“I am not the only one in this predicament; nearly 80% of Zimbabweans are without jobs. The majority of those unemployed are women, who as you may know bear the brunt of poverty in most of sub-Saharan Africa.”
-Siphiwe
“My work with Zimbags goes a long way in helping out with many things like my medication and buying clothes, food and paying school fees for my grandchildren."
-Alice
“I stopped going to school at the seventh grade because there was no high school anywhere near my home.”
-Caroline
“I am diabetic and for me to live from day to day I need to have the diabetes pills. They cost a lot of money and more than half of the money I make each month is used on the pills.”
-Nomvula
“I take care of my sister’s two children…. I am going through the process of adopting them as my own then having my name on their birth certificates as their mother. The people who do this are demanding a lot of money to get it done and the money I get from this business will help me to help my sister’s children a lot.”
-Ntando
Thanks so much for visiting us here at Zimbags - just knowing that you're reading this and that you're probably perusing the rest of our site is a great encouragement. When Meg and I started Zimbags we had dreams of empowering women and families through income generation projects, and of spreading the word about what's going on in Zimbabwe throughout our communities and country. You, now, are a part of making those dreams a reality. So, Thanks!
A quick word about me, and how this came to be...
Back in 2006 I was working for a lovely organization called BeadforLife, that is successfully working to empower Ugandan women, when a dear friend returned to the States after a stint doing activist work in Zimbabwe. Heartbroken, she shared stories of the poverty, oppression, illness, etc. that she had witnessed, and asked if I could do something to help. Having been involved in development projects with World Vision, Women of Vision, and now BeadforLife I was sure that we could conjure up some way to partner with communities in Zimbabwe and make a difference. Sooo...long-time partner-in-crime Meg and I put our heads together and whalah! Zimbags was born.
Currently, I'm Zimbagging from the beautiful Kirkland, Washington with my very empowered little girl and our hopelessly crazy dog. We're all "why not?!" kind of folks..."Why not build a fort in the hall closet and call it The Dark Place?" -The Little One. "Why not hurl myself through the sliding door at the unsuspecting squirrel outside?" - The Dog. "Why not start a 501(c)(3) from scratch to empower women on the other side of the world?" - Me.
"Why not?"
Hello, thanks for wanting to know more about what we do. Your support is appreciated. Here are the basics about me: I have a degree in English and am currently working on my Masters in Fine Arts in Creative Writing at Pacific Lutheran University. I live in Auburn, Washington with my husband Ryan and our lovely puppies Telfair and Apollonia and crazy cat Turtle.
I am in love with words and art and people. Zimbags is perfect mix of all of these. Sharing stories, art, and getting to know people here in the US as well as half a world away in Zimbabwe. I could go on and on about how beautiful the art is and how strong and wonderful the women artists are, but I will let you find out for yourself... check out their work in our webstore and stay up to date with Zimbags' goings-on on our Zimblog.
And feel free to drop me a note at any time (mtm@zimbags.org), I would love to talk to you about our work. Thanks for stopping by....
