I had lunch yesterday with Jan Haynes, the Executive Director of Point Hope. This was our second opportunity to share both a great enjoyment of pizza at Zeeks in West Seattle, but also our passion and commitment to seeing women with so little get a chance at providing a life for themselves and their children. I have known Jan for just a short time, but the months could easily be years as we can quickly chat a couple hours away. Jan just returned from the Buduburam Refugee Camp, where she has been diligently working alongside others to get the basics of clean water and a clinic available to this community of war-torn yet resilient community of survivors. This past 3 weeks Jan spent days working with a group of women who have been trained in both batiking fabric and seamstress work, explaining the basics of running a business that would ultimately be profitable for them. The details of time management, the importance of following a pattern “exactly”, and how to figure their costs of labor (among other things – I’ll go into detail another day) were studied with Sorrisi as their first real “customer.” It really is exciting to be part of this journey, knowing that this tooth fairy pillow will allow these women to feed themselves and their children, get the medical help they so desperately need, and have a hope in a sustainable future! The reality of this journey is, however, a steep learning curve. This means a need for patience on my part and a process that won’t deliver any pillows in the immediate future! Over a piece of pizza, Jan and I examined the first 2 prototype tooth fairy pillows that took 3 weeks to produce and had resemblance to the original, but was more of a rough estimation! So. . . . what this means is that we at Sorrisi and you as the customer gets to take great joy in the process, knowing that there is a much greater product than a pillow. We get to let go of our American timelines and enjoy the ride, knowing that when we get our Buduburam pillow it will be not just providing us joy, but a future to women who are so thankful for the opportunity to work and express themselves and their culture through their trade. I am excited to introduce you to the lead seamstress, as her story is truly inspiring, and encourage you to be ready to purchase a Buduburam pillow whenever that time might be . . . stay tuned!

Posted by: elisa