Yahoo!!

BREAKING NEWS!
Belekria has been asked to produce 1800 pads for the red cross to distribute.

""""HA--LLE--LU--JAH!!"""  Can you hear the bells ringing?

Not only will Belekria get a decent income for a month or 2, but we will also be doubling the staff for a month (spread the love around), AND, most importantly hundreds and hundreds of women will recieve a cloth pad that will save them money and shame for up to 5 years!

It just makes me want to sing......................
""""HA--LLE--LU--JAH!!""" ""HALLELUJAH, HALLELUJAH, HA=--LLE-------LU------JAH!!"

This is why I started Belekria.

NEW NEW NEW!

Its been an exciting few weeks.  I have been busy nutting out details of many of the new ideas.

Firstly come April 1^st we will be changing the business structure in a few positive ways

1. Emmy will become manager
2. Salaries will have a partial base rate plus a percentage of profits (A staggered process from me paying all salaries to me paying none.)
3. Bookkeeping will be done weekly by Emmy and Serenity (with me training and assisting)
4. Opening Hours will increase back to 5 days a week, and will be open 8:30-5 – even through lunch. (An unusual concept in Timor) 
5. I will be stepping back even more from sales, marketing etc 
6. I also designed a new simpler logo and am in the process of ordering clothing labels

Secondly we have begun a loyalty card for clothing alterations.  We printed some colourful cards with 10 smiley faces.  We also bought a smiley stamper.  For every 10 alterations, they get one free.  The local customers are loving this concept.

Thirdly and most exciting for me, is that we are commencing a monthly Gift Club.  This will be a subscription service, with club members receiving a surprise gift each month – home delivered! Their fee will also fund a monthly donation of 1 woman’s health pack to a clinic such as Bairo Pite.  Currently this service will only be available to residents of Dili, HOWEVER we are investigating the possibility of offering a mailed gift version to Australian Residents, so keep an eye out over the next few months for more information.

 Heres a look at the brochure:

(If you would like to join, either pop into Belekria shopfront or email: belekria@hotmail.com or you can also ring me on 77265308)

 

 

From iminent closure to sudden growth....hmm is that a normal business strategy?

I am back in the groove after a few months of illness and recovery :)
On returning to Dili, I was surprised and disappointed to hear that Belekria had barely opened during the six weeks I was away....Especially as they had heaps of work they could have been producing with orders from December still unfilled......
My head sewer had been struggling all year with high blood pressure issues, and then in the past few months has had family issues surface as well.  So along with some "re-entry culture shock", I fell into a pit of despair (of sorts) and began to consider closing Belekria.  But what do I do with all the orders needing to be filled?  Perhaps I could sell Belekria?
So began a series of middle of the night thought processes and all-day-on-and-off discussions with whoever could stand being around me....
I produced a small booklet for possible buyers and started putting the word out for a suitable manager/business entrepreneur (preferably a Timorese woman).
Yes, well........... it is Timor.  I guess I still forget sometimes.

SO no-one i know, knows anyone who could take the business on. ???  Its profitable, has heaps of opportunity for growth and comes with lots of support at a bargain price!! Man i think its a great business!

Then 2 days ago my remaining sewer and volunteer arrived for a chat and asked if I could keep it open for another 3 months (the rent is paid 3 months advance and is due in April) and have a go of it with Emmy as manager.   Emmy is the young woman who lives with us, and has some training in business management.
Serenity also stuck her hand up and asked if she could be a part of Belekria.
And i guess going through all the finances and having lots of new ideas for growth, well i guess it has rekindled my hope and energy.

We are yet to make any concrete decision, but it seems likely that I will offer some sort of  base salary for Emmy as manager and 3 sewers (adding the volunteer and another young woman as staff), then any profits will be distributed proportionally to them as well as to Belekria and possibly a bookkeeper.

So I will be reducing my responsibility, and hopefully setting it up gradually for me to step out completely..

Ill update again with some of the new ventures proposed....
Cheers
Cynthia

A New Library In Timor

A few weeks ago I was contacted by a friend of a friend, who was helping prepare for the official reopening of the Xanana’s reading room (Now Xanana's cultural centre and library)

At our first meeting Belekria was asked to sew some cushions for the children's area in the library.  They asked for a total of 24 cushions including 10 huge cushions at 1mx1m.  All with an applique animal on the top surface.  Most cushions produced here are single layer, but we sew/stuff a cushion and also sew a removable cushion cover to match.

Their second request was for me to organise a floor covering of some sort, which we decided would be better if was woven matting rather than a cloth/sewn rug.  We discussed some decorative options and have decided to use tais fabric to stitch an appliqued outline of East Timor across 3 large woven mats.

The third request was for a large crocodile puppet along the lines of a Chinese dragon, which children could hold up and move around. 

The fourth and final request was for me to re-stretch 2 small paintings which Xanana painted while he was in Prison.

WOW!

As you can imagine I’ve been quite busy myself as well as the sewing room being flat out stitching and stuffing cushions. J

The official opening was this past Sunday, and the cushions and crocodile were well loved. 

Unfortunately the woven mats were unable to be prepared in time, partly due to the impracticality of collecting and drying the required palm leaves during a rainy time, and partly as they are so huge themselves – 3 mats each 2.5 x 5.6m!  Hopefully they will be ready for Mid January when regular activities will be arranged at the Cultural Centre.

Some more awareness of womens issues

I was very excited to be invited to attend a meeting at BESIK, where Jose and her colleagues were collating data they had collected in the Bobonaro District last week.  BESIK is looking at how to assist women in their sanitation needs.  Part of this includes a goal to increase the use of toilets, but also assessing what women's needs are in regards to sanitation.  It was fascinating discovering some of the beliefs surrounding menstruation, and both encouraging and informative for Belekria.
I was able to show a sample of our pads, and explain a few benefits.  They were quick to realise themselves that the pads would save money and create less rubbish.  One woman commented how soft the fabric was.
In preparation for the meeting I began to sketch out some notes, and the dot points I began with, grew into a decent report conveying my process and developments, challenges and hopes.
I will upload the report to the research page above.


Being a sewing room, I think its ok to say that im glad that "gender" has come into fashion. :)

On the same theme, Liz at CARE has also contacted me and I hope to be able to chat with her early next week.

To Do List:

• CARE
• World Vision
• PLAN
• ALOLA

an overdue update

June, July, August, September? Already?
My life is just careening along... Xakira is a crawling 8 month old and I still haven't put a photo of her on here! Shame on me

A visitor took these lovely photos a month ago.

 

I have been busy caring for her, while also investing a large chunk of every day into Serenity & Israels schooling.

 Now for news on Bellekria...

• Bellekria is now the official supplier of the local primary school uniform! YAY
• We still only have Sinta and Ange as full time staff, but Agina (who trained with them earlier this year) has been coming every day even though bellekria cant pay her a wage.
• Mending/alterations are still the most common sale.
• Last month they had a stall at a 5 day trade fair.
• We sent 1 box of pads to a clinic in Weberek, another to a clinic in Los Palos, (Lautem) and a bag to a clinic in Same, which leaves us with one small bag left from the large amount donated last year by Celestes fundraiser.  This last bag will either be taken by a missionary working in a different village near Los Palos, or else sent to Weberek later this month with Lucinda (Aussie midwife) just in time for...
• Celeste is running another fundraising event this month! She is very sweet.
• Celestes fundraising event
• Our new location is proving to be a great thing - more people are walking through the door.
• We just received another load of machines/fabric from NSW. 

A new life for a well loved machine

 

      Quote”Oh its so smooth – its runs so lovely!  Every day I am going to use this machine!”

Its a lovely neat little cabinet coming all the way from Woombah.  Verna, a sweet 89yr old hoped her machine could be used, and it certainly will be.

Sinta and Ange loved how compact the design is, in a neat little cabinet that all folds up.  Its a real treasure here.  Because we received this machine we were able to pass on a cheaper treadle machine to go to Sintas sister in Suai - on the other side of the mountains.