We
are a small arts-based company in Northern BC, located in Sinclair Mills on the Upper Fraser River.
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We have developed a collaborative partnership with SPB UNI Commerz Ltd. based in Ghana, |
| and Adepa (http://www.adepa-em.de) based in Germany, importing African artifacts in support of mainly rural artisans, |
many of them women. |
Thereby empowering the artisans to more fully sustain themselves and facilitate their families' health
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| while remaining within their support system, their rural familiar community. |
The alternative for rural
people
is to migrate to the cities, in Ghana that mainly means the capital, Accra,
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which suffers
from
air and water pollution, open sewers, traffic jams and massive
overcrowding. |
Also there is little or no protection from exploitation for vulnarable women and girls.
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|
SPB
UNI Commerz employs 12 Ghanaian people (5 in Accra, 1 in Kumasi and 6
in
Bolgatanga) who work
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directly with the rural communities in producing
and
distributing the goods. ADEPA distributes the artifacts |
in Europe. The
distribution
line is kept at a personal level, a comfort zone, rooted in established
trust relationships.
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| Bolga Baskets... Bolga Baskets... Bolga Baskets! |
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The
price we pay the artists for a Bolga Basket is a fair market value of $8.00 CAD. The average Ghanaian
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person coming from the rural communities into the city has to survive on
roughly $0.50 CAD per day. |
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We sell the baskets for $40.00 + GST/PST = $44.80 CAD or $45.00 CAD including all taxes.
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| Much
of that goes toward shipping costs. |
The
plan is to raise enough capital, eventually, to fill and import
a
container load of merchandise.
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|
Competition
in the global market place is fierce. We believe that small scale, community-to-community
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solutions can contribute, protect and elevate
the quality
of life, thereby facilitating a more sustainable lifestyle for all |
| involved. Thus all income goes towards paying for the cost of
developing and re-investing in the partnerships |
| and its artisans. |
|
As
for the durability of Bolga Baskets: we met a couple, in Smithers during the 2007
Midsummer Festival,
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who had lived in Ghana in the late 60's. They brought back Bolga
Baskets
and still use the same baskets daily... |
| to this day. |
I love to use mine for grocery shopping
as an alternative to plastic bags. I am a two-basket shopper. In the
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| stores or at the market, shopping with the basket is a bona-fied-attention-magnet that works equally well for both |
| sexes. |
Bolga Baskets are sexy!
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If
you happen to be looking for exotic, durable, and economically green gifts, we have just received
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our latest order of Bolga Baskets from Ghana. |
The baskets are part of the first shipment of our current festival seaon: June 2009.
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Created by Women's
Collectives in the Bolgatanga area of Northern Ghana, Bolga Baskets
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are made from local grasses,
decorated by natural
plant and mineral dyes, and adorned |
| with African goat skins used to reinforce the handles of the handwoven baskets. |
The
baskets
also are useful as overnight travel bags, storage for magazines, knitting etc.....
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Check
out the URL below for the new Bolga Basket catalogue.
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http://www.designbygranville.com/bolga_basket_album2/index.htm
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| In
Co-operation with and Promotion of Rural Artisans in Ghana. |
Peace
& Love.....Birgit & Granville
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