Club des Meres Makeover

As a lot of you know, I've been pretty busy over here since I've returned from my trip to Ghana/Benin. I've been working on creating a presentation for other PCVs based on what I learned at the WATH exporting training in Accra. I've also been working on a three-day accounting training for a women's tailoring association, YIRIWASO (thanks to all who replied to my e-mail asking about potential donors -- I got quite a response! It's great that you all are so interested in helping Mali!). I've been teaching English twice a week to the Malian employees at CARE/Mali (an NGO). I've been giving computer lessons (mostly Word, Excel, Publisher and Internet) to both my coworkers and to a different women's association, Nieleni. I've also been helping a different women's bogolan (bogolan = traditional mud-dyed cloth) association, Sininyesigi, develop new products to potentially export to the US. (I'll be sure to let you know if they do end up exporting in the near future -- and I'll let you know where you can buy them if interested!)

On top of all this, I was approached by yet another women's association -- Club des Meres ("club of mothers"). They asked me to come visit them and help them improve their business any way I could. This association produces bogolan products, food drying (mostly onions), clothes, and much more. They also have a grade school (where I'm hoping to introduce Junior Achievement once that gets up and running in Mali).

(a bogolan tapestry created by Club des Meres)

After spending a day with them, we decided that they needed to clean up their boutique and improve their visibility. They are located waaay off the paved road, and they have no signs directing people to their store. The one sign they have above their door is painted directly onto their mud wall, and the paint is quickly fading.

Then there was the inside of the store...

It was really dirty, and all the products were balled up and tossed about randomly. They also had three tables in the center that were full of garbage. We found three shoes under there -- none of them went together.

We got rid of all the excess stuff that was in that room (the things they weren't trying to sell), and then we got to cleaning. We chased the lizards out of the store that had been sitting under the piles of garbage, and then we started working on the merchandise.

We organized all the clothes into "men's," "women's," and "children's" piles, and then selected certain clothes to be hung up on the walls. Going through all the piles of clothes, we discovered many tapestries, hats, scarves, and bedding that had been lost in the mess.

Overall, I think the women were pretty happy about the transformation. The store is well organized now and more visually appealing/shopper friendly. Hopefully they will be able to keep it clean and tidy. Now all they need are customers (which will be our next project).