The girls and Chan wrote their own marketing letter - it says more than I can:

OUR STORY :

We are five. Five girls, who were detached from our roots as a result of ironies which were different, but led all of us to a common hell – a market for human flesh.

As children we have been subjected to inhuman drudgery and violence. We had been robbed of our adoloscence and forced to become adults and wage a lone battle against drakness.

……. And one such day enkindled a ray of sunlight, a ray of hope. We were rescued from our respective dungeouns by the police and some responsible members of the civil society and were sent to SNEHA (Shelter Home of SANLAAP) under judicial orders.

We were happy at SNEHA with others like us. We could pursue academics, learn skills, dance, sing and play.

But we missed a lot. We missed our families and inspite of all the love and affection from all around us, we missed something else which we couldn’t identify or name either.

All five of us learnt the skill of garment making and have been associated with the concerted initiative undertaken by EMANCIPATION NETWORK, USA and SANLAAP, KOLKATA for helping us create our own products and marketing those in different parts of the world. We have achieved a fair amount of success not in terms of money only but also in the form of acknowledgements and accolades.

……And in the process we could identify the feeling we missed – we found our worth, our self-esteem.

Today, we are no more at SNEHA, we are not dependent on financial support, however, we have gathered a lot of moral support around us.

Today, we are a part of an extended family in the mainstream. We have no stigma or taboo around us.

Today, we are on our own. Our dreams of designing our future is a process of reality. We have created our own manufacturing and marketing unit with support from our above named mentors.

Our enterprise shall not limit to supporting ourselves only. On one hand we shall be outsourcing as and when required to use the skills of the other girls at SNEHA, with an aim to enhance their empowerment, generate resources and create a corpus fund to facilitate reintegration of other survivors, on the other.

We are not looking for charities and welfare schemes. We can cater to your everyday needs.

WE shall be honoured to help YOU.

John (and Sarah and Becky and Chan and the girls),

"Empowerment", "Collaboration" and "Partnership" have sadly become such Weasel Words over the past few years - the must-haves in the (costly) development of so many touchy-feely NGO "mission statements". (Guy Kawasaki would be loving me right now! :)

And then you guys come along and do your thing - and it all has true meaning again. Meat on the bones.

If anyone wants a working example of "best practice", they really don't have to look much further than TEN and it's partners.

This was my favourite read of the week. Congratulations to all of you working on and for the next step - The Destiny Program.

(I LOVE the name - and I can't wait to go back to Calcutta and meet Chan and the girls; what an honour that will be.)

I heard from Becky today that she has already found a potential workshop space for phase 2. Its perfectly located as it is only one bus line away from all our Calcutta partners. 2000sqf for about $500 a month - gota love Calcutta prices!.

John Berger http://www.madebysurvivors.com/

Here is a direct update from Becky:

Dear Friends,

This is going to be a roughly-worded email, since I am literally speechless. Chan and I have just returned from the Sneha shelter home with 5 free birds! There were many tears at the shelter home, we have many other girls who want to join Destiny and we promised them that in time we will get them out. Also, the girls who left had to say goodbye to their friends and the home mothers.

They packed quite a lot, and Chan and I were worried there wouldn't be enough room in the flat for their things. But there is a loft that we can use once we buy a ladder.

The girls walked into their new flat with wide eyes, the sun filling the lavender rooms. They are SO happy in their new home, and are equally excited to start working. Actually, their first question was "where are the machines?"

After they moved their bags into the flat, we brought down their new puppy, Loke Chana, the black lab. They all love him so much, but then we brought down Goldie (the mom) and they were so scared of her because she's quite large and was jumping all over them. Too much fun!

Now I am sitting up in Chan's flat and the girls are downstairs unpacking. Debjani di is making lunch for us, and then we will take the girls to the market. They're going to buy their own food for the first time!

So nothing to worry about, Debjani and Chan have taken charge. Two more girls will join this freedom family tomorrow, and then perhaps another 2 in a month. Oh, and just to top it all off, today (Jan 23rd) is Netaji Bhosh's birthday. He is India's great freedom fighter - how apropos!

We cannot thank you enough for your support. The girls are thrilled with everything we bought for their new flat, especially the mattresses which are wonderfully comfortable and convenient.

In freedom,

Becky, Chan and the entire Destiny family

I just got off the phone with the Destiny team and its a big party! Everyone is very excited about the future and while they have to work out a lot of stuff for the first time in their lives (who showers first, who cooks, what to buy) - they are nonetheless very eager to get to work.

I had a really slow plan mapped out as I wanted to leave enough time to really make sure this first phase worked before we open a second home and build a separate production center. I can see already that keeping to a slow structure will be a challenge as they want to move ahead as quickly as possible.

John Berger http://www.madebysurvivors.com/

Have I mentioned that this is my favourite thread on Ned?

I LOVE it. WooHoo for the Destiny team - and John, it must be the biggest buzz calling them and hearing that level of excitement and enthusiasm. It's so cool.

I think <Ned> needs a t-shirt of some sort.

And what would look great on a Ned t-shirt made by the new Destiny Team.

Something important to Ned members of course. All things important to them.

I've got it.

Bingo, bango, bongo

That would look great on a t-shirt!

MARK- that's enough coffee for one day - you're scaring people in Kolkata. :)

Lovely! This is what it is all about. Helping others find their own independence, their own future and creating their own destiny. Great name. I will be watching for updates and sending all positive thoughts their way.

Ned t-shirt would be great - but not that design! We need some patient testers who want to go through the design process with us.

I just spent of couple of weeks visiting the Destiny Program and other NGOs in Calcutta, and have written a report with photos that y'all might enjoy.

check it out at http://www.madebysurvivors.com/f iles/servicetrip.pdf

Sensational, Sarah - thank you!

John Berger said:

Ned t-shirt would be great - but not that design! We need some patient testers who want to go through the design process with us.

LMAO - chamomile tea for Marky-boy ..... and John, what does "Patient testers" mean exactly? What do you need?

You know if I can help in any way I will - can't always promise patient but I'm in if you want.

Oh and what's the chance of getting some fabric swatches or even a swatch and a made up t-shirt sent over here?

If I have the cut and quality on hand to show people up close, I will happily hawk the project.

Let me know - once you look at shipping figures and the like. Shipping costs to Oz from India aren't too bad from my experience.

Cheers, G. :)

Thanks for asking Gayle.

We have found a great source of t-shirt and clothing blanks in Calcutta. (Its a wonderful story in itself - I had tasked Becky with getting a list of manufactures and was going to help contact them when I got there - but with my leg I did not go. So one day Becky and Sarah had some free time so they took the car to one place Becky had looked up on the web. It turned out to be a major company with operations in several parts of India. B+S talked their way into the CEO who, hearing what we wanted to do, introduced her to her father and daughter and decided on the spot they were going to help us. They had a good no child labor policy in place and were willing to sell us small lots (aka under 5000) at the price they sell huge orders to Europe at. All very high quality stuff)

We have in place at Destiny excellent block print and batik capabilities. With some designs block prints look amazing (the ones we are doing for Amnesty International are really cool - but Im not ready to talk too much about that cool development). The designs they do in batik are also amazing, but my problem with batik is that it takes so long to make, so I batik production as something we reserve for higher end items.

I want to bring in silkscreen equipment but we dont have that in place yet. My thought is that we dont want to compete with US makers just on price and ethics, we also want a special design capability. Essentially, I want them to use their local influences to recreate the concepts they get and make them cooler - so we in effect are selling designs skills as well. What I think will happen a lot is that they will mock something up in batik, then we will use that as the basis for a silk screen. We basically want to have our own look.

So, we have some in house orders we are working on the designs with while we wait for the first blanks to arrive. But what I need to get to is the ability for them to receive design requirements and ideas by email, for them to mock up some design options, for them to email them back, create a physical mock if needed then approve and enter production.

So we need folks who understand that at this point this is not a one week process. I want to get it to a one week process, but we have to work through some of this stuff a few times first.

>>But what I need to get to is the ability for them to receive design requirements and ideas by email, for them to mock up some design options, for them to email them back, create a physical mock if needed then approve and enter production.<<

I'm game, open to their deisgn ideas, and not in any rush. Maybe they could do some ned design mockups and members here could offer some feedback. Then one last revision and Ned members could take a vote?

(the tag cloud design idea can always be later)

Ok - I will not be in contact with them until next week but Ill get them started, its at least a good idea to get them experimenting. A few of them are going to join Ned soon I hope.

The only major problem with the tag cloud is that its a perfect example of the kind of thing better done in the US -crisp small prints with exacting color issues. We will be able to do that eventually but Im not planning for that right away.

John,

Thanks for that info and overview regarding the stage in the development process Destiny is at.

Makes sense both in terms of the specific market you are after and the components that need to be set up, experimented with and honed in order to service that market.

It's great about the deal Sarah and Becky did with the fabric company - fabulous! (nothing like 2 determined women on a mission with little to lose :)

As already said in email, PM and here - name it, big or small, and I'll do anything I can to help.

Grunt when the jobs come along and the time is right for you guys .... I don't want to "help you into an early grave" just by being willing!!! (Hah!)

Samples/swatches can come later - when your set up and ready.

And John - regarding Mark's "tag cloud design idea can always be later" - you gotta love the persistance, don't ya?

Sarah Symons said:

I just spent of couple of weeks visiting the Destiny Program and other NGOs in Calcutta, and have written a report with photos that y'all might enjoy.

Welcome back, Sarah! Sounds like you are making great progress!

Ellen

John, your inspiration and motivation are admirable! Congrats to you and everyone at Destiny!

There are some good updates and some pictures at http://www.madebysurvivors.com/b eckysblog

Just a tiny thing, but I have been furiously recruiting folks to your Facebook "Destiny Program" cause. Hope it helps.

Thats great. I have not done anything with it yet but Im just trying to build up a base so we can use it. Thanks!

John, couple of quick things:

• Not sure whether you have bandwidth for the design work I mentioned earlier; set the space up and I'm happy to get going.
• This month's ODE magazine - some nice soul sent me! - has an article about a clothing family, the Amalean brothers of Sri Lanka, who run MAS Holdings - which supposedly has a great track record of support for women. Could be a great corporate partner...

Lars Hasselblad Torres said:

• This month's ODE magazine - some nice soul sent me!

I received an issue of Ode this month from some nice soul too, which actually looks like a one year subscription. Hmmmmm.