The Purse Stories

It seems that at least a couple times a week I get an e-mail from someone requesting to buy some of our swazi handbags. Usually there is some sort of crazy communication chain that has put them in contact with the purse project i.e.
someone’s friend’s brother’s mother-in-law received a bag from a neighbor that visited Swaziland this year, and now they want to order 25 bags to sell at their office…or something like that. 🙂

There are also some pretty funny and encouraging stories that have come through via e-mail. I thought I’d share a few of them in this blog. These are excerpts from emails I’ve received from people who are helping to sell the bags in the US:

This is from a friend who visited Swaziland this summer and took back bags to sell:

>>>>The purses have literally flown off the shelves. I sold 12 in one visit to my dentist alone. The next day, a real estate agent, who is a friend of the dentist asked that I come over and do a “sales presentation” at her office! Everyone who bought one has a friend that wants one. We haven’t even begun to market them or put them on e-bay.

From my friend Marcia who helps distribute bags from AIM’s GA office:

>>>>I can’t keep them in my hands. [My daughter] is a teaching assistant in an elementary school and wanted to take a few bags to school with her and it’s turned into a huge ministry.
The teachers are watching the powerpoint [a presentation about the purse project] with tears in their eyes and they are fighting over the bags and wanting to buy more than one and so I have already sent her more bags twice. The teachers are showing the power point  in their classes and are having units on Africa, etc. It’s amazing and the bags are selling like hotcakes! It has been a fun opportunity for [her] to witness and testify of what her life is about. I am so thankful! I honestly think we could sell as many bags as you could get over here.

From a teacher in Iowa whose students sold the bags for a special project during Lent. They’ve sold over 500 and orders keep coming in:

>>>>They have orders now for about 200 bags I think, but an article just came out in the LeMars paper last week…it will probably generate some more orders. I am still absolutely overwhelmed by the response. [We have] orders from all over northwest Iowa and southeast Nebraska.

From a friend who ordered 50 bags to sell at the college she works at:

>>>>Within 5 minutes all your bags sold!!!

My parents always have a few in their car. They were out to eat the other night and ran into a friend who had heard about the bags. She ended up buying a couple, along with the waitress!

I hope this hasn’t sounded too much like an “info-mercial,” but we are surrounded by so much bad news here, that when something good comes along, it’s really a must to share it with others!

The women continue to cut fabric and sew bags, and I think we’ve FIANLLY gotten a good/economical way to ship the bags to the US figured out. This is great news as well, because it will allow us to fill more orders and eventually expand to include more women in the craft co-op, which means more families will be provided for in Swaziland!

NOTE: If you’re thinking of hosting a “bag sale” before Christmas, now is a good time to get your order in so we can project how much we need to produce in the next few months!

I’ll end this up with a few pics. The first 2 are ones I took while out visiting the ladies at the feeding centers orphans where they volunteer:

This is Ellie and Katy on their motorcycles. I know our last blog entry showed Ellie on her pink motorcycle, but really, it’s where she spends most of her time these days! Katy is Ellie’s favorite auntie here in Swaziland…she was on the team I was leading when we found Ellie in the hospital and is now on staff with AIM here, so she’s been in on Ellie’s life since the beginning. The pink cycle was a Christmas gift from Katy and Ellie loves it! 

That’s all for now!