Page 50 - The Digital Cloth holiday issue
P. 50

Chloe Barton introduces us to Dada Duka





                                                                                                                             Firstly I think what is incredibly important to            there at the end of this year and I hope to find
                                                                                                                             myself as a small business is working alongside            that more ladies that have joined the groups.
                                                                                                                             the weaving groups in Kenya, is the importance             I also have a lady called Florence who lives in
                                                                                                                             of mobile phones and the positive impact of                Nanyuki who makes all my wonderful beaded

                                                                                                                             WhatsApp to enable this trade to happen between            jewellery. She also has a mobile and she sends
                                                                                                                             us.                                                        me photographs regularly via WhatsApp and I
                                                                                                                             I pay my ladies into their mobile phone wallet             pay her directly.
                                                                                                                             which is called Mpesa (M for mobile and pesa for
                                                                                                                             money in Swahili)                                          I have a supplier called Lore in Tsavo
                                                                                                                             A decade ago or so there would be no trade                 (SE Kenya) she runs many women’s
                                                                                                                             between us.  Both my weaving groups have a head            cooperatives and has lived and worked in
                                                                                                                             weaver (Juliet in Machakos and Lydia in Meru)  I           Kenya for years with her husband Robert
                                                                                                                             send her all the money and she distributes it out          who terribly sadly and very tragically died
                                                                                                                             to the other ladies in cash form or its transferred        last year in a small aircraft. He was a pioneer
                                                                                                                             from mobile to mobile. There are shops and                 of working with the wildlife, community and

                                                                                                                             corrugated tin huts all over Kenya called safari.          the environment in perfect harmony. His wife
                                                                                                                             com where they cash it in.                                 Lore still works and lives with her two little
                                                                                                                             Juliet calls it  “a merry go round” which is money         girls and continues with the incredible basket
                                                                                                                             in the pot which is distributed around the group           weavers to keep up his legacy. His company is
                                                                                                                             but given to one person at the beginning. Quoted           called WildLifeWorks.
                                                                                                                             by Juliet.


                                                                                                                             I now have 50 ladies weaving just for DD.
                                                                                                                             (Meru and Machakos) but unfortunately, I did

                                                                                                                             not go to Kenya in January as planned as my big
                                                                                                                             brother Matthew was in ICU for three months
                                                                                                                             after multiple brain surgeries.
                                                                                                                             I normally go just after Christmas. I hope to go


















                                                                                                                                                                                        I stayed with her last January 2018 and spent
                                                                                                                                                                                        time visiting her groups there. She now has
                                                                                                                                                                                        600 ladies supplying her with baskets which
                                                                                                                                                                                        she distributes all over the world. In order to
                                                                                                                                                                                        become this successful you would have to live
                                                                                                                                                                                        in the country to control and manage the

                                                                                                                                                                                        basket growth and exports.
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