Today we are stepping outside the office for a Q&A with the G.R.O. Artisans Collective Project Leader ‘Me Majoyce Mpelo. The Artisans have had an exciting year redesigning their line, expanding to international distribution, outgrowing offices, adding new members, and hiring a Collective Coordinator to help manage their business. ‘Me Majoyce is a founding member and has grown with each step of the business.

Lumela ‘Me! We are really happy that you are joining us, kea leboha (thank you)!

You are the original member of the G.R.O. Artisans - what does it mean to be the Project Leader?

It means that we have achieved so much in making the G.R.O. Artisans. Moving towards bigger achievements and growing day by day. Every day is a step forward. To be a project leader is exciting and we are making more products. Before we didn’t have many orders, then we grew to where we never had enough time to make the orders we had come to us, and now we have grown to include more members and we can finally complete orders on time. I think it is exciting because we have always talked and had these plans but now we are achieving these things. Becoming the Project Leader proves that we are now growing and seeing many successes.

Over the past year you have experienced some big changes and growth with Bo ‘Me - what events have you been most excited about?

There are so many! The first one is that we have now the bead shop - this is really exciting. So it makes us sell the supplies and beads inside the same space with our products. We have a Coordinator now and have started to distribute our products throughout Lesotho to the country’s best hotels and in South Africa at the boutiques and craft shops. The Artisans are going to the flea markets monthly.

We have started making products for the Queen of Lesotho and even for the US Ambassador. We have a good relationship with G.R.O. supporters and they always give us orders when they are in Lesotho so we are grateful for everyone supporting us in North America. We had new designs for 2010 also. Coming shortly we will have our new office that will be the biggest we have had so far so that we can make enough room for our new members and we will be free to make better products.

Finally, the members have babies in the office which makes it hard to keep producing quickly. Soon we will be having a baby-sitter in the office which will make our work easier and increase our production. There are so many exciting things!

What do you hope that the G.R.O. Artisans Collective will be able to achieve over the next few months?

We hope to have more markets and larger international orders. Our business is beginning to be known because we have started advertising and we hope that our local customers will grow. Bo ‘me want to get bigger internationally and locally. We want to keep growing but I know it happens that we need to keep finding new markets to expand.

‘Me Majoyce we are so thankful that you could take the time to have a Q&A today. The G.R.O. Artisans have experienced so many successes and you really have only had a small amount of time to mention just a few.  We will look for new designs and the launch of your products in Canada and throughout the world!

Posted under Notes from Lesotho

The past few weeks have seen some really exciting developments for the G.R.O. Artisans Collective. We have managed to sit down with ‘Me Mots’eoa, the Artisans Collective Coordinator, for a brief chat to update us all on what has been going on.

Lumela ‘Me! Welcome to your second G.R.O. Q&A – thanks for taking the time out of your day working on financials to hang out for a few minutes. Ok, here are your 3 questions….

Both the G.R.O. Lesotho Programs Team and the G.R.O. Artisans are about to move into a much larger office, still in the BEDCO Leribe complex. What does the new office space mean for the Artisans?

Well, the new office is very exciting for the Artisans particularly because we will centralize our space to include the retail space, the workshop, and my office with the Programs Team. There will also be a larger space that we are hoping, in future, can be dedicated to a space that Bo ‘Me can bring their children to work. As mentioned, we will be able to divide the retail shop and provide a more private workshop space. The new office and retail space gives the Artisans a greater chance to improve on their customer service and retail experience skills. The whole thing is a lot more convenient with a lot more space.

The Artisans recently had a pretty high ranking visitor to the retail shop – who stopped by and how did they hear about the Collective?

The Ambassador to the United States recently visited with his family. Ambassador Nolan had heard about the Collective from one of his daughters who had met us at the most recent Maseru Bazaar where we were selling jewelry. She took a flyer and ended up telling her mom. They were both impressed and visited our website to do a bit of research on the Artisans. From there the family decided to drop in to see the women and the workshop. The Artisans were ecstatic that they took the time to visit and purchase a few pieces of jewelry – I want to make sure we thank Ambassador Nolan and his family for the support!

That’s amazing! Congrats on the expanding customer base! In other big news the Artisans seem to have established a Royal connection – can you please update us all on what exactly I’m talking about?

Queen Masenate Mohato Bereng Seeiso recently received a birthday gift from the artisans - a jewelry set specially made by the Artisans in a custom bag made of local fabrics which was hand delivered by her mom. The Queen happens to be from Hlotse so we wanted to surprise her with a small gift. She gave us some really positive feedback that was sent to us through her brother. In fact, she was really impressed and she wants to purchase a few additional pieces. She has just ordered a customer set of 3 pieces that will match her seshoshoe in blue – the seshoshoe is the national traditional fabric and is worn at special events by Basotho women. This is of course big news for Bo ‘Me as it was really quite unexpected and we are hoping that this relationship that has been established with the Royal family will continue and that our queen will be a strong advocate for the Artisans showcasing their work at a number of events. I think we are all hoping she will eventually make a visit but we’ll have to wait and see!

Posted under Notes from Lesotho

Last Saturday was an incredible and important day for the members of the G.R.O. Artisans Collective. The community rallied around the event to support a group of women who only a few months ago were working out of their homes and now operate a workshop, retail space, and Lesotho’s only beading supply store.  Running around in the hot sun I didn’t have much of a chance to reflect on the event but after the passing of a few days and a cup of coffee, or ten, I am amazed at what this group of mothers has been able to do. The best part of this story is that the Artisans aren’t the only G.R.O. success story witnessed last weekend.

Since January I am proud to have been part of the Family Scholarship Fund to watch the students rally together and welcome the new G.R.O. Counselor, ‘Ntate Katiso ‘Mota. For the first time in the history of the Scholarship Fund there are students from Molapo High School outside the program’s membership who have joined for study sessions and lifeskills workshops. This is a true testament to the character of the students in the program and the great job ‘Ntate ‘Mota is doing with the group. When asked to volunteer their time to work at the Artisans opening the G.R.O. Scholars were there. These students - members and the recently joined -gave up their Saturday to prepare chicken, watch over the grill, distribute food to guests, clean dishes, and ensure the area around the workshop/store was free from garbage at the end of the day.

With a fresh cup and a few days I realize that the students commitment to community service and strengthening their program is a more subtle but equally exciting story that’s unfolding here in Hlotse-Leribe. On behalf of the G.R.O. Foundation Lesotho I want to thank and congratulate the students of the Family Scholarship Fund for their efforts this past weekend. See you on Monday!

Posted under Notes from Lesotho

This past Saturday, 6 March, the G.R.O. Artisans Collective held their Opening Day ribbon-cutting ceremony. Along with a large crowd and many of the G.R.O. members from other projects in attendance the day was a great success!

Congratulations to ‘Me Majoyce, ‘Me Makhotalong, ‘Me Mathabang, ‘Me Mamosebetsi and their families for their successes as members of the G.R.O. Artisans Collective!

Special thanks to the G.R.O. Scholars of Molapo High School and the Grannies Poultry Association of Lisemeng II as well as Jean Margaritis, ‘Ntate Katiso ‘Mota, and ‘Me Rethabile Skundla for assisting in organizing and lending their helping hands all day long!

Posted under Notes from Lesotho

Working to prepare a Sesotho translation of our Family Scholarship student contract.

speaking to the students during the Family Scholarship After School Leadership Club.

Posted under Letters from Lesotho

For the second time this year The G.R.O. Artisans Collective have received national attention and publicity from the business sector of Lesotho. The first was an article published in the SMME Support Network Lesotho’s SMME News with an piece entitled ‘Building Communities – One Enterprise at a Time’ and now from The Public Eye, nationally distributed newspaper. Yesterday, the article was released as part of a special insert feature ‘One Nation, One World’ to mark World Aids Day this coming Tuesday. Thank you to Tsepo of The Public Eye for his support. You can read the article in full below.

G.R.O. Artisans: Building Livelihoods

At 8 a.m. the door to The G.R.O. Artisans Collective is open where the morning chatter of women can be heard as the warm summer wind sweeps through the BEDCO compound in Leribe. Perhaps uniquely, this collective of artisans was formed with the primary purpose of providing economical empowerment and livelihood building for women affected by or living with HIV/AIDS. The G.R.O. Artisans face the daily realities of this national epidemic in their own personal lives and their community. Undeterred by the overwhelming challenges, these women have banded together in a collective effort to shatter the stigma of HIV/AIDS and demonstrate both the emotional and economic power of a collaborative effort. In accordance with the laws of Lesotho an HIV workplace policy ensures equality in their membership and any visitor, whether a paying customer or not, has access to both male and female condoms and printed sexual health information. Finally, the Artisans are actively engaged in promoting the skills and talents of HIV positive women in their community and you will often see them at festivals and the Maseru Bazaar.

This month, the women have begun to prepare for a move to a larger BEDCO office where they will increase the size of the current retail space and have room to expand the number of members from four to ten by end of year 2010. Designing and producing handcrafted fashion jewelry ‘Majoyce, ‘Mathabang,’ Mamosebetsi, and ‘Makhotalang prepare for both national and international markets with sales distribution that spans Lesotho, South Africa, Canada, and The United States. The fledgling jewelry business is one of the many Basotho success stories across Lesotho in the small business sector. The Collective operates on a business model known as a social enterprise, a not-for-profit company that provides its members with a steady income, ongoing business training, social programming, as well as family and healthcare support. The healthcare coverage, which is one of the unique qualities of this business model, ensures a percentage of the Collective’s profits are invested into a comprehensive plan for the members, which provides for drug coverage, childcare and funeral plans.

With an aim to advance The Collective’s socially-oriented mandate of community development and the empowerment of women the members are committed to actively searching for a local professional Mosotho woman to coordinate and assist in managing the business mid-January. This project was made possible because the women were able to secure the initial start up capital as well as business and leadership training from the Canadian-born Lesotho-based G.R.O. Foundation, which currently bases all of its operations out of Leribe. The G.R.O. Foundation, founded in 2005, is a Non-Profit Non-Governmental Organization working for the advancement and empowerment of individuals and communities by providing grassroots assistance to promote sustainable social development. With the continued support and strong bond of partnership between the G.R.O. Artisans and G.R.O. Foundation Lesotho the artisans have successfully established lasting ties with other Basotho small business initiatives and leaders including Mr. Raleche of Business Development Trust and Ms. Makama of SMME Support Network, both based in Maseru. These ties amongst the national business community will ensure the ability of the G.R.O. Artisans to connect with other small enterprises and allow for expansion and support of community-based business trainings.

Looking ahead to the Christmas season you will be able to purchase the handcrafted jewelry of The G.R.O. Artisans Collective at the monthly Bazaars in Maseru and the Maseru Christmas Craft Fair on December 5. Year round the jewelry is available to all fashionable women at BEDCO Leribe, Setsoto Weavers in TY, The Leribe Hotel, Leribe, The Blue Mountain Inn, Teyateyeng, and Mohale’s Hoek Inn, Mohale’s Hoek. To contact the G.R.O. Artisans by phone +26658132695 (Majoyce) or by email artisans@grofoundation.org

Posted under Letters from Lesotho

On August 28, 2009 Leribe district challenged HIV and AIDS stigma and discrimination.   The festival, the first of its kind, was brought together by local and international NGOs and the government of Lesotho.  G.R.O. Foundation hosted the “Kids Corner” with a jumping castle, face painting and frisbee games. The G.R.O. Scholars, all high school students affected by the HIV/AIDS pandemic, demonstrated their support by volunteering all day at the event.  The G.R.O. Artisans, a collective of HIV positive mothers, challenged stigma in their own way by teaching kids how to make bracelets.   The Olympic Youth Ambassador Program and Kick 4 Life joined us in offering HIV prevention and Life Skills games to the over 1,000 people who attended the event.  We would like to thank our community partners and friends who helped make this powerful and important event possiblem and we stood up and said ‘no’ to stigma and discrimination.

Posted under Letters from Lesotho