Filipino Woodcarver

Elevita is very excited to have recently added some new artisans from the Philippines.  One of these is Arman Cagayat, a Filipino woodcarver.  Elevita was introduced to Arman by a missionary couple, who discovered Arman's incredible talent while serving in the area.  Despite Arman's impressive skills, he has very limited access to markets, which is why we became excited to help him promote his work.  Arman lives in a one-room home with his family, where he creates beautiful nativity scenes from local wood.  Perhaps our favorite part of these is the wise men:  they come bearing gifts of rice, mango, and bananas.  Elevita will be offering a limited number of these nativities on Elevita.com beginning November 2011.  Those interested in preordering a nativity can email info@elevita.com.

Defining Our Role

As Elevita continually encounters new artisan groups worldwide through travels and other connections, it has been important for us to carefully define what types of artisans we try to help.  While always paying careful attention to quality, the following is a description of the kinds of artisans we seek:

- Artisans who have limited access to markets
- Artisan groups that work toward educating and empowering women and girls
- Artisans in distressed areas
- Handicapped or otherwise marginalized artisans

We feel that focusing in this way will help us carefully use our resources to accomplish the most good for families and communities worldwide.

Free Shipping at www.Elevita.com

We are happy to announce that we are now offering Free Shipping on all Elevita items.  Shipping prices have gone up in the US across all carriers, and we don't want this to negatively affect our artisans!  We are therefore offering free first-class domestic shipping on all orders.  So, if you have had your eye on a particular item, this is a great opportunity to place an order!  Thanks as always for all the support.

February in India

Keyne and I just returned from an amazing trip to India.  First on the agenda was visiting the Women's Training and Empowerment Center in Keru, India.  Brave women from this traditional village gather at the Center for practical and vocational training.  We discussed with them their current work, as well as some future projects for Elevita.

Then, I played my flute for them, as a token of thanks--because the last time we visited, they sang for us.

In the photo below, we are standing in front of the site for the girls' hostel.  The hostel will give girls from rural areas a place to stay so that they can attend secondary school.  There has been some opposition to the hostel from traditional men of the village, but if all goes well, ground will be broken later this year.  The hostel will be situated next to the Women's Training and Empowerment Center (visible top right) so that the women of the Center can mentor the girls in the hostel, and so that the girls in the hostel will be in a position to receive vocational training at the Center if they desire.

We also visited a crafts center in Khimsar, India.  Women from all social castes come together here to create some of the highest quality goods in all of Rajasthan.  The women are chosen based solely on their need.  The woman pictured below has polio, but she is able to survive because of the steady employment she has found making beautiful items at the crafts center.

This is Manju (below), who created the gorgeous Manju bag we carry on Elevita.com.  

Many of the 80 women here are widows, but they are all able to provide for themselves and their families because of the high-quality goods they create at the crafts center.

Elevita is committed to doing everything we can to find ongoing market opportunities for these beautiful women of the deserts of Rajasthan, India.

Elevita Expands to Afghanistan

This week, Elevita featured some special new products.  Through my father and brother, who are currently serving in the military in Afghanistan, we became aware of a unique group of girls who could use some special help.  Medina (pictured in paisley scarf below) and her sisters and friends sell scarves as a way to earn money for their school.  Wanting to support the girls' education, Elevita purchased a number of scarves from them to sell at an Elevita Home Show.  The scarves were a great success!  Not only were we able to support these Afghan girls in their quest, but we were also able to make a good profit for the construction of our girls' hostel in India.  (Because each of the scarves is unique, they are not featured on our website; however, purchase arrangements can be made by emailing info@elevita.com.)

Blessings

"There is no better exercise for your heart than reaching down and helping to lift someone up." (Bernard Meltzer)

At Elevita we have been reminded that reaching out to others is the best way to gain perspective on what is really important in life. Our work with those less privileged has made us even more poignantly aware of our bounty, and of the need to share. Truly we are blessed by serving, and we receive by giving.

Amazing India

We just returned from an incredible trip to India where we were able to visit with some of our artisans and discuss future projects.  We were even able to meet with the Maharaja of Jodhpur and discuss with His Highness some of our plans to help in the region.   The following day we were able to survey the site where we plan to build a hostel that will enable girls from rural villages to attend secondary school.  But perhaps the most moving element of the trip was our visit to a fledgling Women's Training and Empowerment Center in the village of Keru.  Several women there have undertaken a sewing and embroidery course, and we were able to get a "show and tell" of their first projects.  What impressive women!  We will continue to work with the Center to help these women develop marketable items that can supplement the meager incomes of their families.  Because a picture is truly worth a thousand words, I'll let you see the rest below:

One of our block printers, carefully printing a tablecloth:

Dyed cloth hanging in the sun to dry--beautiful!!

The ladies at the Women's Training and Empowerment Center in Keru:

 First Sale!  We purchased from this lovely lady some beautiful pillow covers she carefully stitched as part of her training:

It is the middle of the day, and these young girls should be in school.  Instead, they are obligated to stay home and help with the chores--probably because they are already betrothed.  It is for village girls like these that we wish to build a hostel so they can have the opportunity to finish out their childhood and receive a secondary education.