicapped through the lack of basic amenities like electricity and running water.  Other villages are quite difficult to access that it takes at least an hour from the nearest town to get in, notwithstanding the bad road conditions (i.e. sinkholes, uneven ruts, man-sized potholes, soft muddy dirt tracks just to name a few).  Even within a village, many of the artisans stay far apart from each other that it is quite challenging to get organised as a community group at the moment.

But through Gerai OA, volunteers go into the villages with Reita (some with 4WDs) to collect crafts from door to door; remit sales monies to the respective artisans and distribute over-the-counter medicines; and bring crafts back to Kuala Lumpur to be tagged, marketed and sold at rent-free sites.  Because the volunteers are not paid, 100% of the sales monies go back to the artisans at the end of the day.  This provides an avenue of income for the indigenous craftmakers while giving a tangible incentive to “revive and revitalize the Malaysian indigenous craft heritage (Reita Rahim, 2010)”.

With the Elevyn-Gerai OA collaboration, the indigenous groups can have access to the online market giving their crafts a wider access to buyers.  However, because Gerai OA still maintains its 100% sales monies go back to artisans policy, the Gerai OA shop on www.elevyn.com has to add an extra 15% on top of the product price to defray online charges.

All the indigenous craftmakers have previously agreed to sell their products under Gerai OA but for offline sales only.  Thus, the FPIC-ing for the Temiar craftmakers.  Reita and I spent 2 and 1/2 days at Pos Tohoi to meet all the craftmakers.

Temiar settlement at Pos Tohoi ©2009 - Suli

Reita Rahim (centre) and Aishah (right) gathering history about the settlement and stories of the crafts ©2009-Suli

We did Kampung Peralong on our way out in the late evening during a heavy downpour, in a traditional Temiar house made from split bamboo and in the dark, where the only source of light came from 2 oil lamps and 4 flashlights.

Elevyn managed to get the agreement of all the craftmakers at Pos Tohoi and Kampung Peralong to sell their items via www.elevyn.com /shop/geraioa.  Some of the Temiar craftmakers that have been selling their items online already are Jaja@Abong Atam, Saidi Osman, and Angah Anjang.

Back then, we had the help from GEC (Global Environment Centre) to loan their 4WD to send Reita and myself into and out of Pos Tohoi and Kg. Peralong, because they were also concurrently running a project within the area, which ended at the end of 2009.  It was also during that fateful trip that I, an ignorant city girl, was exposed to the adventures of living a rural life.  Having nothing to do on a sweltering hot day while waiting for our ride out of Pos Tohoi, I decided to wait out a pregnant hen, which has been clucking for the longest time ever since the day we arrived at the village, to lay her egg.  I think I was the source of amusement for the village (i.e. the mothers and children cooling off at their verandahs) as I ran to catch the freshly laid chicken egg that was tumbling down the baking hot zinc roof above the verandah of our host’s plank PPRT (the Malaysian Hard-Core Poor Development Programme) house.  The egg fell onto the grassy ground before I could catch it though but fortunately it did not crack.  Phew ! It ended up as a kid’s dinner later…

But I digress.

The first person to meet us at Kuala Betis was Aishah, our coordinator and our host from Pos Tohoi.  She came on her old faithful – a 2nd hand underbone motorcycle or locally known as kapchai – all covered with dirt from the logging trail with a giant bagful of crafts from her village strapped to her back and neck.  We quickly relieved her of her load and followed her to an Orang Asli transit point to meet the other craftmakers there.  As soon as I drove into the compound, a small entourage from Kg Peralong on their underbone motorcycles trailed in.

The small entourage from Kg. Peralong offloading their crafts at the transit point ©2010-Suli

Reita dealt with the craftmakers one by one, making a list of new crafts brought in, remitting the sales monies and paying the advance for the new crafts.

Reita looking at the pandanus baskets from Kg. Peralong ©2010-Suli

Aishah helping to sort and label the crafts from Kg. Peralong ©2010-Suli

Angah Anjang (60 yrs old) getting his sales monies ©2010-Suli

Angah Anjang looking at a screenshot of his "Bubu pacik/ked" that was sold off on www.elevyn.com ©2010-Suli

Reita and I also brought with us some donated items for the Temiar people.  There was a flurry of activity as soon as we opened the boxes as the people rushed to grab any clothes that could fit them or their children.

Picking out clothes and towels for themselves and their family ©2010-Suli

Special note: Thanks Kak Juliana Abdul Rahim  for all the donated items !

After dealing with the craftmakers at the transit point, all three of us – Aishah, Reita and myself – went out to a small warung (Malay roadside stall) to deal with the rest of the crafts from Pos Tohoi that Aishah brought with her.

Aishah with the crafts from Pos Tohoi in front of the warung ©2010-Suli

Two hours later, all sales monies were given to Aishah to be remitted to the respective craftmakers of Pos Tohoi and new crafts loaded into the Myvi for Elevyn and Gerai OA !

And off goes Aishah... ©2010-Suli

“The Temiar are the second largest goup within the Orang Asli, the indigenous minorities of Peninsular Malaysia. Reita Rahim (2010)”

Elevyn in Philippines Round-Up

Our journey in the Philippines began on 10th January 2010 in Manila, where we met up with the Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFP), who work with communities in sustainable management of forest resources.

Sze Ning discussing the idea of selling online with the team from NTFP and CMCC

Alongside its marketing offshoot the CustomMade Crafts Center, our goal was to enable their lineup of products to be showcased on elevyn.com.

Introducing Elevyn to members of LASIWWAI

NTFP also recommended us to visit the T’boli indigenous group that they are working with. We departed a few days later to Lake Sebu to spend some time with Jenita, leader and founder of LASIWWAI (Lake Sebu Indigenous Women Weavers Association).

We had to walk up this stretch as the road conditions made it difficult to ascent

Here, we had an opportunity to witness life in the villages as we travelled around on a dirt bike across back-breaking, gravel-filled hilly roads.

Puerta Princessa, the capital city of Palawan

Our next stop was the pristine municipality of Palawan, widely regarded as one of the cleanest and most well-managed province in the Philippines.

Product photography session with the enthusiastic NATRIPAL crew

Here, we were introduced to NATRIPAL, an NGO working with local indigenous artisans in developing and marketing of pure wild honey and handmade crafts. Despite the tight schedule (our visit lasted only 3 days), NATRIPAL managed to launch their online shop on elevyn.com.

View of the Cordillera Central

Tasks completed, we took the chance to visit the northern region of the Philippines. The long, windy roads carved alongside the mountains were dangerous at times, but offered spectacular views of the hilly countryside.

The famous rice terraces of Banaue

Hiking in Sagada, a small town known for its beautiful caves, pine trees and hanging coffins

Baguio City, a youthful, bustling city thanks to its universities and colleges

Many thanks to all at NTFP, CMCC, NATRIPAL, LASIWWAI and the kind individuals (Nancy, Norli, Jenita and Manang Lily) who played gracious hosts to us. We wouldn’t have been able to experience all the remote wonders and the great indigenous communities of the Philippines without the guidance from you guys. Hope to see you all again soon!

One year ago, today, we went live!

We launched elevyn.com on 11.11.2008, and since then we’ve connected to more than 200 artisans through 9 organizations and collectives, in Malaysia and Cambodia. Below are some highlights from the past year.

The day before going live, collecting invitations from friends

One of the early images from a trip by Sze Ning to Tenom in Sabah, before going live

An image I liked taken by Sze Ning during that trip, showing solar power and satellite internet in a rural village, behind the clinic

Elevyn artisans' Tompoq Topoh gets a highlight in Klue

Winners from our first competition with Tongue in Chic meet artisans

Looking back, the trip has been interesting but not without steep learning curves. Yes, community based organizations are ready to sell online. Yes, artisans themselves see the benefit of connecting directly with you, instead of middle men. And through your purchases, you’ve made your choice quite clear for fair trade.

But progress has been frustratingly slow when it comes to our vision to alleviate poverty for all our artisans in our network. And now a new sense of urgency is building, a realisation that we’ll be making some big steps in the next 1 year.

11:11 reflects 49 minutes more to midnight, 49ish more days to a new year. Excitement is brewing and we’ve picked 3 key areas:

• We are committed to increasing transparency in our supply chain. To the extent, as a buyer you will be able to see how each item has an impact on the artisans’ income.

• Improve delivery to our buyers. The goal is for artisans to ship items directly to you. But, we have realised that this takes time, and are working on a new model we hope, will be beneficial to the artisans and at the same time allow us to scale to more villages and communities.

• Supporting more artisans. We’ve set a scale for our artisans. Those that need our help to sell online, and those who’ve worked with us long enough to sell independently on elevyn.com. They each have slightly different models and commission rates and this will allow us to grow more rapidly, starting with a new country, Philippines in January.

We can’t consume our way to a better quality of life

It’s not just about the artisans, and the quality of the products they sell. It’s also about consumers becoming more socially conscious and understanding that every item sold on elevyn has a social, environmental and cultural significance. There’s a price for that and why many of the items sold are the only one of it’s kind.

This week, we will have a quiet dinner and toast to all our buyers and supporters, who have kept us believing. And rousing cheers, for the artisans, like the Myanmar refugees in Malaysia, who even in times like these, have hope for the future and ambitions to improve their skills and set up their own shop in a “3rd” country.

Know your purchase and order statuses

Keeping track of orders from Malaysia via PosLaju.

With e-commerce, it is important that buyers are informed of their order statuses once they make a purchase. For many, ourselves included, it sometimes feel like our orders fall into a black hole the moment we submit our payment details. We get a confirmation email, but have no idea on the status of our orders.

At Elevyn, we take this seriously. That’s why we make the time to write to our buyers manually – if that’s what it takes to ensure that our buyers are not talking to robots or automated scripts.

Additionally, we encourage buyers to select the shipping option of registered mails, if available, so they can keep track on the status of their packages.

The above is a screenshot of what happens when buyers make a purchase from any Malaysian shops on elevyn.com, and chooses express shipping (known as PosLaju). They are given a tracking number, and can check the progress of the package from within elevyn.com or via PosLaju’s website.

If you have any enquiries on our customer service, feel free to write to me, miketee@elevyn.com.