LIFE*styled

Erin and I are always inspired when we meet young women who take a chance and start their own business-especially when it is focused on improving women's lives. Recently I have had the pleasure of meeting and working with Catherine Cassidy who founded LIFE*styled, a company focused on enhancing women's lives through fashion, fitness and fun in Los Angeles.

Not only does Catherine focus on these aspects as a "Life Coach," but she encourages the modern woman to live a healthy and fulfilling life, while helping others. Recently Catherine has become a champion of Global Daughter in the LA area and even wrote an article for her newsletter on our project. Global Daughter is looking forward to working with LIFE*styled on some upcoming events in the LA area!

For more information on Catherine's experience and stylist services, please visit:

http://www.lifestyledonline.com/

Ride Inspired.

The LiveStrong Foundation came to Seattle this weekend and over 2,000 riders took part in the event to raise money for cancer research. The Lance Armstrong Foundation was founded by cancer survivor and cycle stud, Lance Armstrong in 1997. The Lance Armstrong Foundation (LAF) unites people through programs and experiences to empower cancer survivors to live life on their own terms and to raise awareness and funds for the fight against cancer.

Global Daughter put together a team (of 2!) and raised over $900 for the Lance Armstrong Foundation. Erin and her roommate (cycle stud) Karl, trained and spread the word about the cause for the event. Erin completed the 70-mile course- see map below- and Karl conquered the 100-mile course. It was a great day for Seattle and a great day for the fight against cancer. Riders raised over 1 million dollars for the event and all levels of riders were able to participate in the 10-mile, 45-mile, 70-mile or 100-mile courses.

The Global Daughter Team rode for the family members of both Erika and Erin. Fathers, uncles, aunts, grandparents, friends...we have both experienced the path of cancer in our lives. It was important for us to be involved in a cause that has effected us personally, here at home, with the people we love.

Erika's uncle John, who is fighting cancer, completed (and crushed) the 100-mile bike course and was the biggest inspiration for us to join this ride. He is a phenomenal athlete and cyclist and has been a big supporter of our GD adventure from the beginning. The strength he has shown in the last year has followed us wherever we go and we want him to know how much we respect and love him.

Thank you to all who donated to the ride or helped us train..you know who you are!











70-mile course map
(That hill in Issaquah was my Everest!)

Travel Postcard

Check out the Global Daughter picture in the Seattle Times!

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/photogalleries/travel2008583734/

This photo was taken in March 2009 on a trek in the Helumbu Region of Nepal. After 8 days of trekking, I met up with a group of cancer doctors from the sole cancer hospital in Chitwan, Nepal. They were in the village of Kakani administering pap smears, breast examinations and eye check-ups for women in surrounding villages. Women came from miles around on foot to experience this type of women-specific care for the first time.

The old woman in the photo was seated in that same place for hours. She did not get up, even for the free tea, and she did not talk to anyone. The younger girl administering the eye examination, is a nurse pracitioner from the hospital who volunteered her time to come out for the 2-day event.

You can't see in the picture, but a woman from behind had one eye covered to read the letters posted. The women were confused about the exam and couldn't understand the concept of checking vision. It was incredible to witness. After talking at length with the doctors, we ended up dining with them and listening to fascinating medical stories from their work in Nepal.

You can read more about the health camp in our previous post.

GD in the Seattle Times!

A photo taken by Erin in Nepal will be featured in the Sunday, June 14th edition of the Seattle Times Travel Section. It will be the travel postcard of the week. Pick up a paper to check it out or look online at www.seattletimes.com.

You can also visit Seattle Times to look through other Seattlite's travel shots here.

Yay Nepal!

Mob Strips Woman in Street

Let me preface this news story by saying that this was reported with little to no coverage. The context of this horrendous act are not clear at this time. However, the images tell a story of human rights abuse and sexual violence and that is why it appears on our blog.

The reason for this crime DOES NOT matter. No one should be persecuted by the public, in public under any circumstance. The fact that this mob of men man-handled this women in the busiest part of the city with no police interaction shows you just how poorly women are treated and ignored by the state.

There is a small child watching the mob strip this woman. The look in his eyes is eerie. His stone cold face is the face of the future. That is the saddest part of the story. He sees this type of violence as normal, acceptable and fun (as the smiling men in the background look on). He will grow up and perpetuate the cycle of discrimination that has kept women in Nepal from achieving any remnants of equality. This is heart-breaking.

I was just there, in the place were this woman was assaulted. I rode my bike past it everyday and now to see this, from thousands of miles away I am more horrified than ever. Justice in Nepal does not exist. Lawlessness prevails and the mob rules all.

Mob parades woman naked in Kathmandu
30 May 2009, 0019 hrs IST, TNN
Times of India

KATHMANDU: Watched by fearful children and passersby, a mob of nearly 50 young men beat up a woman and paraded her naked in the heart of capital city Kathmandu with no one daring to protest even as Nepal’s political parties said they were writing a new constitution that would empower women and other disadvantaged people.

The unidentified woman, who looked to be in her 30s, was stripped of her red printed salwar-kameez and white dupatta. Then the crowd tore off her undergarments and rained abuse and blows with lathis.

The shocking incident occurred in the Ratna Park area of Kathmandu, one of the busiest spots in the capital where new Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal on Friday laid down the foundation of a martyrs’ memorial.

The area, teeming with public transport and shops, is also close to a main police station. Though the cornered woman repeatedly cried out in fear, asking people to save her, nobody dared to intervene.

The woman could have been a sex worker, who abound the area, or mistaken as one. Though it happened on May 20, it came to public notice only this week with a passerby taking photographs of the scene and sending them to a Nepali blog site, Mysansar.com The blog is now appealing for justice, saying the attack is all the more shocking as it happened in the heart of the capital.

Global Daughter Home Parties= Smart Fun!

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Global Daughter gives you the opportunity to support women artisans around the world from the comfort of your own home, with the people you love. Global Daughter Fair Trade House Parties are a great way for women (and men!) to come together and learn about fair trade, shop beautiful hand-crafted gifts and hear the stories behind the product.
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Hear what people are saying about Global Daughter Home Parties...

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"After attending my first Global Daughter party I was taken with the story of these two bright and energetic women from America and their idea of helping women through Global Daughter. When I decided to host a party, my guests were blown away by the handmade products and they loved the chance to meet Erika, one of the GD founders. Guests at my party opened their wallets and their hearts because they saw Global Daughter as the great idea that it truly is."
- Gail Jahn, Seattle, WA

"I very rarely host at-home parties, but when I heard about Global Daughter, their cause and the unique product line, I knew my family and friends would love to attend something different from the usual candle party. My guests enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere along with the beautiful products and story of Global Daughter."
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Book your next Global Daughter Fair Trade Home Party today @ www.globaldaughter.com.

"Garbage out of Thin Air"

A 10-day exhibition of art in April, entitled, "Garbage out of Thin Air," was created by artists from the Kathmandu University Centre for Art & Design. The artists used garbage and debris collected on Mt. Everest and brought down by the Eco Everest Expedition 2008 Team led by Dawa Steven Sherpa. Debri included helicopter parts that have fallen out of the sky, garbage left over from trekking expeditions- pieces that have been buried in the snow and ice for decades. In total, 300 kilos of garbage were transported off the mountain!

Sherpa said the significance of this exhibition is to urge people to create greater empathy with the mountains. The garbage, in the form of art, will be valued by people who recognize the importance of Mt. Everest not only in mountaineering as the highest peak on earth, but also for the mountain’s cultural importance. He said it is also a symbol that if we can keep our mountains clean, then surely we can keep our town, cities, rivers and air clean.

The garbage brought down from Mt. Everest has been used to create works of art with a message rather than just being disposed of randomly.

What a great idea for young artists to use their creativity and have an outlet for social responsibility! It made me look at "garbage" in a whole new light.

The Badi Women Experience

The women of the badi community in Nepal are some of the most discriminated in the country. Their fate as bonded sex labourers is cruel and their future in the village is bleak. They are the exact women Global Daughter aims to connect with to create employment or skills training for them and their daughters. The following is an informative article on the Badi experience.

Caste System Binds Nepalese Prostitutes
By AMY WALDMAN
New York Times

MUDA, Nepal-- With its simple mud homes, low roofs and string cots, this tiny settlement near the Indian border looks like any other in this part of western Nepal. Only the women suggest something different, garishly painted as they are even in the early morning hours.

They loiter on a slope or around the tea stall, waiting for men, who come, banter, negotiate, then slyly walk one of the women to one of the village houses. The women's children play nearby and watch.

Caste has become destiny for many communities, defining their profession through generations. But few people have inherited so vexed a destiny as the Badis of Nepal. Their profession is prostitution, passed down from one generation to the next.

While many Badi women have left the sex trade, others keep falling into it, driven by hunger, a lack of alternatives and the stigma of being a Badi.

The Badis, who number tens of thousands across western Nepal, are one of 36 castes who make up Nepal's untouchables, said Suk Lal Nepali, a Badi who runs Social Awareness for Education, or SAFE, a nonprofit organization that works with the Badis.

But, he added, "we are untouchable among the untouchables."

Sunni Nepali, now 22, began working as a prostitute four or five years ago. Her body supports 11 relatives, including her parents and two younger brothers. Each encounter she has up to five a day earns her anywhere from 70 cents to $2.15. She loathes the work, she said, but sees no choice. She has no education.

Besides, she asked: "Who's going to marry me? I'm already involved in this."

The Badis did not start out as prostitutes when they migrated to Nepal from India some three centuries ago. They made drums and musical instruments, fished and danced and sang. They would go to the homes of landlords, or zamindars, to entertain at social ceremonies, in return for food.

In time, the zamindars claimed some of the girls as concubines. They would use them, then abandon them when they had children, said Ramesh Nepali, a Badi. Many Badis have taken the surname Nepali to avoid the disgrace of being a Badi.

In this patriarchal society, fatherless children have few rights. It can be difficult to register their births, and thus get them citizenship, school admission, even the right to vote.

Already nonentities in society's eyes, daughters dutifully followed their mothers into prostitution, often encouraged by parents no longer willing or able to work themselves. Badi men lived off the women's work.

Social welfare organizations have tried to coax the women into other jobs with some success, said Suk Lal Nepali, although he noted that even his own sister slipped into prostitution three years ago. He says only 150 women remain in prostitution, down from 587 a decade ago.

Still, the whole population remains stigmatized.

About half of the 50 families that lived in this settlement have migrated to India in search of work as maids or guards, leaving perhaps 250 Badis in Muda. In part, that is a result of pressure from Maoists waging an insurgency against Nepal's constitutional monarchy. They are also against prostitution and have ordered the Badis to stop their work. There is pressure, too, from the government, carried out by the army and the police.

"We can no longer be prostitutes," said Kokali Nepali, 30, a mother of four. "Before, it was accepted, it was open. Now there is pressure from all sides society and government. We cannot do it openly."

In this part of Nepal, however, there is little other work to be found. Even many of the women who have abandoned the sex trade, like Kokali Nepali, live off it, working as educators for SAFE and other groups.

All of the women insist they practice protected sex, and say they have educated many of their customers to do the same. Sunni Nepali even lamented that because she used condoms so reliably, it would be difficult for her to conceive a child to raise on her own, which she wanted.

There have been about 236 total H.I.V. cases identified in the middle and western parts of Nepal, said Dr. G. Raj Shakya, the president of the Nepal S.T.D. and AIDS Research Center in Nepalgunj.

He said he had not identified H.I.V. cases among Badis, but that he was almost sure there were some. Many of the women refused to be tested, he said, for fear that a positive result would further stigmatize them and their community.

The women say the danger is from those who migrate to India, and then come back.

Using the AIDS threat as leverage, the Badis have been seeking government help to move into other lines of work, but without success.

"We are in a position to leave prostitution if the government is ready to announce we are not prostitutes and provide alternatives," Suk Lal Nepali said.

His organization has opened hostels for Badi girls, hoping that a different environment will keep them from following their mothers into the sex trade.

But some girls remain. Kokali Nepali's 7-year-old daughter was around as the women did business. So was Gomati Nepali's 12-year-old, Rabina, who said she wanted to be a nurse.

Gomati Nepali got into prostitution at 15, when her parents were sick, the family poor. She works out of her mother's house.

"In an environment like this," Gomati said of Rabina, "I'm afraid she will go into this."

source: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/11/international/asia/11MUDA.html

Happy Mother's Day!

A special Happy Mother's Day to our mom's, Debbie and Paula- our biggest supporters! We love you today, and every 365 days a year.


Debbie & Paula


Kiss.

Update on Witchcraft Case...

This is a follow-up on the story reported in the Himalayan Times and on GD's blog about Kalli Kumari B.K who was accused of witchcraft and brutality assualted. The story seems to have got the attention of law enforcement, but in Nepal, that isn't saying much.

Kalli’s date with hollow promises

Kathmandu Post

RENU KSHETRY

KATHMANDU, April 29 - For Kalli Kumari B.K. life is hollow. The 45-year old says she finds it hard to come to terms with the trauma she went through on March 20. That day her husband could only look on helplessly as her neighbours overpowered them and forced her to eat human excreta accusing her of witchcraft.

Three days later, she was rescued from the village of Phyutar in Lalitpur.That incident, she says, has changed her life, but does not know how. For the moment, she just wants to go back home from Maiti Nepal, where she has been sheltering since March 23 with her daughter Shanti B.K., 17.

Her husband, Chetman B.K. has been living with his relatives at Chapagaon. “I am extremely worried about him,” she said of her 50-plus husband, who is blind in the left eye. “He came here to meet us twice, but it's a long time since we heard from him. We hope he is all right and gets to eat two meals a day.” Not just that, she is concerned about the 25 chicken she left with her neighbours or the buffalo bought by mortgaging an old pair of ear-rings to the local lender.

Little over a month has passed since that fateful day. Kalli Kumari has listened to many influential figures, including 'a fat, old man' -- Deputy Prime Minister Bam Dev Gautam -- and has been to the Legislature Parliament to brief them on what happened. She has heard bundles of assurances that those subjecting her to inhumane treatment would be brought to justice. So far, the words have sounded hollow.

But she has her mind set on the village-level all-party meeting slated for Wednesday, which is expected to ensure her a dignified return home. If every thing goes as planned, she gets to reunite with her family, but does not quite know how she is going to deal with the stigma of being labelled a witch.

“Is that going to go?” she asks. “My skin is black but my heart is not,” she chokes on her words. “Does being a poor, old Dalit with grey hair make me a witch?”

Most importantly, will her tormentors be punished, as she has been promised? She does not know. Member of National Women's Commission Dhan Kumari Sunar, however, assured the Post they would put the culprit behind bars and resettle Kalli and her family securely with respect and dignity.

Mother's Day is Around the Corner...

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Presidential Commission on Women

Working with women in politics in Nepal, it is always interesting to remember that women's issues at home are still in need of attention...

For too long, women have been an afterthought when it comes to the political process. We've been counted out and left behind, and it's time we stood up and made our voices heard.

That's why after the election, WomenCount started our campaign to establish a Presidential Commission on Women to provide an independent, thorough look at the lives of women in America -- in the home, in the workplace, raising our families, our health, our economic impact -- and to make substantive policy recommendations that will help American women move forward.

Representative Jackie Speier -- a champion for women in Congress -- heard our call and immediately got to work on legislation supporting the cause.

Earlier this month, she introduced a bill that would create the Commission. A strong show of public support is the best way to convince Congress to pass this bill into law and make the Presidential Commission on Women a reality.

Click here to urge Congress to support Rep. Speier's bill creating a Presidential Commission on Women.

You've probably seen the news recently about President Obama creating the White House Council on Women and Girls. It's an important step, and we applaud the President for taking it.

But this Council serves a very different purpose than the Commission created by this bill. The Council coordinates all federal policy dealing with women's issues, where the Commission would take a step back and look at every aspect of life for women in America.

The Commission would develop the policies that create equality and opportunity for women, and work with the White House to implement those policies.

We can't think of a more important step for women in America than creating this Commission, and we hope you will help us to make it a reality.

Tell Congress to support a Presidential Commission on Women today!

WomenCount was founded by women inspired by Hillary Clinton's historic run for the presidency. WomenCount is dedicated to giving us a voice in the political process and is proud to have spearheaded the effort to create the Presidential Commission on Women.

Thank you for your help on this vital issue, and we look forward to working on it with you in the future.

Yours truly,
Stacy, Dale, Sarah, Jen and the WomenCount Team

WomenCount

University of Washington Features Global Daughter

When I graduated from the University of Washington with a degree in European Studies I never dreamed I would end up living and working in Asia. Despite my focus on Europe, my time at UW opened my mind and willingness to explore all cultures of the world. Recently they asked me to write an article on what I was doing now, and we are very pleased to have Global Daughter featured in their Spring Newsletter. For the full newsletter, including pictures please visit:
http://jsis.washington.edu/advise//file/Spr-2009(1).pdf 

(We are on page 7)

Alumni News—News on what some of our most recent alumni are doing..

A Journey to Global Daughter
Prepared by: Erika Mosebach, JSIS Alumni
Company: Global Daughter, www.globaldaughter.com

After completing my European Studies degree from UW in 2004, I decided to travel the world-strangely enough everywhere but Europe! I began my search of the unknown in Kyoto, Japan, where my B.A. opened doors for me to teach English and explore Asia. After two years, I felt it was time to move on to my next challenge and I found myself on a deserted island off the coast of Costa Rica saving endangered sea turtles. It was there, after having witnessed the beauty and humanity of women from different cultures around the globe that my best friend/travel companion and I hashed out the concept of Global Daughter.

We headed to Kathmandu, Nepal, a place steeped in political and social unrest for many years to make our mark. After working with local women’s groups we decided the best way for us to make an impact would be by interacting on a grassroots level with women artisans to bring their amazing handicrafts to the Western market. We now provide skills development training, as well as all the tools needed for these groups to be successful with their handicrafts in hopes that they may be able to lift themselves out of poverty. Global Daughter is an online fair trade boutique that sells unique handmade jewelry, gifts and home accents that are eco and socially friendly. It is also a social project that emphasizes personal relationships, community participation and human development.

Many of my European Studies courses related to women and their struggle and impact throughout history. We at Global Daughter firmly believe that in order to repair a nation that has been through war women MUST be active participants in building their country’s economy. Global Daughter is for women, by women, inspired by all women. To be a part of the fair trade movement to improve the lives others, please visit us at: www.globaldaughter.com.

Now in Marlene's Market in Tacoma!

Skipping on the Shipping!

Marlene's Market and Deli in Tacoma is now featuring Global Daughter handmade gifts! We are very pleased to have our fairly traded, women-made goods available in a retail environment that promotes healthy living, ecologically sound products and social responsibility. Along with the Tacoma store, GD products can also be found at the Federal Way Marlene's location. We encourage you to shop at either store and shop GD to live a fair trade lifestyle....in style!

Tacoma Marlene's Market & Deli
2951 S. 38th St.
Tacoma, WA 98409
Get Directions    

Federal Way Marlene's Market & Deli

2565 S. Gateway Center PL
Federal Way, WA 98003
(253)839-0933
Get Directions

   

GD and Smashbox Cosmetics

Global Daughter wants to say a big THANK YOU to Smashbox Cosmetics, a company that not only produces top notch cosmetics but supports women causes worldwide. It is coincidentally our favorite brand of cosmetics, so to begin a relationship with them is a dream come true!

On Tuesday, GD was invited to the corporate offices by the President of Smashbox to kick off their series of Earth Week Events with a presentation and shopping hour. For Global Daughter to be a part of their green effort is an honor and a great opportunity for our project. Thanks to the preparation and hard work of "smashers" Stephanie and Tiffany....... it was a SMASHing success!

Smashbox-a company with a conscience that is as beautiful on the inside...as the outside!