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.

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.

Sorting and Storing

We received a lovely package from Sylvia in Tweed Head.  She sent us a box load of empty ice-cream and take away containers.   I immediately  brought a large handful to Bellekria.  Sinta pointed out the amazing timing of Gods provision.  That very week was the week we received the 10 boxes of sewing gear.  It took us a while to sort through everything, and just as we were getting large piles of items, here arrived the containers! She was impressed how God had touched the hearts of completely separate people in Australia many months before, and that it all arrived when we needed it.   
So While Sinta and Anna were working on the wedding dress, Nona and serenity helped me sort zips, elastic, ribbons, needles, pins, safety pins and lovely lovely buttons!

Our third sewer employed officially

 

Sweet Anna is quiet and friendly.  She works really steadily and is gradually picking up new skills and learning all the terms… We all had a laugh today when she started looking for “that thing” She joked that because she couldn't remember its name she would have to keep looking until she found it herself!  We all teased her, and then had a good laugh  a few minutes later when she triumphantly held up a quick-unpick! 

This month she is still training so she is on a part wage, which as the weeks go by, we will increase to a standard wage.

Novi is still coming nearly every day, and the three of them enjoy each others company (most of the time) ; )  Apparently it turns out that the three of them share the same Godmother, so they are sort of like sisters.

As soon as Anna mastered the treadle machine she began to sew simple seams, and also helps out with packaging and applying the press studs.  They have been working on producing about 150 pads, plus 12 shirts, and are now finishing about 10 skirts!  They have been very busy this week!  They sit in production line each on a task.  Its great to see!

The Crate arrived!

Well, it was a momentous occasion… I was finally well enough to walk next door, and Samuel rang me to say that the crate would be arriving!   He offered to help the Rotary guy sort and unload so off he drove around 9am.  3 hours later he arrived back here with the little Suzuki all loaded up.  Seven machines, a number of large and small boxes.  So exciting!! We quickly sorted out the small amount of school gear for Serenity and Israel, and then began to unpack the other boxes.
Patterns, 3 craft/embroidery books, notions such as threads, buttons, fabrics….
Heres a few pics.
One lovely lady from Tweed Heads donated a beautiful old style Bernina.  Sinta asked a few months ago about paying off a machine and starting her own small home mending business on weekends.  So when the shipment arrived we spent a few hours looking at all the machines and discussing their pros and cons.  She ended up asking to take the lovely Bernina.  I know that she will make good use of it. 

Some other pics of the sewing room...

Two of my neighbours having a little lesson one evening

Sometimes its gets pretty busy with women and children.

A lovely shot of the great cutting table!

A neighbour Rosina doing a few hours work for us cutting some flannel

Israel entertaining some neighbours kids on the sewing room floor

The beautiful almost new Janome that was donated by a lovely pensioner in Australia.

We now actually have a ceiling which keeps it a bit cooler than the plain tin

Trying to design a bag with some input from a school girl

Sinta working through her little production line of cloth pads

I re-used long life milk cardboard cartons as storage.  Slit them in half and taped them up.  They work pretty well.

We have baskets of fabric scraps and old clothing to remake into smaller items like purses.

Sinta and Angelica hard at work.

Well they may not be the best photographs, but hopefully this gives you more of an idea about our average days in the sewing room.