The Developing World has a sense of bustling enterprise

When I got to Ghana one thing I noticed early after arrival was a sense of bustling enterprise and I suppose being away from home for a month and in the developed world the lack of it is what made it so obvious.
In the developing world most people don't have job security, there is no social security payments so if you want to eat tonight you need to be activly doing something about it. Street vendors abound, any little idea you think of you give it ago...in some ways I have had to join the brigade. I don't have a permanent job, the very busy teaching circuit I used to maintain is rather far away and I have not being saying yes like I used to....
We have had to diversify in what we do, now we are in rural Rajasthan...it is quiet exciting because we are doing some good things and it has lead us to meet up with some amazing people.

I mentioned in December I got to meet up with one of my heroes Dr Skye Morrison, well I had the good fortune to meet her again in Delhi recently along with a whole troup of her friends. Present were a group from Jharakand in the east of India, for many of them it was their first visit to Delhi and they were there to sell some of the products produced by their group.

I purchased this small embroidery as a momento of the day, it is a story cloth and depicts the group members who left their village and journeyed to Delhi, 4 ladies and 1 young gentleman...I did end up buying a small stack of other works for sell through Pukka Finds http://www.our-pukka-place.com/finds.html

Now I am getting over being a middle person it is rather a thrill to say I'll have that one, and that one and that one...I get to soak them up for a while before they find new homes and the beaming smiles on the makers faces are such a pleasure in themselves!

Here is Skye and another woman Sanju[ in the centre] and Nirmala from the Sirali group. Sanju, I realised is another person I have admired from afar for years, any of my ex-students will probably remeber the little stash of stitched pieces I usually bring with me to show examples of how simple running stitch can enliven a surface.

Well Sanju is the originator of those peices I carry. I ssssooooo admire her work....and am just working out details to buy more.Some of the members of the Sirali group.
Totally different story but I have spent the morning photographing these things so they are all rolling together...Look at Pukka Finds for more http://www.our-pukka-place.com/finds.html.

This piece of mud cloth I am keeping for myself...on the back is what remains of a former mud cloth, after time if they are washed the mud wears off and they fade....this one had suffered that fate so someone had turned ot over and rpainted it. To me it is more charming for that....

the developing world is so into re-cycling, nothing goes to waste...so much to learn from it.