What’s the ideal solution for a mother who wants to work in Hong Kong while caring for the family and for the environment?
Bella Ip describes the journey she took, one that found answers, first for herself and then for other Hong Kong women.
She writes:
“Being a mother, I wanted to work near home with flexible working hours.
“Being an idealist, I would not compromise on any unethical commercial activities.
“Being an environmentalist, I wanted to help ease the burden on Mother Earth.”
Bella took out a loan and began making environmentally friendly soap. Now, she says, “I want to share this experience, knowledge and skills with more people, especially women. By becoming a soap-maker, they can spend more time at home taking care of their family, especially their children.”
So…Soap is not only responsible to the women it employs, it is also responsible to the environment. The soap is produced with eco-friendly, all natural components and bottled in sterilised, re-cycled soy milk packaging.
Their goal is a lofty one: “We attempt to spread our positive influence towards every corner of our society.” Their success offers proof of concept that innovative social enterprise can get it right with both its people and the planet.
We sell So…Soap products in our Global Handicrafts marketplace.
Almost 30 years ago, a small group of displaced Sudanese people in Cairo were battling this same problem, so they started a little workshop to make some means of living.
“It was not that they did not have the food needed for a healthy diet,” one NGO staff member told us, “but that they did not know how to go about it.” After running seminars on food and nutrition (left), they saw the women eagerly learn what kinds of proteins and vegetables would give their children a balanced, healthy diet. Now, families in these Cameroonian villages grow beans and smoke fish to eat with their plantains and grind peanuts into paste for a nutritious, protein rich food, even growing enough to sell at market. It’s basic knowledge that has revolutionised the health of the community, meaning less sickness, fewer children dying early, and women better empowered to take care of their families.
When we buy products from Gogo Olive (and many others) for our Global Handicrafts store, Crossroads not only pays the ‘fair trade’ minimum. We pay an additional sum which the women use to invest back into their community and families. The Gogo Olive ‘grannies’ told us they had recently bought eyeglasses for some of their workers with this ‘premium’ payment. It was a joy to see photos of the proud faces of these middle-aged craftswomen wearing their new glasses, for some the first glasses they had owned.
For some, life deals multiple blows, often in ways we find unimaginable. It is good, though, to stop, every now and again, to try. Mr Yang, a Hong Kong man in his 40’s, spent his life in a wheelchair. Couple that with desperate poverty and the picture is heartbreaking. This man, who cannot stand or walk unaided could afford no furniture in his home. He had been clambering out of his chair, each night, to sleep on the cold, hard tiles of his tiny apartment. He has had no bed and no mattress. He lives alone, and his disabilities make it hard for him to find a job, depending entirely on government support. It can be, at times, a lonely existence.
