Trading for Treasure
By: Beth Parish Issue: Collaborative Women Section: Jewel Of Collaboration
What do you do if your 16-year-old daughter Ashley comes home and says that when she finishes school she is moving to Rwanda?
If you are Connie Stevinson you start a non-profit organization that helps Rwandan woman build community wealth through their skills as weavers. Both Connie, and daughter Ashley, told us that the story was not simplistic, and how women—near and far—inspired them to make a positive impact on the world.
Connie says there is no abbreviated version of her story—only the long
version. It is a story that details Connie’s ventures and their impacts on
communities in the U.S. and abroad.
The Long Story...
As a busy mom, successful CPA, and smart businesswoman, Connie and her family supported various charitable ventures. As the economy took a hit, area non-profits were hit hard as charitable giving declined and grant opportunities shrunk. Connie brainstormed with her husband and friends about fundraising strategies that could help these groups raise money without asking for cash. So Connie and her partner Ellen Palazzo decided to sell used goods, solicited from friends and family, on eBay with proceeds helping area non-profits. Such was the beginning of Trading4Treasures.
As Connie was making a positive impact for area non-profits, Ashley had a chance to travel to Rwanda with Camp Kivu over spring break; it was after this service-learning trip that Ashley decided she was moving across the world to help improve the lives of Rwandan woman and children. Connie admits she knew about the genocide, but had to find Rwanda on a map. It wasn’t until a chance encounter with Susan Holleran that she learned more about this country in need and that her life journey would begin moving her closer to Rwanda.
In June 2009, Connie was fortunate to travel to Israel and Turkey with her daughters. While on the church trip, they met up with Susan who had been inspired by a Rwandan genocide survivor’s story. Upon return from Israel, Ashley convinced her mom to come to a meeting with a man from Rwanda who wanted to start a camp for children. Connie asked her new friend Susan to join them and meet Jonathan Nimrod from Kids Across Africa. The women were impressed with the organization and Susan swayed Connie to head to Rwanda on a fact-finding mission.
Not convinced at first, but led by excellent guides, the women spent time
with Opportunity International surveying the land acquired for the new
children’s camps, visiting orphanages, and gorilla trekking. On the last day of
the trip, their guide brought them to a basket weaving operation in southern
Rwanda. The weavers supplied baskets to Macy’s department stores in the United
States; the 3,000 weavers, from 52 cooperatives were coordinated and led by
sisters Joy Ndungutse and Janet Nkubana. Connie learned that for four years,
Macy’s had been selling the Rwandan baskets in the U.S. and that the efforts
helped the Rwandan weaving cooperative grow from 20 to 3,000 weavers, supporting
women across Rwanda in the wake of the genocide. Joy was worried, to the point
of losing sleep, that the weavers were too dependent on the orders from Macy’s.
She wondered... What if the Macy’s consumers did not want baskets anymore? What
if Macy’s needed to move on? Joy had a conundrum.
Without hesitation, Connie told Joy that she would help the Rwandan women get additional distribution in the United States. While many of us want to help others, few of us would have taken on a venture in an area we knew nothing about, from a country we had just learned about, in an industry where we had no experience. Given years, many of us could have helped the Rwandan women gain distribution; not Connie, she returned from Rwanda and started her distribution efforts in January. Most of us might have asked a local shop or two to carry the baskets; not Connie, she started at the top with the New York International Gift Fair. Vendors wait years to get into the show; Connie was admitted to the show with a week’s effort. After New York, she did a February show in Denver and today the baskets are in 48 diverse retailers. In just four months, Connie had helped Joy and the 3,000 weavers in Rwanda gain peace of mind with basket distribution in museum gift shops, small gourmet shops, trendy boutiques, and even the Food Network. The funds help the weavers educate their children, feed their families, and build their community.
While most of the world’s consumers are more interested in fair trade, these
co-op created products actually make a difference—and the weavers and crafts
people know it. Connie remembers one weaver in a remote, hard to reach village
co-op who missed the weekly bus that would get her products to market. Knowing
that her U.S. consumer would not wait a week for the baskets, the weaver
borrowed a bike and rode for two days to get to the next town to take the next
bus to the big city. She made the distribution.
Not one to be idle, Connie is currently administering both Trading4Treasures and the Rwandan basket social enterprise with the Trading4Treasures profits helping to fund the administrative side of the basket imports. In addition to helping Rwandan women support their families and build a business, the import of the Rwandan baskets helps support a microfinance organization that is providing small loans to entrepreneurs starting small businesses in Rwanda.
As Connie and Susan traveled to Rwanda, they were struck by the needs of the people—and she told me a story about Mother Theresa. When asked whom she was going to help, Mother Theresa said she helped the person in front of her. For Connie, first it was area non-profits and then it was Joy; for Susan it was an orphanage in Rwanda. The lesson... if we all take a step to help the person in front of us then we have a chance of doing something with great impact; if we do nothing then nothing gets done.
Connie reminded me that there are many women who are looking for ways to give
back—that they have a hunger but have not had that a-ha moment. Connie’s moments
came to her. For others we need to find our moments. A first step for some of
us might be purchasing a basket that helps a woman across the world build her
business; for others the first step might be donating an item that can be sold
to raise money for a non-profit. For still others of us, our children might open
the doors for us or a friend might prod us on to a new venture. I hope that
Connie’s story has helped you think about opening that door to help someone who
stands in front of you.
To learn more about Connie and her non-profit efforts please visit http://www.trading4treasures.com; to learn more about Macy’s efforts to support Rwandan products please visit http://www.macys.com/rwanda.
Beth Parish is working on her doctorate, researching the impact of social mission on consumer purchase behavior.
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