Snow Leopard Enterprises (SLE), based in Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia, is a wonderful example of World Women Work fulfilling its purpose to support a program that empowers women and their families while preserving their cultural heritage and crafts. SLE’s purpose is two-fold: to provide access to international markets for the handcrafted felt products of nomadic herders, and to discourage hunting of the snow leopard, which is an endangered species, but also provides income for the herders who capture them and sell their pelts.
In September 2003, Singer Rankin traveled to Kyrgyzstan for a design summit sponsored by the International Snow Leopard Trust. The goal of the summit was to provide technical support and design assistance to the women of SLE so that they might better prepare their products for purchase by a sophisticated international clientele. WWW contributed materials for the conference, as well as marketing and design advice.
The summit was held in Bokonbaeva, a four-hour drive from the airport at Bishkuk in Kyrgyzstan, which is a ten and a half-hour flight from London. In this beautiful town in the far eastern reaches of Kyrgyzstan on the edge of Mongolia, surrounded by snow-capped Tien Shan Mountains, unemployment is at a staggering seventy-five percent. Sheep are everywhere, the roads are dirt, and there are few cars; people get around on foot and by horse-drawn carriages. The annual income here and in Mongolia is under $300; the sale of handicrafts to the SLE–which are in turn sold by World Women Work– increases that number by twenty-five percent or between $40-$60 per year. We are proud to be able to make such a significant difference in the lives of these women and their families.