India is about to celebrate Holi. A festival of color and friendship. So we celebrated a little bit early today at Sari Bari. We had a great time as you can see with a little bit of powdered color. The rest of India will celebrate on Friday and Saturday while we take the time off!

Looks like we sold out in 36 hours.  If you want a sari blanket or bag please contact Melinda at melinda@saribari.com to get on the mailing list for the next shipment which will arrive in early to mid april.

A new shipment of blankets arrived in the states this week. Check out the slide show above. They are already selling fast so if you are interested in purchasing a blanket please contact melinda to get on the mailing list. Her email is melinda@saribari.com We will have regular monthly shipments arriving in the states from this point forward so tell your friends!

At the end of January we celebrated the completion of 6 months training for two our ladies.  They were each given an umbrella and a bag…symbols that they are now business women working for Sari Bari.

We took on 5 ladies in december and are looking to take on 5-10 more in April as space allows.  It is amazing to see the opportunities for more women to have freedom as Sari Bari grows.  Thanks to all of you who are supporting our training and those of you who are apart of the freedom stories of all our ladies with your blanket purchases!

Sari Bari celebrated its two year birthday on February 20th with some cake and a little adventure in the Kolkata.  All the staff went out for lunch and went to the movies!  It was a great day for all!  Two ladies also celebrated their two year “freedom” birthday…you see their hands and the hands of the staff that started on that day 2 year ago cutting the cake!

We had our second annual picnic this year and a wonderful time at the beach in Digha! We took all of our full time staff from both units and their families and filled a bus with 52 very happy people.

December

We hired 4 new ladies and they began their training on Decemeber 1. They are doing great! We are learning alot too…one of the ladies is deaf and really has no language skills/ silent or otherwise so we are learning together how to make things work for her.

We celebrated Christmas with 15 ladies and their families. It was a huge party, filled with dancing, a special christmas song, yummy biriyani, and presents for everyone! It was a true family christmas full of hope and new life.

January

We are bringing on 3 more trainees this month. This will absolutely max us out at our current location putting us as 19 women in a primary unit. We have been given a grant to rent a larger space and so we are hopefully about adding another 15 women by mid year.

we are also looking for a master tailor to help get the bags in major production…right now our machine sewing skills are limited! so if you pray, pray for this!

thanks!

Your overwhelming support during the christmas season has been amazing. we could not supply enough product for the demand…this is great and allows us to feel free to continue hiring women and enabling them to have freedom from a life in the sex trade.

But you can get in the on the next batch arriving on the 15th of December and get your blanket before christmas. Email melinda@saribari.com and ask her to put you on the list!!

Dear Friends of Sari Bari-

Thank you for your patience as you have waited and waited for blankets and continued to cheer us on through our long start-up phase! While we now have our website, it will be a few months yet before you are able to purchase blankets from the site. In the meantime, will are continuing to offer blankets for sale periodically via e-mail “catalogs”.

We realize that the demand for blankets far exceeds the supply we have right now so we apologize in advance if you are not able to get the blankets you are wanting for Christmas. It is likely that we will get one more large shipment in the middle of December so there may be one more opportunity to order before Christmas. (note–we will not have any bags available this Christmas, sorry!)

Take a look at the links below to see photos of blankets and then please follow the instructions at the bottom of this e-mail when placing your order. I will respond to e-mail orders in the order that they are received and do my best to update the album as items are sold. Please realize that the blanket you request may already be sold even if it is not marked. (your chances of securing a blanket are better if you e-mail me several choices or if you specify no preference and allow me to pick for you from blankets that are left).

This link contains pictures of our full sized throws. (If you’ve ordered before, this is the size blanket you got). They are 76-78″ long.– $58.00
http://picasaweb.google.com/saribariindia/SariBlanketsDecember2007FullSizeThrows7678

This link contains pictures of small throws (just like the full size only a little shorter)– 72″ long– $48.00
and twin bed-sized blankets (2 photos marked twin at the end of the album)– $168.00
http://picasaweb.google.com/saribariindia/SariBlanketsDecember2007SmallThrowsTwinBlankets

Please follow these instructions when placing your order:
1. Reply to this message to send me your preferences in order, or specify no preference if you’d like me to select for you. Please also include the address where you would like your blanket(s) shipped.
2. I will reply to your e-mail to confirm your order and give you your total. Please note that if you are ordering from TN or NE your total will include sales tax. Cost for shipping will also be included (for large and small throws, $7.00 for the first blanket and $6.00 for each additional). All orders will be shipped via USPS 2-day priority mail.
3. We are only able to receive payments by check at this time. After you have received your total, please make check payment to Word Made Flesh and send it promptly to Melinda Snader/Sari Bari Program Administrator 2555 Hale Ave. Memphis, TN 38112. Your blanket(s) will be shipped when your payment is received.

Thank you again for your faithful support of Sari Bari! We continue in this endeavor with joy and in hope for new life to be realized by the women of Kolkata’s red-light districts.

Blessings to you this Christmas season!

We just sent off a shipment to the states with our first twin size Sari Blankets. These will sell for $168.00 and a lighter weight than that a regular Sari Blanket. They are beautiful bedcovers. There will only be five available before Christmas so email Melinda if you are interested.