Page 51 - The Digital Cloth holiday issue
P. 51
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.
