Summer is coming to an end: I will be flying out of Phnom Penh on Monday, Hadijah, Women of Kireka‘s Kampala based business consultant, has started a new fellowship program in the United States, and Women of Kireka’s wonderful intern, Katie Gleason, is heading back to Harvard. Katie has posted a lovely set of photos from the summer on our website and Facebook. Despite all these departures, we’re expecting a busy fall: our partnership with Touch Jewelry is leading to some beautiful new mixed paper bead designs, Women of Kireka’s new intern and recent Yale graduate, Stacey Diaz, will be joining us in September, and I will be hosting a small Women of Kireka event in Montreal in a few weeks.

A brief update from Women of Kireka cross-posted here.

I penned these “Seven Lessons Learned” with my co-workers at Women of Kireka and posted them a few days ago. What was meant to be a cathartic exercise has left me deeply unsatisfied. I think it’s really because they are only half the story. And, at the same time, transparency in the process of running the cooperative has always been one of our core values. So here goes:

This past week has been full of additional growing pains for Women of Kireka. We have been struggling to maintain a steady income stream off jewelry sales alone these past few months, and naturally, justifiably this has trickled down into the overall health of the cooperative. We have sworn off fundraisers (aside from the yearly marathon fundraiser, which is more an excuse for me to write about running in obscure places), pity stories, and other non-sale income streams. After all, we are a business, not a charity. We want to succeed – or fail – as a business.

Yesterday we had one of those impressive Cambodia-Uganda-United States Skype calls. The aim was to talk with Women of Kireka members directly to hear their grievances and exchange our points of view (we often communicate through our consultant or interns for the sake of efficiency, though this is a habit that I would put on the list of ‘things not to do’ and which we hope to change).

After a long conversation, it became clear that there is a lot of frustration. Frustration, of course, is not new in itself. Indeed, frustration can be a great motivating tool and we have collectively used such moments to learn and strengthen Women of Kireka’s foundations. But the frustration from this particular phone call was marked by a deeper disconnect in the “we” behind Women of Kireka. More specifically, what kind of a partnership we have (or failed to) establish(ed).

I think that’s the main point I missed in the “Seven Lessons Learned.” If you’re trying to co-run a business cooperative as a cross-border initiative, finding and maintaining a respectful “we” – i.e. building a conscious, fair partnership – is really challenging. A lot is lost in translation, the nuances of language and the difficulties caused by long distance communication. A promise to one party is simply an idea the other would like to consider, but is not sure will work. Soliciting new ideas to diversify the cooperative’s income stream and overcome funding issues does not sound like an equitable partnership to everyone. It’s really hard finding that balance.

Of course – in a stroke of luck – the international team made an important sale today. Cathy at Touch Jewelry continues to make absolutely stunning pieces with Women of Kireka beads and we’ll soon have Marie-Louise over in Montreal doing the same. A friend of mine just bought another necklace and commented that they were incredibly original and that even her brother, totally oblivious to jewelry, thought her purchases were pretty fantastic. Visitors to the workshop think Women of Kireka jewelry is so well made that they are interested in having some of the members train other groups outside Uganda. Hopefully these small successes will add up and push us through rough waters.

With the launch of our new website, there has been a lot of new activity over at Women of Kireka. We are planning on starting training in using metal and paper in our jewelry this week with Peter Corry, a Ugandan jeweller. We’ve been blogging a lot as well: profiling our new ambassadors and volunteers, featuring other Ugandan companies, design and colour inspirations, and telling more of the stories behind the Women of Kireka brand. Katie, our intern this summer, has been fantastic, but will soon be leaving and Stacey Diaz, a recent graduate of Yale, will be joining us in mid-September. Ronah, a Ugandan intern, also joined the Kampala team this summer and is bringing new energy. Finally, I continue to get up at 5 am to beat the heat in Phnom Penh (and more recently, in Indonesia) and train for the Montreal Marathon/WOK Fundraiser!

A beautiful set of photos featuring Women of Kireka beads. Thank-you Renee Manorat!

Check us out at www.womenofkireka.com.

Training for the Marathon de Montréal continues. After spending several days running on a treadmill in a selection of hotels in Jakarta – the bustling city is even hard for avid outside runners like myself to figure out – I am now in Ubud, Bali for a short break from Phnom Penh. While packed with tourists, I managed to escape the unexpected crowds this morning with an hour long run. If you keep going down Jalan Kajeng, the car-wide stone road narrows into a small footpath/motorcycle path and juts into the rice fields. A formidable irrigation system and a short passage next to the rush of man made rivers under a blanket of jungle foliage. At 6:15 am the sun is rising and on your right hand side the shadows of two volcanoes, covered in pink and grey clouds burning off under the morning sun, protrudes from the bright green clean cut pattern. The path eventually spits you back onto a narrow asphalt road which winds in between small villages. At 7:00 am children, in red and white uniforms, are diligently heading off to school in packs of twos and threes. Swinging small brooms, lunch pails and bags (and in one case, a narrowly missed scythe).

Donations raised through this marathon are being used to help Women of Kireka expand its product line. Recent donations went towards buying materials to train the women in using metal. Peter Corry, a Kampala-based graphic designer and jewelry, has offered to lead the training pro-bono.

If you are interested in contributing, please donate here.

Women of Kireka featured in Cambodia’s F Magazine:

And a beautiful package of beads just arrived from Dallas, Texas. Let me know if you are in Phnom Penh and interested:

Women of Kireka‘s designer TMS Ruge has completed our 2011 Summer/Fall Buyer’s Information Pack. You can access it online here or email me for a PDF copy. The pack contains information about Women of Kireka, our different jewelry pieces, as well as individual and bulk prices.

This past month, Women of Kireka has started working with a couple of new jewellers in Montreal and Ottawa. Marie-Louise sent us this lovely sketch and a request for the Siena and Scovia beads in warm and flashy orange, red, brown, cream and yellow and the Santa and Sabina beads in pale coral, light green, light yellow and cream. We are really excited to see how our beads in their beautiful pieces. Updates soon!