About Me

I went on a journey throughout India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Cambodia and Thailand observing organizations that are working specifically with marginalized women and children who have been or are at-risk of being trafficked as sex workers or bonded laborers. While this blog is expository, its intent is to create awareness as well as provide real-life examples of solutions! Hence, the name of the blog. Beauty is lost in these dark places. Yet, there are people hard at work redeeming human lives. Many programs create vocational training to provide income-generation for the participants. These organizations are creating beautiful products that are emerging in the western marketplace. They are shop-worthy for their uniqueness, but also because they are creating second-chances for women who are lifting themselves out of poverty. We who "have" can make a big impact in the world simply by how we choose to spend our money. Also, we can donate to organizations that are on the field, down the alleys and in the trenches. This work is not easy but the pay-off is great. Lives are redeemed and beauty is found.

10.10.2010

09.26.10 *FOUND

SACRED MARK

My last entry highlighted BRAC and Aarong's as national organizations doing mighty work to support Bangladesh from within. There however are many international organizations that are also helping to lift the nation out of poverty. MCC (Mennonite Central Committee), established in 1922 to help hungry people in Russia and the Ukraine is now a world-wide organization with a strong focus on job creation. MCC is also known for starting Ten Thousand Villages, retail shops all over the United States and Canada which sell the goods designed and produced by many of their own job creation programs worldwide. MCC has their hands in many pots in Bangladesh and they are constantly exploring new, innovative ways to provide opportunities for those that need them.

Most recently, 5-star designer, Austin Miller guided 28 women in to a new income generation program that produces organic, fair-trade soaps. "Sacred Mark" is located in a little yellow house in the middle of bright green rice fields. The whole operation is quite amazing and a total labor of love. Austin worked in partnership with another MCC program called Pobrita (the Bengali word for "pure"), a holistic training program for women leaving the sex-trade. Every single woman here comes from a story of desperation— rape, incest, domestic abuse, abandonment, you name it, all which lead them to working the streets. By the time they are 18, they have already lived many lives. MCC established Pobrita to help these survivors start a new life. The focus is on healing the whole woman, not just providing her with an alternate form of income. They then enter in to a 8 month program of healing and restoration: a program that teaches them everything from reading and writing to basic hygiene to peace-making skills, to vocational training, to small-business skills. No stone left unturned. We visited the program and it was a bustling center of activity and progress. It is from here that the women can then apply to work for various MCC projects, one of them being "Sacred Mark". 

The soaps use only natural products that are locally produced. Scents include cinnamon, cardamom and other herbs. The packaging, also made locally, tells the story of the women who make the soaps. Each bar is tied with a piece of dried banana leaf, closed with hot wax and sealed with the symbol of a finger print. The name "Sacred Mark" comes from the poetry of Bengali born Rabindranath Tagore "Oh let me wear secretly... the sacred mark pressed by Your own hand." The raw idea of soap being made by women who at one time made their living in the unclean world of prostitution is a moving picture of a life transformed by love and second chances. Their old life washed away. Clean. Pure. With the imprint of a Maker. A life with unique meaning and intention. Beauty found.

Sacred Mark products are sold in retail establishments in Bangladesh and can be found in the west at Ten Thousand Villages. If you are interested in carrying Sacred Mark products in your retail environment, spa, salon or inn, please contact: sacredmark@gmail.com

http://mcc.org/stories/news/mcc-teaches-new-job-skills-former-sex-workers-bangladesh
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