We started Loyal in 2014 to offer alternative employment to women trapped in sexual slavery in Kolkata – as someone who has purchased products from us you have contributed valuably to this important mission.
Today, when we see the difference that dignified employment and a loving community has made in our 16 artisans’ lives, we are assured that we’re on the right track.
Still, there are plenty of women who want to experience freedom and we’re committed to seeing that change in our neighbourhood. We know you are too!
As you’re well aware, since 2020 the economic climate has changed significantly. Rising costs and inflation have meant that our profit margins have been significantly eroded.
Since we began the business 9 years ago, we haven't increased our prices. Today we're making some adjustments to reflect the present situation. This is not a decision we take lightly. It's a decision that will allow us to continue to grow the business so that we can employ more women.
We hope you understand the need to increase our prices and that you continue to support our important mission. Thank you for your continued support.
Buy Loyal, Fight Slavery!
Joel - Sales and Marketing Manager
]]>For #IWD 2023 we asked The Loyal Workshop artisans to share about the women in their lives who inspire them. Below are a handful of their responses. We’ll let them speak for themselves:
“Before, while working in the line, I used to see other ladies who would go to work early in the morning. I used to see them and think to myself that one day I also want to work like them. Now, I have slowly journeyed and reached here – I come to work in the morning and then go back home in the evening.”
- Kalpana
“I am inspired by the women that I am surrounded by here [in Bowbazar], particularly those who have grown up through really challenging circumstances, pain, and grief – women who have had to fight for their life. Seeing them, I am inspired. There is not just one individual that I will name because there are so many women like this here.”
- Mithu G
I really like that Aradhana educates us about our bodies and is teaching me reading and writing… I love [her] a lot! [She] never speaks badly to me, even if I make a mistake.”
- Namita
“I see my younger sister and I get a lot of confidence. She has faced a lot of challenges in life, but she has never given up. She is independent and I see that she tries to remain strong during challenging times. Seeing her life, I gain confidence that I could also be like her when hard days come… I am encouraged to keep going and to find solutions to my problems.”
- Jona
“I see Mithu from our office, and I want to learn from her. She talks so patiently with all of us. She sits and she listens. Whatever she does, she does it with her heart. Many times, even if she feels angry, she controls her anger and she doesn’t express it in front of everyone. She knows her work well and is a great trainer. I want to learn to work like her – in the same way that she behaves and interacts with people, I want to learn as well.”
- Kakali
“I am inspired by women who are educated. I really want to learn like them. I feel as though education makes one wise.”
- Nisa
“Sarah (TLW co-founder) came into my life and, since then, I have been able to learn so much. I was able to build a new life. If Sarah hadn’t have come into my life, then I wouldn’t have been able to learn so much, nor would I have had the opportunity to do so much with my life.”
- Balika
This #IWD, stop and think about the women who inspire you, educate you, challenge you, strengthen you, show you an alternative way, and forge a more equitable future. Our world is and will be infinitely better because of them. How will you join the fight?
]]>As I walked past, I overheard two women talking. One was visibly upset, saying to the other, “Amader jiboner daam nei.”
Translated this essentially means, “Our lives have no value.”
I kept walking, but her words were stuck running round my head over and over again. I really wanted to offer some kind of reassurance to her, but in that moment what could be said that wouldn’t first sound like a platitude or a token band-aid to a weeping wound? I didn’t agree, yet I could understand her. She, and those working alongside her, are exploited for a few rupees every single day and are then tossed aside. I regularly walk past at various times throughout the day and see customers approaching them. Sometimes I overhear these men whittling down the price of the service they are purchasing as if they are buying vegetables from the market. Explicit and incessant exposure to this communicates a very particular message about a human being’s perceived value.
In the Loyal office, there is a green folder which is stuffed full of papers. Each piece of paper represents a woman working in the red light area who has come into The Loyal Workshop seeking a job. These women often break down and cry as they share a small piece of their story and plead for help. They are desperate for an alternative way to provide for their families. The names of the individuals in this folder represent women who are have a desire to leave the exploitation that they experience in the sex trade. They come to our door because they have seen the gradual transformation that has occurred in the lives of the Loyal artisans who also once sat on plastic stools outside of brothels, waiting for customers to purchase their services.
Over my seven years here at Loyal, I have come to understand that many of the artisans who I call sisters and aunties would have also previously said similar things about their own lives feeling void of value. When I feel hopeless about the situations outside our doorstep, I think about what has happened in the lives of these courageous and resilient women inside the workshop. Here, we are intent on communicating that their lives have real value. They once felt trapped and unseen, but since coming to work here they have discovered their life does have value. In fact, it is something we physically turn in our seat and repeat to one another frequently as part of our office mantras. “My life has a lot of value. Your life has a lot of value. We love you.” They can work safely and creatively and with respect. There is a future for them and their children beyond exploitation.
The stinging reality of forging an alternative way in the red light area is that we can only offer employment to women choosing to leave the sex trade when the business is making a healthy profit. The profit we do make is not divided among shareholders nor is it put back in the pockets of the founders. Rather, The Loyal Workshop’s profit is reinvested into the business in order to create jobs for the women whose names fill our green folder. That is what we mean when we say, “Buy Loyal. Fight Slavery.” It’s not just a catchy phrase. It is a genuine invitation into transforming the neighbourhood.
One day, I hope to see those two women no longer sitting outside on plastic stools waiting for customers to come and abuse them. Instead, I hope for the day that I get to see them working alongside me making beautiful products. I long for the day they repeat and believe the mantra, “My life has a lot of value. Your life has a lot of value. We love you.”
Buy Loyal. Fight Slavery. Click here to purchase!
Joel
]]>For over 5 years, The Loyal Workshop has had two designers corresponding across the oceans. One in Motueka, New Zealand and the other in Sydney, Australia.
Andriano (Andy) and Russell (Rusty) have been the geniuses behind the last 5 products we call the Activist range (Rosa, Oscar, Dorothy, Laptop Sleeves and a Key Fob coming soon!).
Andy is a creative mastermind. His creative scope seems like it has no end, yet he can reign in that wild imagination and work within the tight constraints we face in Kolkata. Andy has been part of the Loyal family from the very beginning. He created our branding, logos, and our first website. A total legend. Find him here!
The Loyal Workshop gives Andy a design brief and from that he produces concepts and initial sketches on Adobe Illustrator with specs for Rusty to convert into laser cutter files.
Russell is one of those rare humans who can make anything. If you can think it, he can make it. He builds the product design files with a combination of KeyShot and Adobe Illustrator. He’s also been using Solidworks to develop a custom made hardware which we’ll be using on our upcoming Key Fob. While being super talented, Russell also happens to be an incredibly nice guy. I know, some people are just too much!
The Loyal Workshop receives the cutting files from Rusty and converts the files to our CAD program that drives our laser cutters. Our laser cutter technician, Tapas, completes the first prototype with cardboard. From that, we check if it matches up and fits together. Every single stitch hole is cut, counted, and paired with its corresponding piece to match perfectly. From this cardboard sample we can give feedback to Rusty and Andy about any issues that can be seen.
Once early issues are resolved, our production manager, Mithu, selects some rough low quality leather and from that cuts the first leather prototype. That’s when we start getting really excited! Again, the various leather pieces are paired, holes are counted and if everything looks right the leather parts go to our master stitcher, another Mithu, for the first prototype to be made.
Sometimes these first samples are almost perfect but more often than not some editing is necessary. Stitching holes need aligning, the design needs scaling or something just doesn’t quite work. Back to the team in the Southern Hemisphere. Andy and Rusty put their long distance digital heads together and problem solve the challenges and create new files for The Loyal Workshop to cut. This back and forth can go on for months, add lockdowns into the mix, and it can stretch out for over a year!
Throughout the struggle, Rusty and Andy have shown incredible resilience and extraordinary patience. Their creativity, skill and commitment have created beautiful, artisan quality products which we’re truly proud of. Their work is an important part of our fight for freedom and the healing journey for our women.
As our new designer Erika settles in Kolkata and begins to bring her own flavour and touch to the process, we want to honour and thank these two legends, Russell and Andy, for all the hard work they’ve poured into The Loyal Workshop. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you. Not that they’re going anywhere, they continue to be part of the Loyal family as they offer their support and expertise. Once Loyal family, always Loyal family.
- Paul
A personal note from both of them;
"Having being part of the Loyal story from the word go has been a special journey indeed. From the early days crafting the logo, the first website & finally culminating in a product range with a clear design language is worth a mention. Most of all it's the friends who are now family that we have made along the way that we treasure most. A big shout out to Russel in particular who has poured in hours in refinements behind the scenes that ensures every piece from the activist range remains true to TLW values." – Andriano
"Design has been an interesting intersection for me. When it comes to ‘products that make a difference’, usually the designer and the end user are quite far removed from each other. There’s little interaction between the two. That’s what’s made Loyal special. During my trip to Kolkata in 2016, I was able to meet the women who stitched the products, and see the impact firsthand that Loyal has made in their lives. This, paired with meeting kind-hearted, talented people who have now become my Loyal family, such as Andy, Paul, and Sarah, have been an absolute highlight." – Russell
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Our new leather laptop sleeves come in four different sizes based on the Macbook Pro Laptop size it has been designed for. These are 13 inches, 14 inches, 15 inches and 16 inches respectively.
The following measurements are a "perfect/snug" fit for the corresponding sleeve size based on the laptop size itself.
Please check the size of your laptop in comparison to these measurements to see which sleeve size your laptop will fit into. If it's smaller, the laptop sleeve will be a bit roomier. If it's bigger, you might need to go a size up.
13 inch sleeve: 304mm x 212mm x 13.5mm
14 inch sleeve: 312.65mm x 221.2mm x 15.5mm
15 inch sleeve: 349.3mm x 240.7mm x 15.5mm
16 inch sleeve: 355.7mm x 248.1mm x 16.8mm
Hot tip! Save yourself the hassle of pulling out a ruler and simply Google your laptop's make and model number, along with what year it was produced to find its dimensions.
After you have double checked your laptops size and are confident it will fit, head here to purchase your new laptop sleeve.
Buy Loyal, Fight Slavery!
]]>On the 14th of May 2022 we celebrated 8 years of the Loyal Workshop.
Can you believe it?!
We spent the day in an air-conditioned hall playing party games, eating sooo much food, performing dances and skits we had prepared. As always though, the best part of the day was reflecting on where we have come in the past 8 years. Some of our artisans gave inspiring speeches and shared the transformation that they have experienced in their time working alongside each other.
]]>
Joel: Can you tell me a little bit about yourself ?
Erika: I’ll give you a short answer! My name is Erika Hegenberg. I’m a product designer from Brazil.
Joel: Which part of Brazil are you from?
Erika: The South, where there is a peculiar mix of cultures!
Joel: How long have you been designing for and what’s your favourite aspect of design?
Erika: I have been working as a professional designer for over ten years and have done many different things over this time. I believe these experiences have made me a "swiss army knife" type of professional. I love design! Two aspects especially: One of them is process and the other one is people. Design is a way of thinking, a process of solving a problem or creating something. As a product designer, I like to think about from where materials are sourced, how it's transformed into something else (the production processes), and what happens with production waste or the product after use. All of those processes involve people, relationships between people and the planet. Design impacts nature and communities, right from the choice of materials and means of production. I have a special interest in manual processes, as they tell the these stories of materials being transformed by people in a more direct way.
I also think good design has to be good for everyone. Good for people and good for the planet. Good for people making it. Good for people using it. Good for the planet both before and after it is manufactured.
Joel: You have lived in India before, working with another freedom business and now you have chosen to come back to work at Loyal. Why did you choose to come back to Loyal?
Erika: I have known Sarah and Paul (Loyal’s founders) since 2012 when I first came to India. At that time, I was working in another freedom business and Paul and Sarah were starting Loyal - developing the business and thinking about the products etc. We got along really well from then and always stayed in touch. I came to visit Loyal many times over the years I was here and I really like what they’ve created. Last year I was back in Brazil and Sarah invited me to join the team. They felt like it was good timing to have a designer working here on the ground. I felt honoured by the invitation! Loyal is a very special business, as it is not just about creating jobs, but transforming lives while transforming leather into beautiful products. At Loyal it's immediately noticeable that all this happens through genuine relationships, and I am excited to join this team, learn about this business model and culture, and hopefully contribute to it's growth!
Joel: What are your plans around work and design for the next few months?
Erika: I see a lot of potential for Loyal to develop more products, expand, improve and add new things to the product portfolio. So much can be developed with leather! I’m looking forward to getting my hands into work but it’s important to have a learning phase, so I am learning more of the language which is very important to daily work and life. I am also learning how the current products are made. Learning from the artisans - the ladies themselves. I’m doing this so I know how things work and where the space is to bring new things and suggest new changes.
Joel: How are you learning from the women?
Erika: I suggested that I would do the training just like they did. The women are teaching me in the same way that they learnt. So they are my teachers now, and I'm the trainee. I have my own tool pouch and drawer and I sit with them every day and learn from them.
Joel: What are some things you enjoy about India?
Erika: I used to say that India is incredibly hard but it’s incredible. The people are amazing, the culture is so rich and there’s so much beauty here. I like the challenge of learning to recognise the beauty that people create in this culture, often hidden in the craziness of this city.
Joel: What do you like to do in your spare time when you aren’t designing something?
Erika: I love cooking, music and photography. I'm Looking forward to practicing and learning more here in Kolkata!
Mira – "I’m a single mum with two kids. I previously didn’t have the courage, knowledge or strength to do the best for my kids’ education and lives because I felt alone. Society had worn me down and kept me there. I joined The Loyal Workshop and have become braver and learnt lots of things. As a result, I can now I can do many more things to help my kids out."
Juni – "Women want to get to a better place in society but in many places they aren’t able to. Society doesn’t want us to rise up. Society tells women, “Be domesticated and submissive. Don’t try to be independent like a man.” Here at the workshop we have a different philosophy. We are all equal. We are like a family. We are brothers and sisters. I like that a lot. This gives me the courage to imagine a different way.
Women can help one another when we stand beside each other and offer encouragement. When my neighbour gets abused, I stand beside her and tell her I am with her. We want respect from society and be able to contribute to the family through our work both inside and outside the home. I am teaching my son to help out at home and realise that it’s not just women who should do household chores. If I’m making rice I ask him to cook the vegetables and lentils. If he has a big pile of clothes to be washed, I tell him we will wash it together. It’s through this that I want to teach him equality."
#wfto#sheleadstheway #breakthebias
]]>Why are we leaving?
It feels like the right time for us as a family. When we were recently in NZ, our kids (11 and 13) put down roots for the first time. They now feel a deep connection to the land and people of Aotearoa and long to return.
My mental health has been good. However, Paul and I have an
accumulated tiredness from working in an intense and foreign
environment. All human beings have limits. And we sense that we
are reaching ours. Leaving before we hit our limits, allows us to
finish well and come home healthy.
It also feels like the right time for the business. Covid forced us into a position that we never would have chosen, where the local team ended up running the workshop for 6 months, without any foreigners on the ground. And they nailed it! This is the direction we want to keep heading. Empowering the local team, while the foreigners become more periphery. For that to happen, we feel that we need to get out of the way. Our dream has always been local leadership and local ownership with foreign partnership alongside. Now, more than ever, it feels as though our dreams are almost touching reality.
In May we founded a succession planning team of 9 individuals (4 Indians and 5 Kiwis) who have committed to meeting quarterly for the next 3 years, to help Loyal navigate the changes ahead. Together, we've created a solid succession plan which we feel excited and hopeful about. Our 5 key goals for the next 3 years
are below.
Loyal's 3-year succession goals:
1. Transfer ownership from MPIL (NZ company) to employees.
2. New local General Manager will succeed from Paul and Sarah.
3. Conduct assessment of systems and leadership structures.
4. Establish new Board of Directors consisting of wise local people.
5. Establish a Loyal trust to help carry out social work activities.
What comes next for Paul and I? We are not sure yet. We will work for Loyal part time for the next few years, as we support the team through this change process. Once international travel has opened up, we will continue to make trips back to check in on our beloved Loyal family.
To all the donors, customers, pray-ers and cheerleaders…It has taken a team of thousands to raise this business and we raise a glass to each and every one of you!
]]>It’s sticky and uncomfortable but we’re both smiling. We’re having a great time. The van we’ve borrowed has 500 kg of food parcels in the back. This is the last of the 3,750 kg of food that has been distributed by our staff and their neighbours. Dropping off the much needed help is a buzz but we aren't the only ones smiling. At each stop we are greeted by friendly, thankful smiles.
This second wave of Covid 19 has been brutal. The numbers of infections and deaths were absolutely staggering. The inevitable second lockdown didn’t come as a surprise but definitely wasn’t met with enthusiasm. Isolation, boredom, depression, and family conflicts arise in close quarters as the days drag on and on. Once again though, we’ve witnessed the inspiring resilience of the Indian people. Their ability to deal with enormous challenges is incredible.
Our response to the crisis has been multi-faceted. Through a strong business position we’re still able to support all our staff with their full wages. On top of the food aid, we’ve also been able to help distribute masks, hand sanitiser, arrange testing, and get all our staff and their families vaccinated with their first shots.
Thankfully now the lockdown is lifting. Slowly we’re getting back to work. Transport is still limited so not all our staff can come everyday but at least the stitching needles have been picked up and beautiful leather goods are being made once again.
There’s still a strong presence of Covid in India and in our neighbourhoods. The fight goes on. Some experts are already talking of a third wave, coming sooner rather than later. I’m hoping they're wrong.
Thank you so much for your support. Thank you for your patience in these disrupted times. And thank you for purchasing The Loyal Workshop products and helping make this special Loyal family possible.
Paul
]]>For the large part of 2020, all of the Loyal foreign crew were based in New Zealand. The Beislys were continuing their sabbatical, the Hughes family returned in January for some scheduled time back home, and then after the pandemic hit, Joel and Lizzie made the tough decision to temporarily return to New Zealand. For the first time in The Loyal Workshop history, no foregin team members were in Kolkata for three quarters of the year. We were challenged to navigate new rhythms (and time-zones!) of work and juggle the mystery of when we might be able to return to the neighbourhood, workshop and people we love. Talk about some crazy times! Our local staff faced lockdown and a closed workshop for four months of the year too, and then in returning to work, they have proudly risen to the opportunity of increased leadership and ownership over the business. If anything, we hope that in our absence, both the Loyal artisans and support staff have a more solid grasp on understanding that Loyal is their business. Like we mentioned earlier, they have been legends – showing collective resilience, resourcefulness and responsibility through a time that none of us foresaw!
Well, we’ve known Wills and Indigo, the founders of The Paper Rain Project, for a while now. In fact, The Paper Rain Project was the very first brick and mortar retailer to stock our products way back in 2014, so our relationship dates back to Loyal’s early, early days.
In short, we love the way these guys run their business. Wills and Indigo seek to know each and every detail behind the supply chain of the products they sell. They run their enterprise with transparency and seek to do the best for both people and the planet. The products they sell are not only ethically made but are incredibly cool too – what’s more awesome than long boards painted by local artists and lovingly crafted from recycled wine barrels?! Not much!
Our relationship with The Paper Rain Project is so much more than your average supplier-retailer partnership. Both Wills and Indigo made the trip over from Picton, New Zealand to visit us at our workshop in Kolkata back in 2018. They wanted to come visit us because of our friendship and also because they’re interested in knowing for themselves the ‘how’ and ‘who’ behind the items that they promote and sell. During that visit Wills and Indigo drank delicious cups of cha with us, saw our products being laser-cut and hand-stitched, and they even spent time celebrating International Women’s Day with our artisans.
When Covid-19 hit globally and the both the physical and economic effects of the virus were becoming apparent, we (Joel and Sarah from The Loyal Workshop) put our heads together to discuss what we could do to help both our neighbourhood in Kolkata and the retailers around the world who stock our products. With our workshop being locked down for four months, we soon realised that our plans to release new leather products in 2020 would have to be put on hold. Understandably, focusing on the wellbeing of the Loyal artisans and their neighbourhoods became a priority during this time, as well as partnering with retailers in some small, extra-way to ensure they could continue trading.
We decided to partner with The Paper Rain Project to ensure that our Loyal supporters would have something tangible and beautiful to purchase this year in-lieu of no new product releases. The Stay True t-shirt was designed by Matthew Watson and Jacob Bang who were given a brief to design “the most Kolkata-y t-shirt possible!” We knew this shirt would help support the city in a small way and so wanted to tell some of its story in the design. If you know then you know… Anyone who has had the privilege of visiting Kolkata may recognise the yellow taxi, the pot of rosogolla mishti, or the portrait of Mother Teresa.
We are stoked that $10 from each Stay True t-shirt sale will go towards the Covid Relief Fund we have been operating for our community in Kolkata. The rest of the profits will go to The Paper Rain Project, local retailers doing the best they can to support initiatives like ours and push for a more just and ethical marketplace. We reckon these are two pretty cool ways to spend your money this Christmas!
]]>During your lockdown, many of you joined the ‘Run 5km for Loyal’, to support some of the most vulnerable people in this COVID-19 crisis. Together we were able to raise over NZ$31,000 for Bowbazar, The Loyal Workshop’s neighbourhood in Kolkata, India. Hundreds of people’s lives have been impacted by your efforts and generosity. Wow, all that from the confines of your bubble! Well done team!
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” – Margaret Mead
Thank you
Thank you for partnering with us. We deeply appreciate how you backed our crazy little idea of a virtual 5km run/walk. Our employees have expressed many times over, both their gratitude, and the gratitude of their neighbours. Thank-you for caring enough to get off your couch, dust off your runners, open up your wallets and your hearts to support the Loyal Workshop’s neighbourhood in their hour of need.
How’s India at the moment?
The struggle continues in India, as COVID-19 rips through this volatile, under-resourced nation. Even as India begins to open up, daily cases are still on the rise. But thanks to you, support is also on the rise.
The Loyal Workshop remains closed, as Kolkata is still under lockdown (to be reviewed on the 31st of July ). But our artisans have been doing work of a different kind. They have laid down their leather, needle and thread, and have hoisted up 25kg bags of food to their neighbours in need.
Here’s what’s been happening with the money you raised….
Our employees distribute 150 food parcels
Our employees asked us to organize dry rations for their desperate neighbours. We purchased NZ$5,100 of dry rations and The Loyal Workshop staff distributed the parcels.
To find out more about how we tried to create a more empowering, neighbour helping neighbour approach, read our earlier blog here: https://www.theloyalworkshop.com/we-came-we-ran-now-what/
We were so impressed by our employee’s bravery and commitment to their neighbours.
Here are some photos of the hefty 3750kg operation.
Mask Distribution
Our friends at Freeset, have made over 20,000 masks to distribute in their neighbourhood. They kindly made 1000 masks for our community too and we donated $2000 for their work. So far we’ve distributed 500 masks in the Bowbazar Red Light Area.
Sanlaap Distributes 180 Parcels
SANLAAP is a wonderful Indian NGO, founded in 1987 to support trafficked and prostituted women in the Red Light Areas of Kolkata. They were hoping to provide dry rations (rice, lentils etc) to 180 Bowbazar families in need. Your donations made their dream a reality. We were able to donate the full amount needed of $6700. To learn more about SANLAAP, check them out here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanlaap or here: http://sanlaap.org/
What else is in the pipeline?
Post Cyclone Amphan support: Many people’s homes were damaged on the 20th May, as Kolkata’s worst ever cyclone ripped through the city. With the rainy season upon them, and with many roofs still damaged, we are looking at how we can best support the community. We are considering distributing tarpaulins and/or further dry rations.
We’re also considering manufacturing hand sanitizer and starting women’s self-help groups. We will keep you posted on how things unfold, as we listen to the community talk about their needs.
Want to do more?
Support Loyal? As we look to open the workshop soon, the best way to support our artisans now, is to purchase one of our products. https://www.theloyalworkshop.com/store-selling-ethical-leather-goods/ Thank you.
Donating?
Donations for the 5km for Loyal have now closed. If you want to donate to support vulnerable women and families in India during this COVID-19 crisis, please consider donating to SANLAAP (email Sarah for more information: sarah@theloyalworkshop.com). Alternatively, you could donate to World Vision’s COVID-19 emergency relief. https://www.worldvision.org.nz/causes/emergency-relief/covid-19-pandemic-crisis
]]>It feels strange to be living and breathing in these unprecedented times. It feels strange to be in New Zealand for the foreseeable future, as we hear news of how deeply this crisis is impacting our employees, our neighbours, and all of India.
We felt powerless. And to be honest, we are reasonably powerless.
Even so, we wanted to act in a small way, to support the marginalized of the Red-Light Areas of Kolkata. We thought that you might want to help too. They may be isolated, but they are not forgotten. We bear witness to the hunger and injustices they face.
So we created the virtual 5km event ‘Run 5km for Loyal’. Your response was absolutely staggering!
491 people walked or ran the 5km. 161 people donated. Together we raised NZD$30,836.
Thank you for joining hands with us, as we stand in solidarity with these precious people. You have buoyed us up and galvanized us to action.
How are we going to spend your donations? We are humbled that you have entrusted us with this task and now we aim to provide 100% transparency to you, our loyal supporters.
As this crisis will have a long-term impact, we hope these funds will provide at least one year of support to help our community get back on its feet. This is just our first step.
Step One: Employees distributing dry rations. Cost: NZ$5277
While the workshop is closed, we can pay our employees at 100%, which is great! But right now they are almost the only people in their communities earning an income. Government aid is not reaching the Red-Light Areas. Our employees are concerned about their neighbours starving.
We wanted to put the power in our employee’s hands, to help their neighbours. Why? Because they care and they know who needs help the most.
Here is how the neighbourhood pay it forward food ration scheme works:
1. Any Loyal employee who chooses, can sign up to distribute dry rations in their neighborhood, by forming a community of 3 with their neighbours.
2. These 3 committee members receive a ration pack each, plus 6 more ration packs.
3. They then decide together, ‘which other 3 families in our neighbourhood needs food most right now?’ Then they deliver to those 3 families.
4. Then together all 6 families decide who the next 3 ration packs go to.
5. If the employee wishes, they can apply for another 9 ration packs and start this process again.
This method distributes the responsibility, the decision-making and the power into the hands of the community. When neighbours help each other, everyone wins.
As a start, we have ordered 150 ration packs. Each pack contains 10kg of rice, 5kg of flour, 3kg of lentils, 3 litres of cooking oil, 1kg of salt, 2kg of sugar, 1kg of soya bean chunks and a packet of chilli and turmeric powder. The cost per parcel is NZ $35.
We are thankful to be partnering with World Vision India for this project.
For more details on this, feel free to email me at sarah@theloyalworkshop.com
From the bottom of my heart, thank-you for being a beautiful and essential part of our Loyal team. I appreciate you.
Kia kaha (stay strong),
Sarah
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I was born the day before International Women’s Day twenty seven years ago. I like to think I fought my way out of my mother’s womb because I was eager to join the chorus of voices, some in screams and others through song, who celebrate women in all their diversity and who understand that action for accelerating gender equality is still acutely needed. Be this actually true or not (honestly, I was much more concerned about feeding and sleeping!), it has carried me to where I am today. Living on the fringe of one of Kolkata’s red light areas is causing me to learn from sisters, friends and aunties alike what it means to really dream of a world liberated through gender equality. With fibres of romanticism about this fight slowly having made an exodus from my rhetoric, I still wouldn’t choose to be anywhere else.
I consider it a profound privilege to be part of the crew at The Loyal Workshop. It is an incessantly humble reminder that in the words of Lilla Watson, an Indigenous Australian artist and activist, ‘trying to help’ is a waste of time if we don’t understand that our liberation is intimately connected with those who we seek to stand in solidarity with. Liberation from the systems and people and messages that oppress can only flourish if we appreciate our own mix of vulnerability, pain, and bravery as well as our neighbour’s, and choose to continue showing up to fight together anyway. Our yearning and fighting for gender equality, women’s stories of suffering, and our moments of championing are indeed more intimately connected than we can know. What my relationships at the workshop have taught me is that dreaming about a world where gender equality exists means first welcoming a simple sense of needing and choosing one another. Genuine mutuality is always an equalizer.
This year’s International Women’s Day theme is Each for Equal. It champions the notion that collectively, all of us can help create a gender equal world. One where the women in our neighbourhood don’t have to live in fear of reporting domestic violence to the police for anxiety of being told it’s their fault. Where access to information and care for women’s health issues isn’t percieved as shameful. Where women aren’t ruthlessly held to traditional gender roles by threats from partners, family members and neighbours. Where girls have the same access and inspiration to receive an education as boys. Where the character of unmarried women is not questioned or second-guessed. Where girls are not trafficked or commodified, and women are not forced to sell their bodies for the demands of male customers. Honestly, somedays the list almost seems inexhaustible. At Loyal, we move in a neighbourhood where the lives of women are gut-wrenchingly frought with this type of inequality, gender-based discrimination and violence, and systemic injustice. Having seen their extraordinary resilience, courage and resolve, I have concluded that I can only stand in awe of what they carry, rather than judgement of how they carry it. Maybe it is this posture which has taught me that fighting for a gender equal world means acknowledging those who bear the weight of much inequality, rather than insulating ourselves from them. Insulating is easy when the fight for gender equality isn’t perceived as personal. However, acknowledging one another’s struggle moves us towards liberation.
Indian author, Arundhati Roy, said it straight when she stated, “There’s really no such thing as the ‘voiceless’. There are only the deliberately silenced or the preferably unheard.” The women who surround me daily are individuals with strong opinions and stories from their lives, with questions and answers about the world, with experiences ranging from dignifying to distressing, with nuggets of gold that we miss if we don’t turn an ear.
One Loyal artisan who is passionate about seeing her daughter flourish in a world different to the one she grew up in, recently voiced, “Where people said there is no way, I am opening a way for my daughter. Although there is no rest in my body, the struggle is worth it because through struggling so hard I am now seeing my daughter happy and transformed. Even a little of that brings me a lot of happiness.” In the year gone, another artisan boldly stated, “Women often suffer at the hands of another… This change has to start with us.” Another passionately and frequently says, “If we spread the word to one woman at a time, then more women will be able to gain freedom… If we share about freedom opportunities in this way, looking to help each other, then lots of women will gain the opportunity for freedom.” I am reminded regularly in conversation with them that making steps toward gender equality and liberation necessitates the simple and sacred act of listening, most especially to the voices of women from the margins.
Harriet Tubman, the American abolitionist who was born into slavery, escaped and subsequently lived to free others, once said, “I prayed to God to make me strong and able to fight, and that’s what I’ve always prayed for ever since.” And so, may we be strong as we stand and fight for #EachforEqual. Moreover, may our fight be informed by our need for each other, may it be held by our awe of women who carry much, and may it be shaped by listening to the voices of women from the margins. May you choose to join the chorus of voices and may you choose to not be anywhere else.
]]>It is 9am and I’m sitting in the office of the workshop, tucked away in the lanes of Bowbazar. It is humid today, with monsoon rains likely to fall later. The damp air holds the scents of cooking spices, jasmine flower garlands used for prayer rituals, and the smell of cheap spirits distilled next door. Through the window’s open shutters I can see people walking past. A general store sells daily groceries through an opening a couple of meters across the lane. A woman and young child are feeding meat scraps to eight cats in the narrow alley between buildings. There is a man bathing at the tap in the lane, which the only water source for most of the surrounding buildings. Around the corner is a tea stall where people perch on wooden benches or stand to chat and sip the sweet, milky drink. As the day goes on, women will wash their dishes and clothes at the tap, groups of men will sit together to play cards close by, and children will start games of cricket in the alley.
A little further up the lane, some women bring plastic chairs outside to sit on. Their clothes, their makeup, and their posture suggests to me that they are working in the adjacent red light area. I greet the familiar women that I pass as I arrive at and leave from work each day, and they return my smile and greeting. These looks often hold much warmth.
I am the first one here in the morning, but over the next hour the artisans arrive at work with a cheerful, “Good morning! Nomoskar! Bhalo acho?” One woman comes into the office each morning and gives my shoulder a friendly squeeze. In Bangla, she asks me, “How are you? How are the children? How is Andy?” My conversational language is limited, so following my responses she smiles graciously and heads upstairs to the workrooms. Another woman isn’t too concerned about how much I understand, as she launches into an explanation about something that happened the day before. I think I’m following OK, though I can’t be certain. My nods and expressions of sympathy are received well anyway.
At 10am we gather together in one of the upstairs rooms for a devotional time. Knee-to-knee, we all sit cross-legged on the painted concrete floor beneath the spinning ceiling fan, raising our voices in Jishu gan together. This family time of singing, sharing and praying is a daily practice in the workshop, and my favourite time of the day.
I look around the room at all these faces that were once strangers. I arrived here as an affluent foreigner and they were the poor and marginalised. We have always had a barrier of language as I’ve struggled along with my very basic Bangla. However, these are now people I have laughed with, usually over the silliest things, and people I have mourned with over tragic losses. In this workroom I have cried hot tears of hurt and humiliation, and I have been shown kindness, compassion and understanding. I have visited many of their single-room homes and hosted them in my family’s apartment.
I am no less affluent or ‘foreigner’ now, and they are no less women who have profound histories in this neighbourhood. Instead, now we know one another as deeply human, each with much to teach and give as well as to learn and receive. I have realized that justice, peace, reconciliation, and healing weren’t solely the problems of my friends in Kolkata that we had come to help with. In fact, the need for transformation is a shared one.
In the words of indigenous Australian activist Lilla Watson:
“If you have come here to help me you are wasting your time, but if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.”
Lou
]]>We figured there was no better way to highlight women’s rights, equality and justice within our own community than by bringing together The Loyal Workshop’s women in a round table discussion. We gathered in the uppermost room at the workshop where they shared from their own experiences and perspective about what its like to be a woman in Kolkata, India. Here’s what they had to say in their own words!
In this society and neighbourhood what kinds of problems do women face?
Rakhi – The rights of men and women should be exactly the same, along with the respect they get and the behaviour expected of them. The problem is that in our country, the dominant culture states that a woman should stay under a man. That a man can hit her, grab her, or do whatever he wants to her and despite all of this, she has to stay under his control. We learn from birth that you should never speak back to your father, your brother or even your husband. Through our culture we learn that it’s only through a man’s grace that we are able to survive and live. As far as I’m aware, this way of thinking doesn’t happen in countries where men and women aren’t seen as being so different.
Jona – I think most of the difficulties women face in countries like India and Nepal are directly linked to the struggle to secure a good future for their children. In this battle for a good future, women can easily become trapped. If I had four children, I’d have four extra mouths to feed and four sets of clothes to buy. The expenses rack up quickly and this can lead to women being forced to do anything they can, even if it’s dangerous, for the sake of their children.
Another issue here is the added pressure on girls and women to behave a certain way. If a boy is away from home for an hour or two, no one asks him any questions. Whereas if a woman gets home twenty minutes late the questions flood in from everyone who lives with her: “Where were you? What were you doing? What happened? Why are you so late?”
Kalpana – Women in India receive very little respect. When you walk down the road it’s quite common to see women begging for money with babies in their arms, all because their husband has discarded them. Women have a lot more pressure placed on them in this society too. For example, after working here today I’ll have to go home and cook for everyone. Men work too, but they don’t have the same levels of responsibility in the home. This is just the way things work here.
Mithu – Women face so many problems here. In our neighbourhood, and in others, women are selling their bodies for just four cents. They worry about where their next meal will come from and how they’ll be able to pay the rent for their brothel room. Their financial situations are terrible. These women are living in constant despair. Because of these kinds of situations, many women here need freedom and growth in their lives.
Kiran – Women here struggle a lot. From my experience, a girl is normally sold into the sex trade by a man who is looking to benefit financially. She’s then passed into the hands of a madam who understands what it’s like to suffer in the sex trade because the same thing has happened to her. However, instead of helping out this girl, the madam hits her, treats her horribly and forbids her to leave the trade. One woman suffers at the hands of another.
When a woman gets married and goes to live with her husband and in-laws, the mother-in-law abuses her in many ways. One woman suffers at the hands of another.
In my lifetime, I’ve seen women treat other women worse more than men usually do. This is not right; women should look out for other women. If that madam in the brothel was approached by a man trying to sell a girl, she should stand up and say, “No, I won’t buy her, I will help this girl! I will prevent her from having to enter the sex trade like I did. I won’t exploit her; I’ll save her from this man!”
This change has to start with us women.
How is Loyal different in terms of equality?
Rakhi – At my old workplace the behaviour from the men that worked there was terrible, so I left. They didn’t know how to respect women, they spoke to me roughly and undermined my abilities in front of my male co-workers.
Mithu – In my opinion, Loyal is different from everywhere else because the women who work here hold their heads high. They say, “Here I am proud to be a woman.”
The women here receive a lot of respect and they respect one another a lot. I can say this because I witness it all the time. Paul, one of our bosses, is a man and I’m younger than him. In this culture, that means I am lower than him. He knows these things but he still treats me with respect. Some of the men that work here are younger than me and some of them are older. They do their absolute best to treat us with respect and not cause us any harm. The men here love us like we are their sisters and aunties. At home I might not get respect all the time but here I get it all the time. Because of The Loyal Workshop I hold my head high.
What changes have you seen in our neighbourhood over the last few years in regards to gender equality?
Mithu – There have been a lot of changes in this area for women in the last few years. There are even more women working at freedom businesses, like The Loyal Workshop, Sari Bari, Freeset, and Love Calcutta Arts, as well as with a local NGO called Hamari Muskhan. There are also a number of older ladies working in people’s homes as cooks. There is still sadness in this area, but compared to before a lot has changed. In the building I live in and the one beside it there are now women living there who are doing really well for themselves.
Kalpana – Things have changed in Kidderpore too. It doesn’t seem like a red-light area as much anymore. In fact, yesterday my husband was installing a light outside the door!
Balika – I faced a lot of trouble in past. I used to live in Bow Bazar and things like paying the rent for my room and getting my son to school were a real struggle. After joining The Loyal Workshop, I am doing so well. Each morning now I give thanks to Jesus for what he’s done for me. Long live The Loyal Workshop!
What can we do to see more change in this neighbourhood?
Jona – We’ve received the opportunity to work here at Loyal. When we leave work at the end of the day, we can tell other women about what we do here and about the opportunity we have received. Once they hear about the kind of work we do now they become amazed and say, “There’s that kind of work available?!”
If we spread the word to one woman at a time, then more women will be able to gain freedom. I’ve been able to spread the word and now many women from our area are working in good businesses. I love being able to help other women find work in places that are good for them. If we share about freedom opportunities in this way, looking to help each other, then lots of women will gain the opportunity for freedom.
Mithu – We can help one another. If someone says, “I want to leave the trade and work with your business” I should say, “Great, come along to our workshop and meet the bosses and have a chat with them about what your options could be!” If they come asking for help, I can hold their hand up. This is the kind of help I want to give to other women.
Rakhi – Loyal has been established as a freedom business for women who have worked in the sex trade. After beginning to work here, the women learn love, self respect and gain knowledge about how to live well. We have a few mantras that we say here, and one of them is “Your life has great value.” Now it is time for us to take the lessons we’ve learnt about how to live and distribute them to other women trapped in difficult situations. We need to tell them, “Your life has great value.” It’s time to go out and spread the love we’ve received here.
What are your hopes for women here?
Mithu – Many women here are getting the same level of respect as men now. My hope is that those who want to receive transformation can. I want to say to all the men out there that we are all God’s creation and we all come from our mother’s womb, so we should receive the same amount of respect. What Rakhi said earlier is true, and I wish that those attitudes would be erased. If a girl is born, my hope is that the family will love her a lot and not despise her. My own dad had 6 daughters, and he never disrespected us but instead he loved us as best he could. I’ve seen another man with four daughters. When the fourth came the mother was upset at first but the father said, “I’m so happy to have four daughters!”
Jona – For Nepali women working in the trade in Kolkata and other cities, my hope it that they won’t think they have to stay where they are. They can return to Nepal. They don’t have to be alone, there are places for them to stay and lots of freedom businesses have started in Kathmandu that I’ve visited myself. Sisters, don’t supress the hope within yourself! Let it come out, be brave, take action and whatever concerns you have we can talk about those together!
]]>One of my favourite authors and poets writes about greeting the myriad of ‘heres’ that we find ourself in as life stirs, surprises, pulsates, plays, and perishes. So it is with these words that I pause to acknowledge the here that is now and the here that has been, and begin.
“It has taken years to continue to live into the truth that if I believe we are from God and for God, then we are from Goodness and for Goodness. To greet sorrow today does not mean that sorrow will be there tomorrow. Happiness comes too, and grief, and tiredness, disappointment, surprise and energy. Chaos and fulfilment will be named as well as delight and despair. This is the truth of being here, wherever here is today. It may not be permanent but it is here. I will probably leave here, and I will probably return. To deny here is to harrow the heart. Hello to here.” – Pádraig Ó Tuama, In the Shelter: Finding a Home in this World.
Observing dying and death is never easy. Even while cradling a deep-rooted faith that redemption will one day reverberate throughout creation, death is still difficult. To refute this is to rob oneself of the precious gift that is found in raw and honest grief. Watching a sister, friend and artisan courageously fight death unforeseen, is crushing.
To deny here is to harrow the heart.
We sat by Sangita’s bedside the night following Christmas, after she had been urgently admitted to hospital for a condition that had only recently become apparent. Resolutely fighting against and then, subsequently greeting her death, there were many ‘heres’ that the Loyal Workshop family graciously greeted despite praying many of them wouldn’t eventuate. As our sister lay in the government hospital’s emergency room, here was frustrating, slow, overcrowded and under-resourced. Here was stroking her head, speaking peace over her, and showing solidarity to her. Here was taking turns pumping her respirator through the night until our hands became sore. Here was searching for medications city-wide in a taxi before dawn. Here was petitioning for a bed in the CCU and wondering if it would be granted. Here was sitting outside old hospital buildings in the evening air, sipping cha with the rest of the Loyal family as we waited for news. In many ways, here was where no one wanted to be, but it was where we were and where we stayed with our sister.
It may not be permanent but it is here.
A day and a half after Sangita’s hospital admission, our friend and fighter died. As the death registry officers argued whether to record her age as 33 or 34, I repeatedly swallowed the rock in my throat. Here was our sister, Sangita, who was 33 years old and seven months. Here was the tragic death of a sharp, quick-witted woman who loved to draw and laugh at her own jokes. Here was an exceptional leather-worker who had her name on beautiful satchels the world over. Here was a woman who, in coming to work at Loyal, dreamed of returning to her home country and working at a freedom business there. Here was a woman whose dream was imminently close to fruition, whose personal exodus was so near that freedom songs were already beginning to be sung across the border. Here was Sangita, a woman who had an ease about her, and yet whose death was not easy.
We are from Goodness and for Goodness.
Sangita, you were from Goodness and for Goodness.
Navigating the grief of losing a friend, a sister, a fighter, and an artisan is difficult when it feels unjust. When the poor seem to lose out yet again and the marginalised seem to draw the short straw, not because of fate but because of a system poised against them. I guess that is one of the constant ‘heres’ of this neighbourhood that we battle. Maybe it is one of the ‘heres’ that will remain until redemption one day reverberates throughout these streets. As per custom, the Loyal family, along with Sangita’s brother, husband, and a handful of neighbours and friends, farewelled her physically at the local ghat the same day she died. Throughout the day, here meant free-flowing tears and questions and presence and reflection and silence and deep breaths and song. Our deep desire is that our sister was uplifted and dignified in her farewell; that her culture was honoured; that faith, hope and love were made known; and that both she and her mukti have now found their home together.
Chaos and fulfilment will be named as well as delight and despair.
Tragedy should never be overlooked or minimised. We are thankful that in the midst of this life-altering event however, there have been a handful of graces. Namely, the workshop has pulled together in this shared experience of losing Sangita. They have greeted and grasped the here of their friend’s dying and death with honesty, courage, and communal strength. Where there has been the potential for unpeace, there has in fact been peace. Where there has been loss, there continues to be so because that is only natural. Where Sangita used to sit and stitch on our workshop floor, she does no longer.
Hello to here. Farewell to her.
Lizzie
]]>It’s been seven months since I arrived in Kolkata, a world away from my home in New Zealand, to work at The Loyal Workshop. A singular anecdote couldn’t do justice to breadth of emotion that can be contained within any moment of life here. So in an attempt to give you some insight into my experience of Kolkata so far, here are a few glimpses.
…Of letting go of so much of the comfort and security of home, yet still knowing greater comfort and security than most of my neighbours and friends here.
…Of mourning the loss of independence, outdoor space and anonymity for my ‘blonde beacon’ children, and embracing the opportunity to broaden their worldview by experiencing this incredible place.
…Of disgust at rubbish strewn in the streets and delight at charming narrow lanes of character filled buildings with brightly coloured shutters.
…Of frustration at the time and energy involved in running basic errands with young kids in tow, and the thrill of careening along the street in an auto rickshaw or squeezing onto an overcrowded metro.
…Of the heartbreaking injustice of a woman sitting on the footpath with all her possessions piled beside her and her tiny baby asleep on a blanket. And the heartwarming connection when she returns my smile and greeting each day as I walk past.
…Of the embarrassment of constant language struggles, cultural fumbles and general confusion. And the grace with which the women at work accept me each day.
…Of slowly increasing insight into the ongoing struggles and hardship faced by so many in our new Loyal family, and wider community. And learning the many ways in which women are growing in freedom through this opportunity for employment with The Loyal Workshop.
…Of feeling like I have so little to contribute as a new foreigner to this place. And of knowing that being a foreigner is valuable in my role as I connect this community with our customers and advocates around the world.
Kolkata is never just one thing, it’s so many different things and often all at the same time. And this is where I want to be right now, working with a business that isn’t just a business, but a place of love, acceptance and freedom.
]]>We believe that it’s ok to age.
Celebrating a product’s wear and tear is not really done in the fashion industry.
Companies project illusions of airbrushed perfection.
Many customers want their product to remain static and unchanged from the date of purchase.
Our recent posts fly in the face of this facade.
We are proud of the way our natural eco-tanned leather satchels, wallets, belts and wristbands, get better with age. So we encouraged you to send in photos of your satchel now, telling us what you love most about the way it had aged.
Here at Loyal, we celebrate scuffs, scratches, deepening colours and aging gracefully
We believe that the way your satchel ages, reflects your personality and tells your story.
So we asked #whatsyourslikenow? We are truly humbled by your responses. Our gratitude to everyone that entered. And the Loyal supporter who got their name pulled out of the hat is……(drumroll please) Mark Flintoff Congratulations on winning the Loyal satchel of your choice. To keep. Or give to a loved one for Christmas.
People wrote some beautiful words expressing what their Goodstead or Companion Satchel means to them. Here are a few of the entries that blew our minds.
Jeremy writes,
Wear from almost two years
masked by intentional care and leather wax.
But looking at this satchel
you may catch
glimpses of a scuff and a scratch
from when a twig dispatched me from my longboard.
Feel will reveal the erratic water-droplet warp
from all the times I’ve walked in the rain.
And feel again makes plain
how the sides have changed,
softened and stretched by the weight contained.
And do you hear the buckles clack and ring
as it swings from my shoulder?
It sings for all to hear,
A song of humble creation
in the hands of a woman
working with pride and care.
Raima, as the etching inside declares.
And every time I wear her work
I think of her.
And the hope that these bags secure.
Alice writes,
Why I love my satchel… I’ve grown to enjoy age-ing. I’m ok with my grey and my almost 40 years. My chaffed and well weathered satchel reminds me it’s ok to age. It’s been bashed whilst pushing through crowds on the inner city metro, sat in dark rooms with me, weathered the freezing cold of the Scottish hills, taken the full-on heart of the Asian continent. It doesn’t mind me loading it with ‘stuff’ – in fact, it seems to hold more than I need. Above all, it’s held the rough and the smooth with me. It’s loyal.
Jerram writes,
To My Goodstead Satchel,
I searched for you for what felt like years; I wanted a satchel with meaning; I wanted it to tell a story, I wanted transcendence. I faked it and bought mimics along the way, all the while knowing I hadn’t found what I was looking for.
When my wife and family gave you to me I wasn’t sure you were “it”. You were firm and almost too perfect, you were rigid and didn’t move how I wanted. When I first scratched you I lamented you wouldn’t last, but as I’ve come to appreciate, it’s the scars and bumps that define you, much like humanity.
Your scratches tell a story, your marks give you character, your imperfections make you unique. To pretend you were still brand new and untouched would be a falsehood – you have lived and your marks make you beautiful; each one tells a story.
To keep you locked away and safe from the scrapes of life would be to deny the reason why you were made by Mithu – the lady who lovingly crafted you in Kolkata, India, whose name you bear on the inside.
You remind me that life is for living, that bumps and scrapes – viewed through the lens of grace – are God’s tools for pruning and shaping us; that to hide away from hurt and difficulty would be to deny who I am, would be to abstain from diving into the adventure of life with Yahweh – the one who crafted me, the one whose name I bear on the inside.
Jessica writes,
This bag has been used,
has surprised people over and over with the contents it carries for its small size
This bag has been present in the everyday of life,
has scars to show for it
unique and beautiful
It is soft, despite it all, or maybe because of it
This bag has been well-loved in a way that smoothes
over the scars
like with healing
it has a story to tell
Thanks for partnering with us,
For freedom,
Sarah, Joel and the Loyal crew xx
]]>In early July, our founders Paul and Sarah were joined by fellow models Levi and Alisha for a photoshoot based in New Zealand’s stunning National Park!
A shoutout to The Paper Rain Project for lending us one of their impressive recycled wine-barrel longboards which was perfect for ripping up the chilly tarsealed roads.
Also, a massive thanks to Jake Thomas and Mike Hill for the great banter and phenomenal shots taken during these escapades.
Scroll down to check out our products being put through their paces during an epic adventure!
She put her hand out to wave down the bus as it approached. She knew she had to move fast because the bus never stopped for long, though they always took extra care with her as she was carrying her baby. As it came to a brief stop in front of her, she climbed the steps and found a free space on the rail to hold on to. She was grateful to see a seat and sat down as the bus jolted along. She didn’t quite understand how everyone else seemed to have perfect balance while she was being thrown from side to side and almost always lost her balance as she tried to sit down. She smiled up at the many friendly faces in front her, and turned her attention to the front so she could see where she had to get off.
The sweat beaded on her brow, and quickly joined and trickled down her temples. She wiped it away absentmindedly. She was so used to it these days, it didn’t bother her at all. She spotted her landmark and stood, and made her way to the door, holding on to something the whole way to make sure she didn’t fall over. The man taking fares at the door shouted to the driver that a baby was getting off and the driver, instead of just slowing down enough for people to jump on and off, actually stopped. With her feet safely on the dusty concrete, she started making her way towards the workshop.
Her mind drifted to when she first arrived. How much she had struggled with the heat, the blaring horns on the road and the rubbish everywhere! Being in a crowded train compartment had caused her to stress and worry about how she would get off. But now, she didn’t even notice if she was pressed up against another person and she had learned over time that people always made a way and she was always able to get off at her stop. So many of the things that were difficult at first had now become the norm, being taken in her stride. She smiled to herself as she thought, “It’s just amazing what you can get used to.”
Though of course, you can’t get used to everything. The sight of mothers with their babies and little children, eking out an existence on the streets still broke her heart. She doubted if there would ever be a time it didn’t. She didn’t want to get used to that sight. Didn’t want to get to the point she could walk past and not be affected. She reasoned that many times it is our softness of heart that is our strength. After all, how could she change something she cared nothing about?
Someone called her daughter’s name and she was snapped out of her thoughts. She looked in the direction the voice came from. A familiar face. She smiled and waved. She didn’t know the names of any of the people she walked past, but she was sure they all knew who she was. Or maybe more accurately, she was sure they knew who her little girl strapped to her front was. Everywhere they went her daughter got attention, her little cheeks being gently pinched or her hair stroked. And it was no different on her usual route to the workshop. From time to time she had stopped and in broken Bangla shared her name and where she was from. And so now, every now and then one of the familiar faces will call out and say hello.
She reached the workshop and pushed open the door. She was immediately greeted by happy welcomes and warm smiles, with even more to come when she reached the top of the stairs and entered the working area. Before her were women carefully stitching leather, smiling and laughing together.
It was for these faces that she had left her country and embarked on a journey to the other side of the world, her family in tow. It was to see the smiles, hear the laughter, sense the love, and to try and help more women experience the same.
When she left her country almost a year ago and said “Hello” to Kolkata, there were many challenges… Many days when she thought perhaps she had made the wrong decision, that maybe it was too hard after all. But now it’s time to say “Goodbye” to this city, and all those within it she has grown to love. And it makes her heart hurt.
She knows that something happened inside her between the hello and the looming goodbye. She greeted the city with trepidation and uncertainty, and is now leaving with gratitude and confidence. All the challenges and sweat and tears fade into the background as she looks at the masterpiece before her, the canvas of lives painted together into a new family – each individual, bright, brave stroke of colour blending into a beautiful cohesion. The ‘Hello’ was exciting and daunting, the ‘Goodbye’ will be painful and leave it’s mark, and the time in-between a rollercoaster of highs and lows. Yet, she knows it was all worth it and that there will be many more in the years ahead. Above all, she hopes that others will do the same – that they will embark on their own journey of ‘Hellos and ‘Goodbyes’ as they endeavour to help those who need it most. That they will be willing to step out of their world to help make someone else’s world better. If she can do it, she knows others can. She knows that this world can change, that one life at a time there can be freedom and newness of life. She just hopes others know that too.
Meg
]]>A few Friday nights back, I invited everyone from the workshop around to my house after work for some egg rolls, mishti and fizzy drinks. It was almost the equivalent of five o’clock drinks back home, except instead of being outside a bar amongst tobacco fumes and strangers, our little Loyal family were squashed up inside my single bedroom apartment with five or six people on my ‘three person’ sofa and the rest sitting around on the floor or wherever they could perch. My place is only a fifteen minute walk from the workshop, yet the ladies couldn’t stop saying how peaceful the area was. One lady said, “I could get a really good nights sleep here!”
On second thought it was nothing like five o’clock drinks.
After we ate, I put on some music for everyone to dance to. None of the adults felt like getting their groove on, but it didn’t stop the kids! One of the newer ladies who has started with us brought along her two and a half year old son and nine year old daughter. Her little boy started busting some great moves, displaying great promise for Bollywood stardom. He even threw in an attempted head spin for good measure (although I had to hold his feet and do the spinning for him). Watching him dance was just about the cutest thing I’d seen in a long time; his little toddler legs and chubby stomach were bouncing along staccato to the music while all of his new aunties watched on lovingly.
I then heard that it was the first time his mum had seen him dance. Their little room in the middle of the red light area is dark, windowless, and only has enough space for a raised bed and a small television. I don’t think I’m reading into it too much when I say that their needs for food, water and safety had to be made a higher priority than creative expression. Yet, somehow in that tiny room he had seen enough dancing on that television to store the information away for a rainy day. Except the day he came to my house wasn’t a rainy day, it was simply a moment where he had sufficient space and freedom to do what was stored away in his little heart.
Maybe this instance speaks truth to people who are oppressed all over the world? What promise can a small opportunity that has been grasped hold? Perhaps this little family can beat the odds which were stacked against them. I doubt they will ever own a five bedroom bungalow on the banks of the Ganges, however I don’t doubt that because of the opportunity his mum has taken a hold of in coming to work with us that their lives will change significantly from the script they were bound to before. I can say in all hopefulness that their future will hold more security and that they will be able to dance together freely again.
Perhaps this little boy will even make it to Bollywood.
Joel
]]>I’m not sure if it’s because I grew up without a whole lot of role models or I just wasn’t looking in the right places, but I love the idea of heroes! In my search for heroes, I feel like I struggled to find some solid well rounded people I can look up to and say, “I want to be like that.”
For most of my adult life I feel like I believed what culture told me the hero was. People who earned lots of money, lots of power and lots of glory! I looked in awe at people who achieved these things and wanted to be like them! I did all that I could to be like these people and all that I could to get close to these people, because we know the good old saying… Success begets success. As I journeyed along in life, I started meeting some of these people and quickly realised that, yeah, they may have cool things like money, fame and fortune, but a lot of them didn’t seem very happy and pretty much all of them didn’t have peace of mind. I also noticed that a lot of these people weren’t so special. A lot of them got where they were through hard, hard work. Yes, hard work is very necessary but I realised that it’s pretty easy to commit yourself to gaining money and fame when you sacrifice things like family, friendships, time and peace.
I started looking around and began meeting people who had a different focus. Maybe they didn’t have glory with the gold and trimmings that come along with it. But they had so much more soul, contentment, and a focus that wasn’t about stuff that seemed so superficial. So I went on a little quest to find more of these people. That quest took me to India where I have been blown away. I’ve seen real crazy heroes. ‘Heroes’ that you won’t find on the news for making another million dollars or ‘heroes’ that get thousands of likes on social media platforms. But here I have seen heroes who live by the creed, ‘Service Before Self’. Husbands and wives who have sacrificed a ‘comfortable life’ to pull people out of slavery and the hardships of poverty. Young adults that have given up families and homes to come alongside the poor, sit with them and hear their stories. Women and men who have given up relationships and careers to feed the poor and heal the sick.
The harder I look and the farther I search, the more I realise that real life heroes are in places you would be least likely to look. The incredibly brave ladies who have given up a life of suffering and abuse to fight courageously for their freedom are a great example of that.
With those that have moved here from afar, I’m in awe of the sacrifice that they make and how my life has become so much richer from getting to know them. Through watching how they live their lives and observing them lose part of what our culture says we need, I see them gain so much more. More friendships, more family, more meaning. More life!
Jake
]]>We work alongside them from Monday to Friday, week in & week out. And we’ve witnessed our business as an effective vehicle for transformation. For these women to recover, find healing and inner freedom, they need to belong to a safe and loving community. That’s what we strive for our business to be. Actually, that’s our number one priority. That’s the grid through which we make decisions. What will be best for the women’s healing?
We can’t offer them intensive counselling. We’re not qualified. But we offer what we can. Unconditional love and acceptance. A place to laugh, find their voice and rediscover their dreams. A place to belong. Our business is essentially a relational after-care facility.
Through relationship & community, our women are slowly recovering from a life of horror.
Nothing comes close to the profound privilege of seeing this transformation take place. We visit these women in brothel rooms, sometimes for years before they’re ready to fight for their freedom and work with us. We then watch them during training as they begin to realise, ‘I can do this dignified work’,‘My life has value’, ‘I deserve to be respected’, ‘I am a loved sister here in this new family’…. Their whole appearance changes. Their posture straightens, their face lifts, their eyes begin to dance. They start to crack jokes, dive into our silly team building games, become motivated stakeholders in the business, voice their hope-filled dreams for their community’s transformation.
Bearing witness to this, makes all the blood, sweat and tears, completely worth it!
Sarah
]]>I think most people are familiar with the 1960’s hit song ‘Turn! Turn! Turn! (To everything there is a season)’ by ‘The Byrds’… In fact, I’m betting most of you are humming the tune right now, am I right? If you’re not there yet, I’ll help you along with the lyrics:
To everything – turn, turn, turn
There is a season – turn, turn, turn
And a time to every purpose under heaven
A time to be born, a time to die
A time to plant, a time to reap
A time to kill, a time to heal
A time to laugh, a time to weep
To everything – turn, turn, turn
There is a season – turn, turn, turn
And a time to every purpose under heaven
A time to build up, a time to break down
A time to dance, a time to mourn
A time to cast away stones
A time to gather stones together
To everything – turn, turn, turn
There is a season – turn, turn, turn
And a time to every purpose under heaven
A time of love, a time of hate
A time of war, a time of peace
A time you may embrace
A time to refrain from embracing
To everything – turn, turn, turn
There is a season – turn, turn, turn
And a time to every purpose under heaven
A time to gain, a time to lose
A time to rend, a time to sew
A time for love, a time for hate
A time for peace, I swear it’s not too late!
Everyone will be able to relate to the truths tucked in here. Who hasn’t experienced the ups and downs of life? I certainly have. However, living here in Kolkata, I have felt these emotions intensify and follow one another in quick succession. I can be laughing with the ladies in the workshop, experiencing overflowing joy and happiness as I see them living in their newfound freedom, so amazed I am able to witness their transformation and restoration right before my eyes… only to walk down the street and see something that tears my heart apart and throws me into deep sorrow and mourning at the state of the world. It seems that every day here is a time to laugh and a time to weep, a time of dancing and a time of mourning, a time to love and a time to hate.
Watching the women we work alongside navigate all of these extreme seasons with such fluidity and courage has been humbling. They have an ability to go from rejoicing together to crying together with an acceptance and grace that leaves me somewhat stunned. My own ability to handle these changing extremes is growing, but it leaves me exhausted. It is a sobering thought that the resilience they have is due to the innumerable challenges and trials they have already faced in their lives. I look at the courage these woman have, and it leaves me with a deep sense of respect for them.
Many people thought we were crazy for taking our young family to a place like this. After all, we left holding a 7 month old in our arms! Why would we bring our family here? I couldn’t have shared this quote with you at the time, but it sums up so well what has been and is in my heart. It’s from Emma Lazarus, an American poet from the late 1800s. “Until we are all free, we are none of us free”. I had heard about ‘Freedom Business’ and everything in me had resonated with the concept – business not for the profit of it’s CEO’s and stakeholders, but for the freedom of those it employs. We knew we had to come and do our part to help others fight for their freedom. So here we are, now a part of the ever expanding Loyal family.
It is true that the Loyal family is expanding through the likes of Joel (as you would have read in the last blog post) and ourselves. But the reason we are all here, the really exciting and life changing way the family is growing, is by having new ladies join us. And I am so thrilled to be able to say that we have seven new ladies in their training phase. Seven brave, courageous, wonderful women that have said ‘yes’ to fighting for their freedom. The months ahead of them will be filled with even more to-ing and fro-ing between the highs and lows of the freedom journey, but I am confident that each one will only grow in strength through it all. Because that is what I have seen here. I have seen women who have been thrown on hard, dark times, rise to face the future with radiant smiles and determination that is, simply put, beautiful.
I know you will join with me in saying that I can’t wait to see the Loyal family grow even more. To see more lives touched, more women find their freedom, more families transformed. It is certainly a cause worth fighting for. It’s even worth shopping for, wouldn’t you agree?
#fightslavery #worthfightingfor #worthshoppingfor #theloyalworkshop
]]>I wish I could have shared my birthday cake with you this year. It tasted so much better than usual. I ate it on the roof of our new workshop building while singing freedom songs and giving thanks for a great achievement. What an awesome birthday present.
You ask, ‘What’s so special about this building?’
Nine years ago Kerry Hilton, the founder of Freeset (www.freesetglobal.com), began negotiating to buy this building to extend their work into another red light area. Seven years later The Loyal Workshop inherited the negotiations, and now after a further two years it’s a done deal.
This building is ours – not a rental. Ours. And as a Loyal supporter, YOURS too.
And it’s inside the red light area, which will raise the profile of the freedom fight right in the heart of the darkness. It’s also bigger than our current rental which means we can grow!
There’s a lot that’s special about this building but none of it has as much value as the lives that will be working in there.
The present state of the building is a bit broken down which kinda reflects the lives entering it. It will take time to get the place ready to receive us and will get repaired brick by brick. Just like our women’s lives going on their freedom journey. It takes time, sacrifice and hard work. Putting together the pieces of freedom brick by brick. A health brick here, then a relational brick there. A spiritual brick here, a financial brick there. Slowly new lives get built up.
The birthday cake tasted so good as I looked around at our sisters building their lives up piece by piece.
Thanks for your support.
Paul
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