Part of my internship here has included working at Green Creations several days a week. I have included the link to GC's website under Links on the sidebar but I wanted to take some time to let you know what this business is and how it impacts the community here.
Green Creations started about four years ago as an offshoot of the NGO World Associates. Women in the community needed to find jobs to support their families but because of lack of education their choices were stunted. The thought was: what if these women could find meaningful work that began a trickle down effect of community betterment? Thus, Green Creations was born. Through GC, the women receive artisan training that enables them to hone their natural artistic abilities to create products that they can be proud of. English lessons and finance training courses are also available for women who want them. To read the stories of the women of GC, go to the website and click on artisan bios. This will give you a brief insight into the life of each of the women who took a chance and found a way to provide for their families by doing something they love.
The first word of our slogan is recycle. Without many opportunities for recycling, the materials that are used in the shop are readily available and easily salvageable. Newspapers and magazines are collected and revamped. The pages are cut into specific sizes and shapes so that they can be tightly rolled into beads. The beads are varnished, not painted, and strung along with tiny colored beads to create color combinations based on the natural color of the paper. Magazine and newspaper pages are also folded and knitted together to create unique products like purses, baskets, coasters, clocks or Christmas ornaments.
Have you ever wondered where your donated t shirts go when Goodwill or Salvation Army doesn't want them? They end up in big warehouses over here; that's where we find our t shirts for the braided bracelets and scarves. The shirts along with aluminum pop cans, plastic water bottles and sea glass are cleaned and put into the hands of the artisans who hand them back as hardly recognizable fashionable creations. The second word in our slogan is exemplified here: design.
We sell our products locally in Souk by the Sea most of the year. During the summer months though, it gets too hot and the Souk shuts down until it cools off, usually around October. In the mean time, GC continues to sell its products at Souk Jara in Amman. Since Amman is farther north its summers are more temperate allowing the Souk to be open when tourists make their summer trips.
Shipping costs and regulations make it difficult to get our products to America but we do have reps in the states who sell our products at in-home parties and special events. To find out how to host a party or where we might be selling next, contact us on our website. We have also recently devised a new way to get products to your door. (This service is only available in the US for now, sorry if you're an international friend.) As of August 1st this year, GC launched its subscription envelope service. This service allows you to register to receive GC creations in the mail for one, three or six months at a time. In addition to choosing the length of your subscription, you also have the option to pay a little extra for an Artisan Envelope. These envelopes contain the same products as normal subscriptions but the extra cost goes directly to new artistic, financial and English training for the artisans GC employs. As a bonus, Artisan Envelopes will contain special cards with a short bio about one of the women that your sponsorship is going to help. If you would like to sign up, use the coupon code MCFALL to get a $2 discount off of each month of a multi month subscription. This code is good until September 21st. It can be used more than once but is only available to the first 20 people who redeem it. Follow us on twitter, facebook and instagram to keep up with all the latest GC news and products.
I will continue to include the link to Green Creations website in my sidebar but I will post it at the end of this entry as well. The multiple ways that GC works to better its community make it a worth while investment. If I sound a little bias that's because I am. I have seen the joy of the women at work and the pride they show when someone is interested in their crafts. They have proven that they are "strong women" by going out and finding honorable work. This is where I believe the final word in our slogan comes from: inspire.
recycle. design. inspire
