blog

{...wonderlanding...}

[Your Name Here] — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 14:32:33 +0000

Lest you think I talk too much on the subject of dreaming, here i go again.

Last night Ben and I saw Alice in Wonderland. We thought it was just wonderful and beautiful and fantastical and whimisical and adventurous and all the words my friends say I overuse.

At 20 years old and on the cusp of an arranged marriage to a nasaly, red-headed boy, Alice finds herself back in Wonderland. She is convinced it is a dream and that she controls what happens, because afterall, it is her dream.

At a point early on in the "dream" Tweedle D. and Tweddle Dum get snatched up by some scary bird. What happens immediatley after that is significant. For the first time in the movie, the perspective of the filming changes. Alice, for the first time, is no longer the star and we no longer see through her eyes. All of a sudden, we see an arial view of Wonderland from the perspective of the two fat, weeble boys, hanging helplessly from the claws of the Red Queen's evil avian minion. And consequently, Wonderland gets a lot bigger.

I was struck by how strong my reaction was to this (seemingly insignificant) perspective change. For me, it signified that this new world is in fact another realitiy, not merely Alice's dream. Because as much as I love night-time dreaming, there is one shortcoming. You are always the star. I don't know about you, but I have never had a dream from another person's perpective. In my dreams, the 'realities' of those around me relate back to me somehow. Nothing happens in my dream that I am not aware of, because after all, I am creating it. Although I am not limited by the things that limit me when I am awake like gravity and logic, I am limited by myself. Nothing can happen outside my own imagination. The world in my dreams, as wonderful and fantastical as it, only stretches as far as I can see.

The thing that I couldn't stop thinking about for the rest of the movie was how beautiful awake dreams are in that they are so much bigger than the dreamer. I love thinking about this tiny piece of the world that Sseko is creating. That right now, in Uganda, there are 7 beautiful women sitting together, having conversations and and laughing about things I will never know. They are experiencing life and seeing things that I might never see. They will go on to lead lives and impact their communities and country in ways I could never imagine. I love that Sseko is now a part of Julie's dreaming and adventuring. That she will look back at the time in her life when she up and moved to East Africa to run a company and love some girls. To think about the role that this season of adventuring will play in the journey of her life. To think about people around the country, even world, that have been touched in some small way by the dream of Sseko and are now having conversations and dreaming and schemings of their own. That from a small spark, they will go on to create and dream up things I never could.

That is the beautiful thing about dreaming when you are awake. You dream. And then you let go and the dream gets bigger than you. And that dream gives way to other dreams of other dreamers that you will probably never know.

And the best part is there is no waking up, because you are awake and the dream lives on and the dreaming gets bigger.

{...sseko at ISU...}

[Your Name Here] — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:46:26 +0000

{from Julie}

In the past couple of weeks, Mercy and I have had the chance to visit the International School of Uganda. The only thing we love more than getting up at 5:45am is getting to hang out with a bunch of fourth graders to talk about Sseko! The fourth grade classes at ISU are currently doing a 6-week unit on businesses and the marketplace. The central idea is: business arise and evolve to meet the needs for the community. As employees of a small (but rapidly growing!) company here in Uganda, we were thrilled to talk about our experience. The group had tons of questions ranging from market surveys to finance/ accounting to why don’t we make a sandal for boys. We thoroughly enjoyed the interactive discussion about things that work, things that don’t work, and what we’ve learned along the way. After leaving, Mercy and I both commented on the students’ eagerness to learn. Any worry we had about boring the students or running out of things to say was quickly forgotten. Shortly after our first visit, we went back to take some pictures with the young women of the class donning our product. And here they are! Thanks to the fourth graders of ISU for welcoming us and being enthusiastic with us about our company!

{...it gets in your blood...}

[Your Name Here] — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 20:24:11 +0000

no. i am not talking about my most recent bout of malaria (Boooo! Hisss!)

i am talking about Sseko. we here at Sseko eat, breathe and drink Sseko. yes, if Sseko was a baby, i would be that mom. you know, the one with a whole Facebook album devoted to a 60 part series of pictures of baby eating Cheerios. (my mom actually refers to Sseko as her grandbaby. seriously. i think it is cute. and great because it buys me some time before she wants the real deal.)

that being said, i dream about Sseko.

a lot.

not only the daytime dreaming and scheming i usually talk about, but also just good ol' fashion nighttime R.E.M. dreaming. in fact, while in Uganda, Julie and I would wake up a lot of mornings and compare what brilliant (read:trippy) ideas or things we had accomplished in our dreams that night.

i just recently had the BEST Sseko dream I have ever had. since i share a lot of my daytime dreams with you, i thought i would do the same with this sub-conscious gem.

it was pretty simple. but basically, we discovered a rare tortoise-like animal. this animal shed its shell (similar to a hermit crab) and moved into bigger shells as it grew. well, when you took a little hammer and chisel and cracked open the shell of this Sseko creature, inside was a star-like shape comprised of 7 perfectly made, beautiful pairs Ssekos. (the smaller the shell, the smaller the size. just in case you were wondering about the logistics.)

the next scene of the dream involved Julie and I and the seven Sseko girls all dressed in old-school safari gear, hunting for abandoned Sseko turtle shells.

i woke up and told ben, we HAVE to find this animal.

i was disappointed when he informed me that i was, in fact, dreaming.

(but secretly i will keep looking)

{...masterpiece conference...}

[Your Name Here] — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 17:05:04 +0000

Sseko had a pretty great weekend down in College Station, Texas at the first annual Masterpiece Conference. Our all-star lead ambassador, Cameron Crake, did some major crowd control. One girl tied another girl up with a Sseko strap to make sure she got her size before they ran out.

Just kidding.

But it was pretty crazy. There was a section of the conference called "Part of the Solution" that feautured Sseko and several other awesome groups to help raise awareness and support for women's issues across the world. It is so exciting to be a part of a growing generation of young women excited and determined to make a difference.

Thanks to all the wonderful women who put on this wonderful conference and let Sseko be a part of it. If you live in Texas, make sure you sign up for next year.

{...and if you know of--or attend--a similar conference or gathering...we'd love to hear about it!}

{...a word from the ground...}

[Your Name Here] — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 03:20:01 +0000

Here is a little snippit of life with the Sseko ladies from Julie. Enjoy!

There are a few things I miss most when I’m living or traveling abroad. The first is obviously my people- Pa, Ma, friends (shout out), etc. The second is probably Subway chocolate chip cookies (straight from heaven, folks). And until February 28, the third is the Olympics. Winter Olympics are not, as you may imagine, very popular in this place. So when I had the opportunity to watch some highlights on a real live tv this week, I jumped at the chance.

As it so happened, Mercy was spending the night with me, so the lucky girl got to come with. What followed was better than I ever could have imagined. Mercy had never seen any winter sports before, so as much as I casually tried to prep her, she had no idea what she would be watching. Throughout the night, some of my favorite quotes were as follows:

“WOW! Maybe I should start training! I could do school, Sseko, and training if I had some ice.”

During a partners figure skating routine, the man lifted the woman and: “What?! Is that REAL?? Or MAGIC?!”

During figure skating again: “I thought it was cold in there—how can she be wearing that??”

After she learned the rules of downhill skiing and the blue line outlining the course: “That man went outside the blue line! PUNISH HIM!”

And lastly: “Where are the blacks? Why are all these people white?”

The rest of the time was filled with gasps, tons of laughter, and questions. Watching the Olympics with someone for the first time is as good as it sounds, especially when that someone is Mercy. It was a perfect night. I think I also gave her more chocolate that night than she’s had…ever. But watching the world’s fittest people perform extreme physical feats wouldn’t be the same without a Cadbury bar being shoved in your face, right?

{...pay no attention to the man behind the curtain...}

[Your Name Here] — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 14:59:23 +0000

When people ask me what I do, I have two responses, depending on my mood. The first is to reply, "Well, I am a cobbler," hope that they chuckle with confusion while I slip away. {That would be my occasional anti-social response.}

The second is to actually answer the question like a normal human being. I often use different words and phrases to help people understand the vision of Sseko. I'll say something about an income generating project or a social enterprise or an initiative. And sometimes I keep it simple and say something to the effect of, "Well, I started a company in Uganda that…"

Something interesting happens when I use that particular phrase, "..started a company…" that doesn't happen when I use other phrases. There is something about a "company" that seems impossibly big or ambiguous or mysterious. There is always a bit of surprise when our thoughts about what a "company" or "business" is collides with an actual human standing in front of you. (Especially when that human looks like a 17-year-old and most likely has chipped toenail polish and tangly hair.)

But I think this surprise is an interesting picture of how a business goes from being a group of individuals, coming together to achieve a common goal to an "other." An entity. Something ambiguous and untouchable. A machine of sorts.

And it is that ambiguity and "otherness" that contributes to a lot of the way we do business these days. I think anytime we can diffuse the responsibility of our decisions, it becomes a lot harder to make good ones. Decisions that put others before ourself. Decisions that we are proud of. Decisions that are hard and require sacrifice and a vision that goes beyond what is good for me, right here, right now.

That is why we have to have seminars and public speakers and workshops and college classes devoted to this mysterious thing of "corporate ethics." There is something about people coming together and forming a group, that it seems, makes it substantially harder to just do the right thing.

I think this goes both ways, from the consumer and corporate perspective. The more we can distance ourselves from the "stuff" we buy, the easier it is to diffuse the responsibility we have and to ignore the consequences of the way we do business. We buy our stuff from a company. And that company is big and elusive and ambiguous. So we pass that responsibility on to them. I buy my stuff, spend my money, and cross my fingers that my actions are not having a negative effect on the people I can't see behind the curtain.

And then there is the company side. If you are part of this entity, it becomes easy to say I am just the _____(fill in the blank.) Just this tiny part of a big old entity that will do what it does with or without me. Making ethical decisions is not really my responsibility. That is ____'s (fill in the blank) job. I will do what I am told and cross my fingers that this action doesn't have a negative effect on the world I can't see behind the curtain.

And there you have it, a whole lot of people, closing their eyes and crossing their fingers. And a lot of companies acting as curtains and a lot of consumers willing to pass off responsibility because their can't possibly see beyond the almighty curtain.

Well, I refuse to buy into that. I for one won't close my eyes and cross my fingers. And I am certainly not up for building a team of people that close their eyes and cross their fingers. This means we are trying to build a community of people that really believe their decisions, no matter how small, matter. That they are in fact, co-creators of this product, this brand, this company. That a "company" is not some big, mysterious entity. But rather, made up of individuals. And that those individuals matter. That they make a difference. That we value them first as humans, then as employees, customers and suppliers.

There will be no closing of the eyes and crossing of the fingers, but instead a proactive and sacrificial posture as a company that realizes Yes, the things we do HAVE an effect. And we do have a choice as to what that effect will be. We will do away with the curtain and say, please look at us. Look at every part of this chain that connects you to this "stuff" and then say yes. Or no. But please, look. Take responsibility. Bring down the curtain say hello to Oz.

{world domination}

[Your Name Here] — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 08:33:13 +0000

Julie got an email from a friend last night who lives in Brazil.

She was walking down a busy street in Rio, rocking her Ssekos.

A total stranger approached her and asked excitedly, "Are those Ssekos?!?!"

Said stranger had received a pair herself for Christmas. They stopped and chatted for about 15 minutes about Ssekos and compared notes on how they wear/tie them.

Really? Strangers in Rio, just chatting about Sseko.

Pretty fun.

Stranger in Rio, if you are reading this, make yourself known.

{innovation or bust}

[Your Name Here] — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 14:17:26 +0000

Julie and I were at the workshop yesterday getting ready to begin the official training for the Sseko 2010 class.

We were all sitting around, chit-chatting, waiting for the last girl, Betty (hold your horses, you will meet her soon) to arrive.

In the middle of our chatting, I looked over at Topesta (another one of our new young ladies), who was casually playing around with the way we fasten the anchors beneath the sandal.

“What are you doing over there, Topesta?”

She looked up timidly at me, and I realized that she looked a little nervous, perhaps afraid of a pending reprimand.

I took the sandal from her and exclaimed, “This is brilliant! This is employee innovation, here!”

I quickly realized that the phrase “Employee Innovation” was a bit lost on the crowd.

Now a little something about me, I sometimes get a little overly excited about those “teaching moments” in life. ( I pity my future children. 'Not again!')

“This right here, what you did, this is innovation. People invent things all the time. And that is great. But unless we continue to change, grow and refine those things and ideas they become antiquated and irrelevant. You took an idea and changed it. You might just have made it better.”

I went on to explain that they were not just here to make sandals. That they are co-creators of this product, this brand, this community.

So the idea was born. We then went on to discuss how to evaluate innovation. For this particular situation we broke the evaluation into five categories:

1.) Quality: How will this affect the strength and overall quality of our product?

2.) Comfort: How will this affect the comfort of our product?

3.) Time: How will this affect the amount of time it takes to make our product?

4.) Cost: How will this affect the cost of production?

5.) Aesthetics: How will this affect the design and aesthetics of our product?

We went around the room and each girl gave their opinion on each category. I’ll be honest, at first it was a little painful. There was so much timidity. But question by question, we watched as these young women slowly started to believe that we wanted to hear their opinion. That each of them had a voice. And that as a part of this team and community, they were expected to exercise that voice, to contribute, to become co-creators.

After evaluating, we decided that there was enough reason to continue to explore this option. The next step would be to create a proto-type. (Yes, prototype. Lesson numero two. Sometimes I tend to overindulge.)

So we made a sandal to see if all this conjecturing we had been doing was actually on the right track. Right there and then. And then we took it for a little test run. Literally. (Well, brisk walk.)

The excitement in the workshop was building.

Nex was an experiment in democracy. (Yeah, yeah. Lesson number three, so sue me.) We took a vote. Julie and I included, we all voted. We explained that in this community, although we each have different responsibilities, every voice has weight. So we voted.

And we decided unanimously that the idea was worth pursuing. We all did a little celebrating. And we officially gave Topesta The Innovator of the Day award.

{Now, if you feel inspired or warmed by that story, feel free to stop reading now. But for full disclosure purposes I will continue with Act II: The Morning After}

When Julie and I left the workshop that day, we instructed the girls to continue making the sandals with the new method.

When we arrived the next morning we noticed a little something that had slipped by us the day before. And that something was not a good something. There was a little glitch that was caused by the new method, and because of that, we had to toss about 30% of the sandals that had been made that afternoon.

And then we noticed that there were another 50 pairs of sandals that were works in progress, that would have to all be undone to avoid said glitch. Julie and I had a little conference and came to the conclusion that this was the only option. Until some other things changed in our production, we had to go back to the old way.

We dreaded telling the girls. Yesterday had been such a beautiful picture of growth and creativity.

But this is the nature of innovation.

You take a risk. Sometimes it works. And sometimes it doesn’t. And when it doesn’t that excitement and energy seems like a nostalgic memory from the past. And you feel like you are back at square one. At square one with a bunch of dud sandals and discouraged young women.

But the thing is, innovation isn’t about the end.

The product. The system. The method.

It is about the process.

The process of humbling yourself to realize that everything can be made better.

The process of finding your voice.

The process of becoming a co-creator.

The process of realizing that to create is to risk.

But to not, is a far greater one.

{the time has come}

[Your Name Here] — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 16:26:20 +0000

Well. The day has come. For any one who has talked to me in the past 2 months, there was probably a peculiar longing in my voice that likely could have been attributed to my excitement for our new Country Director to arrive in Uganda.

Well the funny longing voice is gone. Julie has arrived. Julie will be supervising and managing most of our Uganda side logistics. This includes everything from fancy meetings with Parliament members regarding export regulations (Monday) or trudging ankle-deep through the narrow, muddy paths of Owino market looking for tools to revamp our workshop (today.)

As I sit writing this, Julie is decorating our room with cool vintage record covers. Oh, how I appreciate a girl who puts some elbow grease into her aesthetic surroundings. Even if it is a kind of janky room in the middle of East Africa.

And she loves organization. Can you sense a trend in the type of people I tend to hire?? Like grandma always said...Hire your weakness!! (Note of disclousure: My grandmother never actually said those words, but I am sure someone's did.)

Oh. And she laughs at most my jokes. Pretty hard. Could this get any better??

Here are a few words from her to you. I'm sure you will be hearing much more. Enjoy!

Dear world wide web,

Allow me to introduce myself. I am Julie Beckstrom. I have brown hair and blue eyes. I love things like coffee, headscarves, traveling, the occasional reality tv show, etc. I hate things like tea, wet socks, boring things, and waking up early. I’m absolutely thrilled to be joining Sseko, living in Uganda, and working with the girls. I’m excited to combine my love for this place with the mission of Sseko. Plus, I get to work with some adorable shoes and even more adorable women. I’ve just started on this journey, but I get butterflies when I think of where it may take me, and I’d love to keep you posted on the way there! That’s all I have for now…I wouldn’t want to overwhelm you since we just met, but you can expect to hear more from me before long.

(**this picture was taken right before Julie hopped, scratch that, THREW HERSELF OFF, the world's tallest bungee jump. what can we say? the Sseko crew is full of risk takers***)

{girls day out}

[Your Name Here] — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 19:27:28 +0000

Ok. I know I have told you all before about our rockstar Sseko girl called Mercy. Mercy was from our first class of Sseko ladies. Well, now she is in University. She studies engineering and just gets the biggest kick out of numbers and computer programing and all the stuff that gives me the heeby-jeebies.

Mercy is now our first Leadership Intern. For those of you that are not aware, we are working towards a vision to implement more career specific professional opportunities into the Sseko experience. In a few words, we envision that as Sseko grows we will have a "three-tiered" program.

The first "level", as you all know, is pretty simple.

Make sandals, go to college.

Check.

The second level is to continue our relationships with these young women throughout their time in University and use Sseko as a more career-specific leadership "training ground."

This is where Mercy comes in. Instead of making sandals for round two, Mercy is now working with Sseko in a leadership position. Essentially, we are training Mercy in all the basics of small business management. From shipping logistics to training employees to working with suppliers and communication via email...

**Wait what??? Mercy just got a gmail account. I love gmail. And now we can...wait for it...G CHAT!!! How great is this???? Please take a moment to rejoice with me. Just. So. Fun**

Mercy has just blown us away. She has been such a huge part of our operations here on the ground. It has been so fun to see her grow from a bright but timid new high school graduate, to a confident business-woman-in-training.

Which leads me to level number three. Once the girls have completed University, it is our hope to then bring them back to Sseko in a full time leadership capacity. Obviously, being that we are in year numero one, we are a little ways out...but I thought I'd splurge and give you a sneak peak.

ANYWAYS...back to the bat cave...

Today, I got to steal Mercy away to spend a little time with her before the new class of ladies arrives on Wednesday (what what!).

Oh Internet, it was so fun. We had a little ladies day out. I surprised Mercy and took her to get a pedicure as a way of thanking her for all her hard work. She was pretty ticklish--but a true champ for her first ever pedicure.

I am counting down the days until Julie, our new Country Director arrives. It will be fun to have a third partner in crime. The three amigos we will be. (Hopefully. I have never ACTUALLY met Julie, but we will be sharing a bed. And mosquito net.)