Selling Christmas
Posted on December 25, 2009 by Saidimu Ole ngais
Story by Roxanne
http://savesamburu.org/blog/2009/12/24/selling-christmas/
Or should I say, selling Samburu hand work to everyone I can this Christmas. That’s what I’ve been doing the past few weeks, first at the very successful Cultural Survival weekend bazaar two weekends ago and then this week at my day job at Action for Boston Community Development. And people have been buying, along with listening and caring about what is happening to the Samburu far away from Massachusetts in Northern Kenya.
The Cultural Survival Bazaar was a mad house of preparation, printing photos of both happier days in Samburu and also the terror of last February’s police attack and cattle theft, as well as later atrocities too, all to hang where buyers could see what’s been happening. Late on Friday night, I was opening bags of Samburu beaded bracelets, carved wooden bowls, spoons and animals, carved gourds and decorated picture frames that Tina had recently brought back. I was pulling everything out of these woven, straw handbags donated by the woman at the Archer’s Post market who sells beads to the Samburu there. When she heard that KARE was bringing back goods the Samburu had made for us to sell in the States for food money, she went back to her shop and brought out eight handbags for the famine relief.
I don’t know how much money we have made off the sales yet, but it is in the hundreds of dollars. Cultural Survival has done four weekend bazaars (we only had enough goods for one), involving hundreds of great vendors. All actual purchases were done at the one, Cultural Survival cash register. They are still sorting out how much each vendor gets. By the way things were flying off our small table, it’s real good.
But it’s the people I want to talk about who came to help: Lynda Rodil, a student of both Tine and mine, stayed all Saturday afternoon though not feeling well; Jodi Cross, who has been to Archer’s Post and Lerata with Tina, taught us all about the traditional beadwork, the meaning of the colors and how to wear it; and Jon Turk, an author who heard about the Samburu situation and KARE. He flew out from British Colombia across the continent to come meet KARE and Cultural Survival. And then there is Tina Ramme, the founder of KARE and the person behind all of this: she came limping in late on Saturday after a long day teaching (she had sprained her ankle the day before by running around madly trying to do too much) to meet Jon, talk with Ellen who directs Cultural Survival and… run the KARE table with Jodi all the next day too.
A few days later folks at ABCD, where I work, started asking what Samburu stuff was available, because most hadn’t been able to make it to the Bazaar. So I hauled in more beaded bracelets, gourds, necklaces and spoons, all in the few remaining handbags. I laid them all out on a little table in Libby Ellis’s office: she was sick on Sunday when she had hoped to come give Jodi and Tina a hand selling. She’s going to be writing grants for KARE and the Samburu to get money to improve things. She bought some bracelets for her daughters for Christmas, eyed the handbags and persuaded Vernette to get one for her trip to Jamaica. Lisa from downstairs, who wears bracelets she got in Uganda, tried on lots more bracelets and bought a beaded crocodile for her friend. Chris, my boss, bought the magnificent, beaded rungu (a wooden warrior’s club) which I have been extolling to people since the Cambridge Carnival in September. She also took home information on the tragic situation in Samburu. And more people came, looked, and bought.
I don’t know how much it all adds up to. At the last moment, Libby succumbed to the final, big handbag and the little, carved hippo wood bowl. As I was packing what was left up and wedging it into by backpack next to the empty tin of shortbread (which I’d baked for folks in the office this morning), my unfinished Christmas knitting and books for two nephews, Libby stood there stirring a little black and white bone-handled spoon in a little black and white carved gourd and commenting how well they look together. I offered them to her for half price and she happily added them to her stash of gifts.
I don’t know what it all adds up to, the ABCD money is folded carefully in a corner of my wallet. I’ll count it later. Right now it is Christmas Eve. I’m home and awaiting friends coming for dinner. I need to finish my sister’s scarf, write up an mitten IOU for my mom (even without selling Christmas, I always over predict what handmade projects I can finish in time)… and I just realized that there are some beaded bracelets, a carved hippo bottle opener, four little rattle drums and two small handbags left. I think maybe I will buy some for my own gifts to give!
Merry Christmas to all, be you in Lerata, Archers Post, Naibor, Nairobi, Uganda, Sweden, Morroco, Massachusetts, British Columbia or anywhere in the world. I want you to know that people are buying, people are listening and people are caring about their fellow human beings.
