Hello, Friends of Sari Bari!
We hope this summer is off to a good start for you and those you love.  Things are going well with Sari Bari, as the prevention unit gets off the ground.  Thank you to all of you who have helped make that possible.

There has been a new shipment posted to the Sari Bari web store.  Look for a new design, bucket bags, in the bag section.  They have an outside pocket for those of you who, like me, are forever losing your keys in the abyss of a purse!  The pockets may vary slightly from the photo, but are cut from the same sari.

Also, we have a limited special of all-jute bags, which will be free with the purchase of a blanket while supplies last.  They will later be available for purchase.

Happy Summer!  Thanks for using your purchasing power to become part of the freedom story!

Dear Friends of Sari Bari-

We recently invited you to participate in helping us raise the funds we need for our new prevention unit opening up in June. We know $10,000.00 is big number so we wanted to break down into parts that make sense and smaller numbers that are workable for every budget. If you want to donate $1.50 you can buy a brick or two or three—bricks are important because we use them to keep tension on the blankets as we are sewing. For $20.00 you can pay for the literacy and materials for one woman. For $90.00 you can support one woman with a stipend we offer during training. For $250.00 you can sponsor clean drinking water with the purchase of the water filter. We welcome your participation, large and small. All of it will be a part of creating a space where young women at risk will be able to find safety and opportunity that will give them freedom from the future that could await them.

We love the support you offer us already and are so thankful to have your purchasing power on the side of freedom for all the women at Sari Bari.

For Freedom,

Sarah

Dear Friends, family and supporters of Sari Bari-

Sari Bari has been working the red light areas of Kolkata for more than 4 years offering freedom and hope to women trapped the sex trade. Even after opening our second unit last year to create more spaces and opportunities for freedom, we are now busting at the seams and ready for more space with more than 50 women working at Kalighat and Songacchi Sari Bari units. Hope is being restored and is bringing new life in our midst. And we are very, very hope full!

Sadly, the majority of women who work for us were trafficked at a young age and found themselves trapped in the sex trade. They were vulnerable because of poverty and lack of choices for young women in the villages where they lived. Kyle Scott, WMF staff member, wrote a song called “35 once 13” that speaks profoundly of the losses that these women, our friends, have lost in the “in between”. Knowing these losses intimately because of our friendship and the life we share in community among these women we want to take a new step and prevent this cycle from repeating.

One of the important steps we took when we opened the second Sari Bari unit in Songacchi was to invite young women at risk, primarily daughters of sex workers, within the red light areas to work with us. We reserved 20 percent of our space in Sonagacchi for these young women and we are so encouraged to see this making a difference in their lives and have seen how their current employment has literally saved them from being forced to work in the sex trade. We see new girls working in Sonagacchi every day and this exploitation can be stopped before it has started. Helping to prevent new girls from being trafficked into the sex trade is the most effective way to combat sexual slavery. We hope to offer more high-risk girls an opportunity to life-giving education and work that will protect them from ever entering the sex trade

Sari Bari is ready to open one of its first sites dedicated to prevention in the next month, in a village that is a high trafficking area on the border of Bangladesh and India. We hope to employ young women ages 17-25 and living in poverty as a means of preventing them from being trafficked into the city of Kolkata as sex workers. As we have prepared for this new step our outreach, we have been visiting and connecting with the young women from the village. Gita (WMF Staff member) and Shaleha (New Production Manager–some of you probably have one of her blankets!) for the Prevention unit have been engaging the women and their mothers in conversations. And we have sadly found as we feared, that we are not the first visitors but one among many visitors to these impoverished areas. The girls have described many, many visitors who have sought to bring them to Kolkata for a job and ultimately to be sold into the sex trade in Songacchi or trafficked even further to Mumbai or the Middle East. Our encounters have confirmed the need for a response in this village to create a space for opportunity through employment so that these young women will not have to take the risk of trusting a stranger and ending up in sexual slavery.

We would like to offer you the opportunity to partner with us in the start up expenses for the building, the initial setup and the training costs for employing 20 young women. We are seeking to raise $10,000.00 by the end of June to cover these expenses and we hope that you will join with us. You can donate though WMF (www.wordmadeflesh.org) and click on the donate link or you can go to https://secure.groundspring.org/dn/index.php?aid=26156 to make a donation online.

For Freedom,

Sarah, Beth, Kyle, Gita, Upendra, Radha, Shela, Shaleha and all the Sari Bari Ladies

a reflection from Beth

I love graduation days at Sari Bari.  They are the markers of transition, recognitions of change, realizations of something new.  Watching Shilpi receive her certificate, literacy workbooks, and handbag today I was again struck by the perseverance and strength of our women.  They come from such dire circumstances but still have the fight within to work themselves towards a new life, reviving dignity and confidence.  Now that her six months of training is finished Shilpi will go on the Sari Bari payroll full time, receiving medical, retirement, and schooling benefits for her children.  My favorite part is that she will now get a roll of name tags with her own name to stitch onto each product she produces, a sign of dignity and pride in the work she will offer.  We all need markers like today, and as my mind wanders back through the many graduations and groups of trainees we’ve celebrated with along the way I’m again left in awe

at our Sari Bari family and the heroes I have the chance to walk beside here.

Hello, Friends of Sari Bari!
We hope this e-mail finds you well, wherever it finds you!  There are many exciting things going on at Sari Bari these days!  With over fifty women employed at our first two units, we are quite busy.  Also, we are excited to open a third, prevention, unit next month, with a focus on employing young women who are at risk for, but have not yet entered, the sex trade.

The web store has just been updated with a new shipment of bags, blankets, and scarves!  There are regular throws, baby blankets, an XL throw, a couple of full/queen quilts, and scarves (remember – these are under the “Blankets” tab).  Back by popular demand are Parul (bamboo-handled bags), perfect for the summer!  Also, we are pleased to announce a new sling bag, the Supriya sling, for $28, which is designed to be worn across the body.  They can be found on page two of the “Minu and Supriya (Slings)” page under the “Bags” tab.  In addition to these new items, all existing bags have been discounted for the month of May.  The Minu slings, canvas-strapped Nomita totes, and Parul bags, are all $15, and the large Nomita totes are priced at $20!  And for a special summer farmers’ market price, we are offering the jute-strapped Nomita totes for just $12!

If that news wasn’t exciting enough, we have one final bit – our website is currently being redesigned, and we hope to introduce it to you this summer!

Thank you for your continuing support of Sari Bari!  With every dollar you spend on Sari Bari purchases, you are part of new life in the making.

We just wanted to let you know that a new shipment has been posted to the Sari Bari store.  For the spring and summer, the Nomita tote bags now have a new handle material option – jute!  You can find them in the Nomita totes section of the store.  This shipment also includes a few more scarves, which were popular in last month’s batch.  Remember, they are found in the blankets section, under the heading “Scarves” on the right.  Unfortunately, there are no regular sari throws in this shipment, but we are hoping for more later in the spring.

We hope that 2010 is off to a good start for you and those you hold dear. We look forward to an exciting year at Sari Bari! We are pleased to announce two new bag designs in the shipment just posted in the Sari Bari web store – the Minu Sling Bag and the Nomita XL Tote. There are just a few of the newly designed bags in this batch, but there will be many more to come!
The Minu Sling Bag features canvas lining and two inside pockets (one flap, one zippered) and a reinforced canvas ties. They will be priced at $27.00, but there are a few in the web store now specially priced at 25% off, since they lack a button closure, which they will have in future versions.

The Nomita XL Tote, at $28.00, is an expanded version of its predecessor, the Nomita Tote (formerly called the Canvas Strap Bag). The original Nomita Tote measures just under 15” x 15,” and its “big sister” is approximately 16” deep and 19” wide.
There are also a few Parul Bags with bamboo handles in this batch, as well as the classic Sari Bari original throws.

The Sari Bari web store has been updated with many new bags and blankets! This will be the last posting before Christmas; all orders placed by December 20th should arrive by Christmas.

Remember, Sari Bari jute bags make great reusable gift bags for any gift this holiday, and they are discounted to $7.50 with the purchase of another item in the Sari Bari store!

We are delighted to announce the arrival of a new bag design to the Sari Bari web store! The new bags have canvas straps, bottoms, and lining, which comes in either black or brown. The body of the bag is vintage sari fabric, in the style of our other SariBari products. We hope you will enjoy them.

Also in the web store, you will find a new batch of pristine white baby blankets as well as brightly colored ones, which debuted in August. Of course, there are also a variety of our original Sari Bari throws.

Thank you for your continued support of Sari Bari, and for your patience awaiting this shipment.

Enjoy!

Hello, Sari Bari Supporters!

We hope that you have had a good summer. Sari Bari has been quite busy this over the last couple of months. The original Sari Bari moved to a different location at the beginning of July, but the most exciting news is that last Monday a brand new Sari Bari location opened, where 23 women have taken their first steps toward freedom!!! This is a dream come true, so thank you for being a part of it.

We are pleased to say that despite all the changes, bag and blanket production has remained strong, and there will be a new shipment of bags and blankets posted to the web storeMonday evening. With this shipment, baby blankets have risen to a whole new level; there are stunning pure white ones, as well as brightly colored ones just begging for a baby to play on them! There are also standard throw blankets and bamboo-handled bags, which are beautiful as usual. Finally, we are happy to offer Sari Bari jute tote-size bags made by some of our friends in Kolkata who are also working toward the cause of freedom for women in the red light district. They have the trademark vintage sari patches on the front, back, and strap. The jute bags make great shopping bags, or could also be fun as gift bags for presenting other Sari Bari products to your friends! The bags are listed at $15, but if you are making another Sari Bari order, you can add a jute bag for just $7.50!

Also, we are working on a new handbag design, which we hope to have available this fall, so stay posted!

We know that this has been a difficult year financially for many people throughout the world, and we want to thank you for continuing to use your purchasing power to be a part of the freedom story of women in Kolkata’s red light districts despite it.

For the cause of freedom –

Kathryn McRitchie