Plastic Bags and Poverty

The debate to save the environment continues all over the world. An item that many of us have used for years and perhaps continue to use without due regard is the plastic bag.

The plastic bag has contributed to poverty amongst the women I work with in unexpected ways. How, I hear you ask? Well imagine this.. in developed countries when we think about assests, to most of us it's the homes we own, valuable jewellery etc in some developing countries especially in rural areas, their assets are goats, cows, sheep and other live stock. These are what people trade to send children to school, buy anti malaria tablets etc.

Imagine therefore if you will a situation where a family wakes up and their prized goat is dead because it swallowed a plastic bag that was carelessly disposed of! I have seen this with my own eyes and the despair in people's eyes when they realised what had happened

Some governments such as the Ugandan government have realised the effect of plastic bags on the environment and outlawed them last year and incredible whilst in some circles this was welcomed in others their was outrage. I continue to follow this with interest

If you provide handouts/training materials/goodie bags as part of your events have you considered using a natural bag?

Reflecting on Feedback

If you are a service/product provider you will sometimes get feedback from the people who use your service/product and even from those who have said "no I am not interested", the feedback maybe solicited or otherwise. Why is it important to have this feedback? In my opinion, it is important because it enables us to correct a mistake, improve a product/service as well as learn and grow.

I recently turned down a service because I felt it was not a fit for Ethnic Supplies and my reasons were that it would take away resources from Ethnic Supplies. Anyway I didn't hear from these people again until I was asked to provide feedback so that "they can best improve their services" fair request I thought. My response "Unfortunately what you have to offer is not a fit for Ethnic Supplies and besides I cannot justify the expense" The reaction I got cannot be repeated here, but it reinforced my prior judgement.

The question my volunteer and I were then faced with should we react to this, or let it go. We decided that it could lead down a path that we didn't want to go and as time is one of those resources we have very little of, we could not afford to waste anymore of it on this.

You are probably wondering why then I am spending time writing about it?
Well I wondered if there was a lesson there that I couldn't decipher since it's my understanding that not everyone we approach with whatever our offering happens to be will be interested?

Questions is
How do you define resources in your line of work?
If your answer is money, would you spend it on something you didn't need?

If you are a man please don't say your wife/girlfriend spends money on shoes and bags she doesn't need, as you don't know that for sure

Delia can’t decide.. And neither can I

Delia Smith was interviewed on BBC radio 4 this morning (15 Feb 2008) in relation to her new cookery book and brand of easy meals. Nothing new there per se after all she is a legend as far as cooking matters go. The presenter however tried to take her into arenas that could be deemed political
Delia w as asked what her views were on “eating only organic food” and whether she agreed with Jamie and Hugh (them from channel 4’s Chicken Run) to paraphrase Delia said

“ I am a cook and really don’t have much to do with those debates, with so much POVERTY around I more concerned about cooking and ensuring that people have enough to eat”

She was further asked about food miles and buying local food.. Delia’s view was that she will not turn down fresh peas from Kenya on the basis of the effect of how far food travels to get here and that she was quite undecided in as far as the argument of the buying local food to save the environment is concerned.

I find this whole debate about food miles intriguing, and like Delia I can’t decide on which side of the fence I sit. I grew up on fresh food that came straight from the garden onto the table without days in the fridge/freezer. It tasted great and I loved it. I would still like to have access to that sort of food and besides British Farmers grow food for a living and we must support them otherwise we condemn them to a life of POVERTY.

The other side of the debate is the African farmers, they too are trying to get themselves out of POVERTY and need access to markets for their produce, and for items like coffee, tea, cocoa, Roses, bananas, Mange tout and peas we in Europe are their best bet. But for these products to get to us they fly 7-9 hours and the environmentalists argue this is not good for the environment.

I am not fan of Politicians on the whole but this one debate where I would sympathise with Gordon Brown ever so slightly. Why?

The months leading up to Christmas Ethnic Supplies was approached by the Department for International Development (DFID) and asked if we would be able to supply baskets made in Africa. The conversation went along these lines

Ethnic Supply: of course we can, and so we can best help please tell us how you intend to use the baskets.

DFID: we would like to put together a hamper full of African food and goodies to encourage people to support African farmers, whilst you at it please send us some of your case studies and include some pictures of the producers such as those on your website. Do you mind if we use these in publications for the public?

Ethnic Supply: no we don’t mind and we will be able to meet your order

At the same time the debate for BUY LOCAL support British farmers was growing and British supermarkets started labelling their food with labels such as “locally produced”, our eggs are from local hens” etc.

So my question is where do you sit on this issue and why? And if you had to how would you advise Gordon Brown

When networking leads to other things

Surrey Women Enterprise Events are the brain child of Surrey based business women Jan, Jo, Bev and Ida. The women met in 2007 through a Business Link initiative called SHE’S THE BUSINNESS. This programme supports women that are either new to business or who are established but want to develop their business skills further. Since the end of the programme the 11 participating women have remained in touch, mostly meeting monthly for mutual support.

It was at one of these monthly meetings that the idea behind Surrey Women Enterprise events was born. Both Jo and Ida had participated in events where they had paid a lot of money to organisers who had failed to sufficiently advertise, as a result the turn out for the event was poor and exhibitors had lost a significant amount of money as well as morale. Generally as start up businesses we do not have a lot of money to pay for advertising and therefore rely on events where we can show case our businesses at reasonable cost; however these sorts of events are limited. Other group members suggested that we organise our own events and invite other women in our situation to participate. This was agreed and with the New Year upon us we set about developing the idea by identifying suitable dates, booking venues and inviting others to join us.

Surrey Women Enterprise events aim to achieve successful sales events at low cost by:
1.Sharing equally between the exhibitors any direct costs (such as hall hire and advertising print work)
2.Sharing in the promotion of the event. This may be done by using all the free and low cost methods there are available (networking, email, free listings etc).
3.To provide mutual support and accountability through monthly networking events

There is no money made in the staging and organisation of the event itself, all exhibitors work as a team and although team members may have different responsibilities the overall work load is shared. The founders Jan, Jo, Bev and Ida provide a framework for the events and co-ordinate the exhibitors.

About us
Ida Horner

Is the founder and owner of Ethnic Supplies Ltd, has BA (Hons) in Housing Management and Development as well as HND in Hotel Management. Ida visited the south west part of her native Uganda in December 2006 and the poverty that she witnessed prompted her to quit her job as a Housing Manager for a London council and to set up Ethnic Supplies Ltd, an on line business that sells a range of fairly traded and ethical products made by poverty stricken African women.
www.ethnicsupplies.co.uk,


Joanna London
Is a Surface Designer and Designer-Maker. Starting working life with a BSc (Hons) in Nutrition she worked for ten years as an NHS Dietitian and still holds an active interest in diet related health. A passion for design, combined with a career break looking after her three children, allowed her to achieve a Foundation Degree in Surface Design and thereby obtain sufficient skills to create her own designer product. Joanna London Print Decorated Ceramics creates and sells designer and bespoke tableware. www.joannalondon.com


Janet Hodgson
Janet is a teacher and has a background in IT training and documentation. After graduating with a BSc(Hons) in Business and German she worked in the UK and USA as an IT trainer before taking a career break to bring up three children. She retrained as a teacher and has worked for the last 4 years as a primary teacher. She started Abacus ICT last year when she realised there was a real need for people who are new to computers and who didn’t have the training our children have to acquire the necessary skills to participate in our computer-driven world.

After being made redundant from a large corporation, working in an accounting environment, Beverley Fowler saw this as a great opportunity to change direction and re-trained in complementary therapies. She is now offering on-site seated massage and reflexology in the workplace, improving the health and wellbeing of staff, leaving them motivated and in a state of alert relaxation. www.beverleyfowler.co.uk


Our first Surrey Women’s Enterprise event is being held on Sunday 30th March at King Georges Hall Esher and will be opened by the Mayor of Elmbridge.

This year’s Sales Events
Sunday 30th March 2008 10.00am – 3.00pm King Georges Hall Esher
Saturday 7th June 2008 10.00am – 3.00pm Kingston
Saturday 6th December 2008 10.00am – 3.00pm Kingston
Networking sessions are monthly please contact us for dates and venue details
Contact:
www.surreywomensenterprise.co.uk,

Eating Guavas in Havana

I took time out during January and went on holiday to Havana for 10 days. Havana is an amazing place that I can best describe as full of rustic charm, with it's old cars and neo classic buildings reminscent of a bygone era.

Although we had a rented apartment we spent a lot of time at the Hotel Nacional Cuba and had most of our meals here. the Hotel gardens provide a relaxing place from which to take in teh views, drink coffee, sunbathe or knock yourself out with as many cocktails as you can put away , as well watching the goings on at the Malecon below. The hotel laid on an elaborate buffet at breakfast and diner but the thing that excited me most on the menu were the guavas especially when I learned that I could eat them with cheese! I highly recommend this hotel for all food lovers out there.

Trade restrictions mean that life is tough for most people some of whom leave in the most appaling conditions. The people are friendly and always happy to invite you in for a coffee or a Mojito and whatever else they can spare. This time away allowed me to reflect on the events of 2007 as well as the future. The world is full of the haves and have nots, how can this imbalance be corrected and by whom?

We visited a Cigar factory and learned that it takes 85 people to make 25 cigars, some of these people's role is to sort tobbaco leaves out according to size, pass them to another team whose job it is to remove the stem, all this happens in a room without windows! Making cigars is a skill that the factory teaches and not everyone passess and those that do are higly skilled at it.

Travelling through Cuba you become aware of what a proud people the Cubans are but one gets the sense of insecurity too brought about by an uncertain future. The jury is still out there!