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38 I WAthl ( K J( "HUNlClji ' Wednesday Aprll It. 1009 . O B U Business Profile , 1}..st Biscoiier the work at Indian artisans V s ‘ Ten Thousand Villages in uptown gious backgrounds to make embroidered Waterloo is featuring hand-embroidered napkins. tablecloths and more. products from India. The women. who are Muslim. Hindu HAV E YOU BE E N Though India‘s slums have been the and Christian. work together in harmony. topic of much discussion lately. many (‘hoconta learned a valuable lesson when times in these talks only the negative side she visited the farsility. , is portrayed "All the women were chatting and ‘ And while it’s important to realize the laughing. They were talking about the 2 hardships that many people in India face. usual things ~ weddings. their children." . ‘- the embroidery at Ten ThoUsand Villages the store manager said. "I just realized all : tells a positive story. said store manager women are similar. no matter where they Isabel Choconta. are from!" i1 The store. located at 80 King Street S in St. Mary's is located in the province of ”(37". uptown Waterloo. specializes in fair trade Gujurat’s biggest city. Ahmedabad. The *5 products made by artisans from developing city is home to 43.000 landless slum bull festyle blogspol Com 2 nations all over the world. dwellers. " From rugs to coffee and chocolate. Ten This area of Ahmedabad. once known Thousand Villages has a wide selection of for its textile mills. suffered much unem- 1 7 products from the far reaches of the globe ployment since global competition closed ‘45 KWC‘ ST ;. L‘DTOWN WATERLOO 5‘ l ‘4 880 3334 ~‘ - including India. the mills in the l980s. It continues to _;‘ W‘Fff'ffi” ' Choconta and her colleagues traveled to attract landless laborers who come search- ‘-'t>a“:j_ ,,- w ' ' ' '7 " ' ' ' a. ~:. ; if: ‘ -* ‘ “.me the Asian nation to visit St. Mary's Mahila ing for work. Artisans of St. Mary's create H~,"-::‘;; .. I“ . 31311:". “5*" Shikshan Kendra. The facility employs mirrorwork embroidery in the tradition of . 1 f ' ' " WC' .raw hundreds of women from different rcli- the Kathiawadis. a craft more than a thou- . a - I 3”» a,“ ’ ~ sand years old. 41,: v. was“. I x:».~.:~ ~ . .. . ~55 as". ' . . . ’ g The embmidery utilizes tradi- I I s 5.. f 1' flag; "‘19 . .. 9 tional designs of elephants. pea- } ‘3... :a’VWaf 3 ':V.;:' 44:2”. 3 g. 713:3}. a - ‘ ~ ‘~ 1 cocks. flowers and ferns, The arti- ' ' “ (;.r‘.~:,.‘;-t>‘ . - . ‘ Ci!" \ sans of St. Mary’s share in deci< ~ [131' ’Qa.) \ sionâ€"making and project responsi- , , , .. ”to” 4’??? ‘~. bilities. St. Mary‘s markets 20 \ \ \ l \ I . , g ».. I Y fiéé-L: A“ ' percent of its products in India; ' ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ . .‘m‘ f . ’2 . $ I )M Lay the rest are sold abroad. The [(1 ( ‘ g \ l I“ a W“ ' 'f ' ' ‘ . fl‘ plan .. " 22¢" _ .2;er organization runs a dispensary I . . a . . f " ‘L - ‘â€" â€" a: .41“ " 3, §§y,_;L;“ and maternity clinic that caters to . I _ = ’ ’ i .' . ‘ ,4: , 1.5.5:: the poor and marginalized women \[H H l - \l.l\ _) . I : , .‘ //i h ’ E",‘-$i-T of the area around St. Mary's. It . . r. . ° ' 4‘; A.“ (X (if also runs health programs. a sav< g ' “' ‘ 1 ' ’ -7 "E‘étZ‘fif‘?’ :' ‘ ings program. sewing education . ’ ' ’1 .. » / ,, ’éfrfi‘fi'ze} ' and children's education pro- _ V“ _ . \ ‘ .. . . ._ « 7/4 »\‘j-C'r§;f‘3fe$ 9,!” grams. H g. ‘11:: 1. » " 2 “\3‘“ .1" In 1954 a group of Dominican * “' V ’ ‘ fl .â€" ‘Ps nuns started a hospital in Ahmed- ‘ “fl' abad. Since 1970. their embroi- Women working at St. Mary's embroidery in an defy program has provided Indian slum create beautiful work such 8 these employment for women of the M napkins. area. Since St. Mary's is known a premier bouthue Optlcal Store I . . ' . . Cha e r s K “he; - - gallery 11 n 1 z - 15’, ~-‘ f *f‘» -‘ ‘gr ‘ . ‘ ' , ' . . o f A h . RALPH LAUREN o I mud “Annmarie...“ Chan 1181‘ S _ mar Simeon mam-2mm Ito-Ulla." ll