For today’s outfit I’ve taken inspiration from Chole’s Fall 2015 ready to wear collection. This romantic long sleeved day dress, from Zara, is great for the current changeable weather we’re having. I love the bohemian feel of the floaty chiffon fabric, and I’ve worn it back with a pair of very solid black boots to give the outfit an edge. The tassel necklace is from Jimani Collections, a jewellery company with a difference. Founded by fine arts graduate Jennifer Bentley, the very heart of this company is the desire to create a sustainable solution to poverty.
The Story
The company started in the summer of 2012 when a small group of impoverished Kenyan women spent a week learning basic jewellery skills; since then Jennifer and her team have transformed this project into a sustainable business that produces handcrafted jewellery for sale.
Training
The key to this project is the training in vocational skills, enabling these women to work and generate an income. Jimani Collections have partnered with the J127 Foundation an organisation that funds and organises training for women. Here the women spend 6 months training in jewellery making techniques, by a local Kenyan jewellery expert.
An Income
Through the jewellery sales, Jimani Collections provide women with a sustainable income and a safe workplace, something that wouldn’t have been possible without the training given. They employ full and part-time workers. The part-time workers spend the morning in training funded by the J127 Foundation, and in the afternoons work for Jimani Collections. This is essential as whilst the Foundation pays for food and transportation, these women still need to pay for basics like rent and their children’s school fees.
Sourcing
In an effort to support the local economy, where possible all raw materials are sourced from Kenya and are mainly bought from industrial areas or in downtown Nairobi.
Something that’s been on my mind recently, has been the importance of empowering women. Equality between men and women is certainly not perfect here in the UK, just think of the pay gap, but compared to many places it is miles apart. Kenyan society is largely patriarchal, and women are generally regarded as child-bearers and care-takers*. I applaud what Jimani Collections doing, as not only are they tackling the issue of extreme poverty, they are also empowering these women to overcome it themselves.
To shop Jimani Collections please go to www.jimanicollections.com
* Information from “The Experience of Patriarchy by Kenyan Women in the Pursuit of Higher Education” by Machira, Mary Achieng, Ph.D
* The necklace was a gift from Jimani Collections, but all views are my own.
Hi Karen – if you are thinking about empowering women and want a Biblical perspective on it, I highly recommend the writing of Elaine Storkey who headed up LICC for years. She even convinced John Stott that ‘The feminist case is irrefutable.’ I’ve been glued to my ancient copy of her ‘What’s right with feminism,’ very 80’s but fascinating nonetheless and much better written than a lot of the stuff that purports to be writing these days. She also wrote ‘Created or Constructed: The Great Gender Debate,’ published in 2000, which I’ve not read but might be a bit more relevant to today and the international debate on feminism. Feminism as in equal rights to education, pay for same job, etc… not as in ‘put men down feminism’. Blessings Anna
Author
Hi Anna,
Thanks for the suggestions of books to read, I’ll check those out and let you know what I think, though with Daisy my reading rate is rather slow at the moment!
K xxx