Bairo Pite Clinic and Rotary Dili - a great mix

We have been excited that Rotary Dili was inspired to purchase 100 MHM packs to pass on to Dr Dans clinic at Bairo Pite.
This week Fi, from the clinic arranged for Belekria to visit and run a small training class with some midwives, nurses and cleaners.  They will be distributing them to women when they are discharged and returning to the districts.

Emmy led the Discussion and was quite adept at explaining the benefits and use of all the packs items.

 The women were really interested, occasionally shy and giggly, especially when the underpants were pulled out :)

After Emmy had finished, 3 of them had a go at explaining what they had learned. They did really well.  Then at the end, time was given for any questions.
First Question:
"Can we buy these at the kiosk?"
Second Question:
"How much are they?"
Third Question:
"Where is your business/shop?"

The implication is that most of them want to be using them themselves.  Pretty encouraging feedback.

A new product - Health kits

Due to Demands we offer:

Womens Health Packs

 

 Belekria can supply 4 styles of health kits, a Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM) Pack, a Mini MHM pack, a Complete Sanitation Pack and Personalised Packs.

MHM Pack

2 Regular cloth pads

1 belted cloth pad OR 1 night length pad

5 extra inserts

2 pair underpants

1 ziplock bag

4 safety pins

1 instruction pamphlet

1 medium drawstring bag

                                          $20

                                                               

Mini MHM Pack

1 standard cloth pad

1 belted cloth pad

4 extra inserts

1 pair underpants

1 ziplock bag

Instruction pamphlet

1 small drawstring bag

                                         $15

 

Complete Sanitation Pack

1 complete MHM pack (see left) +

1 additional regular cloth pad

1 toothbrush & toothpaste

1 soap & face washer

1 nail clipper & 1 file or manicure set

1 comb

1 pocket pack tissues

1 nail brush

1 large draw string bag

                                         $35

Personalised Packs

We are happy to create personalised health packs, and can also prepare other types of packs including education packs.  Contact us with your request and we can provide cost options accordingly.

Update of new management

Well, Emmy has been official owner /manager of Belekria for 4 months now, and she has been great!  She is flat out purchasing supplies, orgainsing paperwork and orders, and record keeping, not to mention bouncing ideas with me.  Im very happy to be avoiding the sewing room without guilt!

A week or two ago Emmy orgainsed a bimonthly meeting to be here at our home, so all the staff arrived after lunch and Emmy chaired the meeting.  A number of topics were discussed, including current orders status, rent, expansion, and time was given for any problems or issues (there weren't any so that was a relief :)
The women spoke about the landlord offering more floorspace, as the current room is VERY crowded, (especially with almost 2000 pads waiting to be picked up by Red Cross).  They also would like to be able to have a dedicated shop front space to display clothes, and to begin to offer secondhand clothing for sale as well.
I also mentioned that a relative of Emmys is wanting a machine to extend her sewing business on the island of Atauro. I suggested that perhaps we could almost franchise Belekria, and set her up to make pads on the island.

I also wondered about renting the whole building rather than just an extra room.
It was wonderful to feel like I was a part of the discussions but not in any responsibility.  Just the way I like it.

Emmy has grasped record keeping well, only making the odd mistake :)  She handled a end of month /payroll without me (while we were in Australia), and is getting adept at purchasing materials.  Thank God for Emmy.

Ill keep you posted on the franchise idea.... I reckon its a winner.

Rotary informed of the MHM issues in Timor Leste

Yes its been months since i posted last!  Ill be catching up over the next week or two.

A couple of months ago I received a phone call from Geraldine, recent Director of CARE here in Timor.  She has had a real passion to assist Belekria's vision, and has been trying to advocate for women.  She let me know that she was going to be speaking at the Dili Rotary club meeting about the topic of women's sanitation, and she was going to recommend they purchase some pads to donate to Bairo Pite Clinic (Dr Dans Clinic)..

I was so excited by this possibility as for a number of years this clinic has expressed an interest in receiving the pads to distribute, but we had not been able to find a suitable way, so perhaps Rotary will be able and willing to fill that need.
 

Dr Dans, Bairo Pite Clinic

Sales and a Surprise

We had a last minute flurry trying to finish a number of samples of the new products for the 2^nd International Craft Fair, but ended up having too many products to display on our table.

We thought the flow of people was a little down on last years event, although we still made sales of over $100 over the 6 hr market, which was  a great improvement compared to the recent Independence Market in town.

I was able to meet with Nga Nguyen (a consultant from BESIK) who was in Dili to present the findings of a preliminary survey on women’s Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM). Last November Besik sent some staff out to 2 districts and interviewed some women.  The consultant wanted to meet with me and see Belekria’s products.  She also invited me to hear the report the following Monday at the Ministry of Health.

I also happened to have a stall next to me with a lady who is starting a small business doing dog training etc.  She had a chat with me about Belekria producing some “treat bags” for dog owners to hold treats while training.

Finally and perhaps most wonderfully, I was introduced to a lovely American woman who is leaving Timor in a few weeks.  She was explaining that she had $1200 which had been donated to support the commencement of a business, but the business in mind had not got off the ground, so she was hoping to find a worthwhile use for the money, and she asked if Belekria needed machines or some other infrastructure.  My eyes opened a little wider and I explained that as we had had so much work, our sweet home machines were being overworked and were starting to be unusable – over heating etc.  I also explained that I had been discussing the possibility of purchasing some industrial machines such as the tailors here use.

She was excited by the idea and encouraged me to find and buy some machines and she would hand over the donation! WOW!

So we are looking at purchasing 2-3 industrial machines and hopefully letting our sweet home style

machines take a break though we will still need them for fancy stitches like zig zag etc.