Supporting women and the conservation of endangered species around the world

“Dear Friends,
I have just returned to Kathmandu from a two week trek in Mustang with friends. Many of the most beautiful things I buy for World Women Work are made here. The medieval feeling of Mustang creates a sense of other-worldliness, but the modern world is infringing upon this as the Chinese are about to build a road from the border of Tibet to Jomsom in Nepal. We met with the Mother’s Group in Jomson. They are a strong group of women who do much to make the environment they live in better and World Women Work is supporting a project with them. (Please see the project section for details). We are all worried about the Maoists, who are trying to overthrow the Nepalese government and are a constant source of friction here. Before we left for Mustang I did a lot of buying so it is always exciting to come back and see the results as much has been made in that time. I love trying on the beautiful pashmina jackets and seeing the jewelry that we have designed. This trip I have branched out into Tibetan rugs as our leader in Mustang has a rug factory where beautiful ones are made by women.
Nepal is very special to me; it is in fact where the idea for World Women Work was born.
I was on a World Wildlife Fund trek on Kanchenjunga in 1998, and as I was walking along one day I suddenly realized that I simply had to do something hands-on to help women and the environment – to help them be self-sufficient, preserve their culture, and combat the globalization of so many areas of the world that I love. I decided the best way I could do this was by buying beautiful things made by women, which would support and empower them economically.
It takes such a small amount to make a huge difference. I love to say that for the cost of a very good bottle of olive oil you can send a young girl to school in Bardia! I hoped by selling these beautiful things to people who have so much, and then returning the profits to educational and conservation programs in these same areas, that I could awaken others to the needs of women, to the necessity of preserving these cultures and wild places – and to make them care as much as I do.
Warm wishes, SingerNote: For more information on Education for Girls: Bardia National Park, Nepal, please see the Projects section

From a letter from Singer Rankin -
“Hello! I am in Kenya on a buying trip before meeting friends who are joining me on a fundraising trip for World Women Work, Katy Payne’s Elephant Communication Project in the Congo, and Iain Douglas-Hamilton’s Elephant Research in Samburu. I buy the most beautiful things here.
“I am staying in Samburu at Oria Douglas-Hamilton’s Elephant Watch Camp. During the day we spend hours with the lephants that Iain is studying. The river is their favorite hangout. We watch as they dig with their feet a huge hole in the bank where they splash and cavort on top of each other. Every one is black with mud and doing something different - fighting, playing, touching - such chaos. Their trunks spike up from the water like antennae. The matriarchs take turns coming with their children. They lie down, rub against the bank, throw mud and generally have the most fabulous time.
“I go to the village, which is outside the park where the women from the Beading Project live. World Women Work is helping to fund this project that was started by Oria Douglas-Hamilton, and will sell the things they make. The land is overgrazed, and it is hot, windy and wild. The women are waiting for me.
“First we go to the house of a young girl who has a WWW Scholarship. The house is made of cow dung and mud. The entrance is tiny and I can barely get through it. There are 3 little rooms with a fire in the middle. I am given a stool - a place of honor - the rest sit on cow hides on the floor. We then walk hand in hand across a dry river bed to the thatched hut that is to be the beading center. The women are so beautifully dressed in bright colors dripping in their beaded jewelry. They stand out against the earth tones of the land like bright birds. This is in many ways like Nepal.”

Note: For more information on The Samburu Women’s Beading Project, please see the Projects section

Dolpo, Nepal

Where Peter Mattheisssen wrote “The Snow Leopard”

My last trip to Nepal in August and September of 2005 was very productive. I bought many new things in Kathmandu for shows this fall. However the main purpose of my visit was a trek in Dolpo in the west of Nepal on the Tibetian border. It was a three week trek in one of the most beautiful areas I have ever been. Because of the Maoist problems, we were not allowed to meet Snow Leopard anti-poaching people or visit some of the schools and other projects that World Women Work has been involved in.

From a letter from Singer Rankin -
“We stay in Johannesburg, where there are so many beautiful objects to buy for World Women Work, from hand embroidered cushion covers and placemats to recycled telephone wire baskets. I go to Soweto with an old friend from London, and Nicholas Jaff, who heads the Bright Kids Foundation. He uses old containers from ships that he has retrofitted as classrooms for pre-school children and places them in townships too poor to have enough school rooms. We visit one. The two teachers are wonderful and the children are so cute! They sing for us. I am sold and commit to WWW’s sponsorship of one “Edutainer,” as they are called. Our logo with the Ethiopian woman and baby will be on the side. The other sponsor is Citibank.
“Sixty percent of the kids’ parents - who themselves are between the ages of fourteen and thirty - end up going to school because their children are, so I feel we are helping not only children but their entire families as well.
“From here it is on to Botswana with Katy Payne and the elephants. We spend an entire day at one water hole under the shade of a camel thorn acacia that we climb and perch in from time to time as respite from the cramped quarters of the Land Rover. A couple of elephants come to drink, many birds, a leopard, and finally one lone elephant who completely submerges like a whale. Then a few bulls who go off in another direction, so we decide to follow. What we find are 25 bulls all playing together in a huge waterhole - trunks wrapped around each other, pushing, rolling, throwing water, butting their tusks, facing off. In the midst of this elephant playground appears a breeding herd of maybe 70 cows and calves thundering down to the waterhole. The little ones race to keep up with their mothers. They mix with the bulls, trumpeting and causing complete chaos! We are then surrounded as they leave. Their curiousity is amazing as they encircle our vehicle… almost touching it. Then they go. There is such a sense of fun and playfulness about them. They are constantly touching and communicating with one another. Katy interprets the whole time.”

Note: For more information on The Edutainer, and on Katy Payne’s Elephant Research Project, please see the Programs section