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For Many Women, the Future is Rising
Rising International
Genocide survivors in Rwanda weave baskets to sell at Rising International home parties in the US- Deepak Chopra
There is an ancient suburban ritual, a tradition going back many generations. Women, and sometimes men, gather in a living room or kitchen to buy things.
Saturdays or early evenings will find them pouring over catalogs and sipping coffee while they chat and catch up. The stranger in the room is there to sell them things. She may perform a ritual like “beautifying” the guests, draping them with sparkling jewelry or even giving them dainty, sexy nightgowns to try on. Most famously, they sit around a table and giggle as they “burp” plastic containers.
Rising International parties are Tupperware with a twist. Its motto, “End Poverty from your Living Room,” provides a clue. Rising International is the first organization to use the home party business model to bring income to the very poorest people on the planet: women and children who live on less than a dollar a day.
Something magical happens at a Rising party. Gathered in a comfortable setting among friends and family, guests are introduced to global poverty, especially as it affects women – not your usual party topic.
A few shocking statistics get this unusual event underway.
Poverty has a Woman’s Face.
- Women make up 70 percent of those living in extreme poverty on less than $1 per day.
- Every minute one woman dies because she cannot afford medical attention during pregnancy or childbirth.
- At least 54 countries have discriminatory laws against women.
- Only 1 percent of the world’s assets are in the name of women.
Women Hold the Key to Ending Poverty.
When women in developing countries are given the chance to earn money:
- Children’s education, nutrition, health and life expectancy are enhanced.
- Domestic violence declines.
- Infant and maternal mortality rates are lowered.
- Family planning increases and birth rates drop.
- Gross Domestic Product grows.
Next, the Ambassador of Hope, an immigrated native of one of the countries that fill the Rising catalog, begins to tell her story. She speaks of memories of parents, siblings, spouses and children who were lost to war, famine, displacement and diseases. Guest speakers have survived childhood sexual slavery and genital mutilation, years of living in refuge camps or being orphaned by AIDS. They are survivors: their stories are told with courage and optimism even though they suffered as we can scarcely imagine. She answers a few questions, and asks the guests to please enjoy the show.
Now the drapes come off the display items as the catalogs are passed around. The Rising Representative shows each item. She is part of Rising’s program to offer small business skills and an opportunity to earn much needed cash that will move her over the poverty line. Passing around each item, she tells the story of the artisans who hand-crafted them. Pictures of artisans at work have been placed around the room. The artisan is joined with the Rising Representative, the Ambassador, the craft, the story and the women in the room.
This is the magic. To touch a basket woven by Josephine, a genocide survivor, is to connect with her. And while the story always includes tragedy, it always ends in triumph - these are women who reached for a dream while surrounded by despair. These are women of courage. They are heroes. These are women you want to know. These are women you want to help.
Helping has never been easier. You can shop for beautiful things and schmooze and end poverty in your living room.
Rising International is the brain-child of Carmel Jud, the successful owner of a marketing firm, who got restless one day and decided to take Deepak Chopra up on his challenge. Using her creative background, and thinking of the terrible treatment women received under the Taliban, Carmel decided to devote herself to helping poor women.
She studied the problem and saw that that no matter how poor they were, women of developing countries could make things. She imported a few items from Afghanistan and invited a few friends over to shop. A reporter attended, wrote a story for a city newspaper and the Rising Home party was born.
For years, Carmel held all the parties herself while running her business, but she found that she could not do both well and that she had found her true calling. So, she quit her day job, sold all the furniture, and she and her husband moved into a barn. Brian always said he would follow Carmel anywhere – and he did.
Joined by a few friends who loved the idea of using home parties to end poverty, Carmel and her small team began to train other women, many low income, to become Rising Representatives – a job ideally suited to working women who need additional income. Each Rising Representative is her own boss and earns a percentage of gross sales. Each artisan receives payment based on a formula calculated to raise them out of poverty, including visits to a doctor and school tuition.
Currently Rising has 36 representatives selling an average of $900 a party (nearly three times the industry average). More than 50 volunteers keep it running. Most importantly, Rising has sold crafts from more than 50 countries, providing an income for the poorest women in the world. It has started craft projects in Chad for Darfur refugees, in Rwanda for genocide survivors and in Afghanistan for widows.
It’s future? Well I would say – its Rising.
Rising is expanding to Florida soon. To help make this happen, e-mail Rising International at homeparties@risinginternational.org or visit www.risinginternational.org for more information.
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