emerge

Emerge, Plus, Have Not Run Off With Monkeys!

| Betsy

You may have noticed that I haven’t updated here in awhile. That’s been due to two things…


1a. Working on some projects not directly related to craftivism, one of them, some communications work with the amazing non-profit seen in the video above, Emerge, which helps young sexually abused girls in Sri Lanka start their own jewelry businesses.

1b. There are other projects I’ve been working on, too, which will surface publicly soon! Yay!

2. Taking some time off the internet entirely, after being told I was misdiagnosed and given medication that made me worse for fifteen years! Although have been knocked a bit back by some allergy problems, have been enjoying finally having the energy to do things once again… some of them for the first time this century. (Krikey!)




While the time off has been pretty great, it’s also reminded me how much finding craft a decade ago has helped me redirect, reshape (and in many ways) rediscover my own life, so will be back on a more regular basis soon. When I started writing about craftivism, this crazy compound notion I came up with in 2003, I had no idea it was going to grow in so many different directions and mean so many different things to so many different people. It’s been so amazing! But it also means reworking what it means to me now in 2011 now that so many other people have found it has meaning in their own lives too. Now that it’s no longer just me touting a rogue idea, but something that has been written about and practiced by people around the world, this time off has been important to really figure out in what direction I need to go to with craftivism now that it’s come into its own.

So, I guess what I’m saying is, I’m still here, and that I’ll be back soon. I just needed some strict time away to refocus on my life outside craft and technology, in order to figure out the best way to go forward within them.

x



Vote for Emerge!

| Betsy

For the past few months, I’ve been volunteering some of my time to a wonderful organization called Emerge Global. This charity was started in 2005 after the founder, Alia Whitney-Johnson, went to Sri Lanka to volunteer after the tsunami. While you can read more about how Emerge started here and what they do here, ultimately it helps Sri Lankan girls aged 8-18 start their own jewelry businesses and savings accounts.

They’ve put together a Bead Program which helps these young girls learn how creativity can be empowering and allows them to start thinking about their futures and believing in themselves, for some, for the very first time.

From the Emerge website, a little bit more about the girls:

“I am from the North” … “I am from the South” … “I was ten when I became pregnant” … “I was sixteen” … “He was my father” … “He was a tourist” … “I was grade 9 when it happened” … “I have never been allowed to go to school” … “My son makes me happy” … “I am ashamed to have a child…”

Despite their diverse backgrounds, the girls of Emerge are bound together by two common denominators: the tremendous strength and perseverance it takes to raise a child despite being children themselves, and the incredible community fostered at Emerge. Emerge aims to help these girls build an even stronger community, to show them their strength and value, and to help them create beauty in their lives and find beauty in themselves. We hope the next lines of their stories will read:

I am valuable. I am beautiful. I am strong.

    The Situation in Sri Lanka:

Due to lack of facilities, many minors are kept in the prison system for their own protection as they testify in court against the man who raped them. Furthermore, according to Save the Children, Sri Lanka, there are no systems and policies whereby children who have broken the law and children who are victims of abuse are differentiated, even by the judicial process. In effect, the systems in Sri Lanka currently offer no support and protection as the abused girls wait for their hearing, which often takes several years to complete.

With this in mind, Emerge is up for a Stay Classy award for Small Charity of the Year! If won, the charity will get $10,000 and a chance to further help these girls empower themselves in Sri Lanka… Some of whom have graduated from the program with enough savings to buy houses for them and their family! So if you have a free 12.5 seconds (I actually timed it!), please consider voting for Emerge and/or passing this notice on to your blogs/friends/social networks.

As there are only 3 days left for voting, I wanted to make a note of this here, as this organization means so much to me. Empowering people with creativity can do so much good in so many ways, please help make that a possibility for more young girls!