|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Women's WorkDesigning a better future for the world's poorest women
By Claire Moncla
Kirsten Anderson Dickerson has a passion for foreign missions, but
she'd have difficulty blending into a distant culture by covering
herself in a burka or wrapping her body in a sarong. With short blonde
hair and a tall, willowy frame, Dickerson would stand out in countries
such as India and Africa.
 But she doesn't mind standing out in the world of missions by connecting the two seemingly opposing worlds of high-end fashion and Third-World micro-enterprises.
After graduating from Baylor in 1996, she married Brandon Dickerson
'94, a film director, and together, they planted a church in Hollywood
named Ecclesia in 2005. Through their church, Dickerson led outreach
teams locally and globally. On several of these mission trips, she
visited sewing and jewelry-making micro-enterprises in India and Africa
that employed impoverished women.
"After returning, I wanted to know how we could support these
programs," said Dickerson, who is pictured with a Maasai tribeswoman.
So she teamed up with friend and graphic designer Sophia Lin and Women
of Global Action (WOGA)—a network of Christian women active in more
than one hundred countries—to start the non-profit organization Raven +
Lily, named after an illustration in the Sermon on the Mount.
Raven + Lily
uses fair trade practices by selling handicrafts made by
micro-enterprises in India and Africa and giving the proceeds directly
back to the female workers. But this non-profit organization takes it a
step further by also working with the women to make new products and
designs.
"I just don't like to leave unfinished business anywhere," Dickerson
explained, "so I agreed to continue helping them on a part-time basis
until the project could be self-sustaining."
Dickerson, Lin, and their volunteer team traveled half-way across the
world to teach their designs to co-ops in Africa and India. By
combining their designs with those of the indigenous women, Dickerson
hopes to make products that will appeal to American consumers. To
further aid Raven + Lily's existing partnerships in India and Africa,
and to help fund future micro-enterprises, Dickerson also holds
fundraisers to sell products, such as jewelry and stationery, made by
Los Angeles volunteers.
Most of the products sold by Raven + Lily are made by women in India
from a slum community in Dehra Duhn and from the remote mountain
villages of Gharwal. The organization also partners with a sewing
program for impoverished women in Burundi, a jewelry making co-op for
women with AIDS in Ethiopia, and an outreach for Maasai women in Kenya.
Dickerson believes Raven + Lily is a unique ministry. "We're not just
giving these women a handout, but we're giving them a skill," she
explained. "I don't want to do pity sales. I want to sell things that
are beautiful and represent the person who made them. People will buy
something if it tells a story."
Lately, Dickerson has been working to tell these stories to Los
Angeles' fashion industry. "Our ultimate goal is to connect these
groups of African and Indian women to high-end designers, who will then
sell their materials fair trade," Dickerson said. Raven + Lily also
hopes to help create stores within the local markets of India and
Africa so that the micro-enterprises composed of these women can
eventually become self-sustaining.
Dickerson said her years at Baylor were her bridge to missions. "Baylor
was a safe place to grow spiritually," she said. "Coming from a small
community upbringing in Katy, Baylor was a big step for me."
She took an even bigger step in 1994 as part of the first Baylor in
Africa summer program. "That trip rocked my world by scaring me, but
also forcing me to do some soul-searching," she said. Over the next
several years, Dickerson spent time in Estonia and volunteered with
Mission Waco. The day after she graduated, Mission Waco sent her to
India for a summer, solidifying her passion for missions.
"Life's been a total adventure," Dickerson said. "I have no idea how
big an impact Raven + Lily will have, but to me each and every woman
matters, whether a volunteer in Los Angeles, a woman in a slum in
India, or a widow with AIDS in Africa. It's amazing that God can weave
our lives together despite our different cultures and experiences."
|
|
|
|
|
.jpg)
