MAMA AROYO

I have written on multiple occasions of the vibrant, beautifully-patterned pagnes (skirts) that Mama Aroyo sewed into masterpieces. I say masterpiece because for me to describe to her in very broken Fratalianglish (a tellingly unintelligible combination of French, Italian and English) the styles that I wanted, then for her to create what she did was indeed nothing less than genius. Coincidentally, Mama Aroyo’s talent and passion now transfers to you.

 

Mama Aroyo is a sewing teacher at the all-girls secondary school (ADIA-LEMI) in Aru, DRC. Shortly before I left, she asked for help to construct a home of her own. Currently, her family shares a very small building with another family. The building is owned by the school and not in very good shape. As I mentioned in the previous blog, a decent mud-brick home costs about $1,000. I asked her to make twenty-five handbags. When I returned home, I sold them to friends and family. I sent Mama Aroyo the proceeds via Western Union. It was a success, which got me thinking…

 

I spent a couple month thinking about our options and scribbling in English/French trying to decide if a shipment would be worth it; How much? Would it arrive? What if the package goes missing? And of course, could I be successful in selling the handbags to a clientele beyond friends and family?

 

Yes!

 

Together, with the help of my French-speaking (Congolese) friends in Lincoln, I arranged my thoughts and aspirations into a business plan. I spoke weekly (sometimes daily) with the volunteers and women in Aru in order to organize the project. It would be called TOTONGA BOMOI – Build Our Future – acknowledging that most of the women will rely on this income to provide for their families, pay for an education and in most cases purchase their own sewing machine which will allow them the opportunity to start a business of their own at home – it all started to make perfect sense. This was in January/February 2012.