Wednesday, September 24, 2014

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.

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

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.
 Bairo Pite Clinic

Dr Dans, Bairo Pite Clinic