Two Stops Past Siberia

Organic Dyes for Felt Handicrafts Training Course

After an extensive needs assessment last winter, my coworkers and I learned that the women of Naryn see organic dying techniques as a way to improve the crafts, their incomes, and hopefully, their lives. So, that’s what we’ve got going on.

After the initial meeting, I wrote up a plan to teach our women these skills. I networked with the Swiss funded Rural Advisory Service to conduct the training, and applied to the USAID funded Small Projects Assistance (SPA) program to fund the training.

Everything is going well, except for one detail. I planned five trainings, but SPA would only fund two. That’s where this request comes in. We’ve already been allotted some $1,200 from SPA, $200 from the UNDP, and the community is putting up $1,700. What we still need, however, to fund the remaining 3 trainings is $500. This money will go directly to expert trainer fees. It will allow us to train not just community leaders, who may or may not accurately re-teach the skills, but to train the artisans themselves.

That’s right, folks, at 20 women per training, and 3 days per training, this is $500 to teach 60 women organic dying methods over a total of 9 days. That, I’d say, is a lot of bang for your buck.

To pitch in, please go to this website. This donation is through the Peace Corps Partnership Program, and in exchange for heavy accountability and slow money disbursement, these donations are tax deductable!