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

The heat of the tarmac as I descended the stairs from the small prop plane was a frank testament to my departure from the winter months that had begun to descend on Ontario. After a few months of Canadian summer I was again facing months of sun with heat by day and the light chill of evening after the sun has been eclipsed by the mountains. Walking into the Moshoeshoe International Airport, just outside of the Capital Maseru, I was greeted with a feeling of confidence that was in direct contrast to the nervous excitement of my arrival last April on my first trip to Lesotho. Driving north toward Hlotse the browns and reds of the surrounding landscape have been concealed in tones of green to a far greater extent than I could have imagined only a few short months ago. Although the seasonal tones had changed the public transport vans, known as combis, continued to race along the highway merging on and off the road in the staccato manner of my last visit while people shuffled to and from the hundreds of villages into the towns of Teyateyaneng and Maputsoe.

“Coco!” I shouted to announce my arrival to both Jean and Jamie as I stepped out of the car.

“Welcome back, how was your trip?” they both responded as I walked through the back door.

All of the notes and preparation for the implementation of our recently awarded CIDA grant would have to wait until tomorrow. Three continents in about as many days is enough to tire the most seasoned traveler. Aside from my immediate desire for a solid nights rest I had been looking forward to this moment since my stomach felt the aircraft take flight from the Moshoeshoe runway. We sat around and tried not to talk about the work of the upcoming week as the day gave way to the Maluti mountains. It sure felt good to be back.

Jason Clark

G.R.O. Lesotho Operations Coordinator

Posted under Letters from Lesotho, Notes from Lesotho