Most people wait around the conveyor belt waiting for their luggage to come off the airplane at most airports. That is not the case in Lodwar, Kenya, located in the Turkana region. You land and look for the airport terminal only to finally notice a tiny building containing check-in, security, and the departure gate, the size of most gas stations in the United States. The dry heat waves over you as you make your way out of the airplane. Walking across the tarmac to the small terminal, the desolate and dry landscape is easy to see. With only a few volcanic rock outcroppings, Lodwar is not an area that is known for its beauty. It's a very high desert area that rarely gets rain, and the only agricultural crops grown in the area are grown within feet of the river. Unlike the rest of Kenya, the ground is not that fertile and is hard to dig into. Not that anyone could grow food anyways because of the lack of rain. Because of these factors, the Turkana region is known for having higher rates of food insecurity. Many of the locals are pastoralists that rely upon rainfall to help find forage for their animals. The current drought has made it harder for pastoralists to feed their animals. This place may seem foreboding and lackluster, but the people make up for that. This was the most diverse place I have visited anywhere in the world. The uniqueness of cultures and customs is ever-present in daily life.
Lodwar itself is a pretty small town. It boasts a population of around 20,000 people (Places in the World, n.d.). I could take a motorcycle taxi or boda boda for five minutes from where I stayed to the workshop pretty quickly. No traffic, and almost everything is within walking distance. While riding on my boda boda every day, I passed many men walking around with their herding sticks and small stool in hand. They often wore the traditional outfit of their culture, which included a specially knitted robe covering one shoulder to their knees. Then the men would also be wearing a tiny, cartoonishly small top hat. The women walking around would wear a similar robe, but those who followed strict tradition would have brightly colored beads around their necks. The more beads they had and the different colors meant they were usually married and more respected in the community. As I headed out of the main town to the workshop, I passed many of the local's homes. The compounds were guarded by fences or natural shrubbery, protecting them against intruders or keeping their livestock safe. Their homes were different shapes and sizes of some form of a clay hut mixed with thin sticks from the trees and often times plastic. I could not help but be in awe of the unique customs and cultures of the Turkana people while I was here.
I visited Imani Collectives workshop in Lodwar, located just outside the main town. My experience of getting to know the women was life-changing. After everything, I feel like I have an additional 60 moms from my time getting to know all the women at the various artisan cooperatives I visited. Unlike the other workshops, the women in Turkana were very unique. I pulled up on my boda boda to a building with a roof to provide shade for the women as they sat outside weaving. Sitting inside a building was not any cooler than it was outside. Some women were seated on chairs weaving baskets while others sat on mats on the ground doing their work. None of the women knew English besides basic words, but I feel this improved my experience. The women did not let language be a barrier to getting to know me or engaging in conversation with me. From the very beginning, the women were warm and inviting. Within my first 20 minutes, multiple women pulled me over to see how they were weaving the baskets and tasked me with trying it out for myself. Thankfully that basket weaving merit badge from boy scouts came in handy. The women's skill and craftmanship were something I was amazed at. The women would often talk to one another and continue weaving their baskets. Yet the thin strips from the palm trees they used to weave the baskets had to go in tiny holes every time. Something I know I could never be able to do unless I was meticulously looking at the basket I was weaving. Some women could be seen vigorously moving their hands back and forth to weave the baskets, almost like a robot, but they were so much more complex than a robot could ever be.
I learned a lot from the women as I observed and interviewed them. The women worked from nine to five Monday through Friday. They would have tea and chapati in the morning soon after arriving, then have lunch around one or two in the afternoon. The women discussed how this provided them with daily meals, something that before the cooperative was something they were not sure they would always have. Also, having a consistent income helped them plan for many of their more significant purchases and unexpected life circumstances. What I was most amazed about by these women was how much their lives had changed from before the cooperative to now. The change in diets was one of the most significant factors. Many women described trying fruit for the first time or having more meat in their diet. The women described how it was customary to sleep and spend a day without food. What I enjoyed the most about my visit was the positive and happy energy the women had amongst each other every day I was there.
One day after I finished at the workshop, I went to the local basket market. Weaving is a cultural thing here, and many people make baskets sold in this market. Most of the customers are people traveling through the region for humanitarian aid trips or customers buying products to take and sell in Nairobi. There were a lot of options that continued to get bigger and bigger as I looked down the rows. After asking the prices of some of the largest baskets I could have easily hidden in, I was amazed to hear they were selling them for usually under $20. I had assumed that they would be selling them for much more. I brought this up to Brian, a member of Imani's leadership team. He said that those prices were average. In his village, which was in Eastern Kenya, people from his tribe also were involved in weaving baskets but made a different pattern. A large clothing company purchased woven purses and bags from local artisans in his village. The issue with this was the company would purchase the bags for cheap or around $20-$40, then add their logo and leather work to the bag and sell them for hundreds of dollars.
Brian noted that this is an issue with the artisan sector how many large companies like this come in and only buy the product for cheap. They do nothing to improve the individuals or community. Buying the product solely from the artisan does help provide something, but when these large companies buy it for so cheap so they can make more money, it's wrong. These companies are participating in Fair Trade activities but are they really being fair? Imani Collective seeks to not just provide a job but dignified employment that is holistic and creates social change. The artisan sector has little research and knowledge about where products come from and how they are sourced. This is an area that I think would be interesting to research and investigate where products come from and how they are sourced. There's an opportunity to develop communities like Turkana through the artisan sector, but it has to be done in a way that builds artisans and their community. Rather than individuals and companies trying to seek sole gain and grow themselves, the artisan sector can provide dignified jobs that uplift individuals and communities, especially those impacted by conflict. So we can weave together broken communities.
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