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.