When we started the EcoPrint Workshop a year ago, we thought we were teaching a craft. We were, in a way, pressing leaves and flowers onto cotton to make naturally-printed fabric.
But almost immediately, something else started happening.
"I never thought I could make something with my own hands and sell it. Now I make ten scarves a month."
From workshop to business
Within six months, the mothers in the workshop were selling their pieces to Kejora visitors and to two boutiques in Semarang. The small income has changed real things at home.
From business to classroom
The children started coming with their mothers on Wednesdays. So we opened a small kids' corner. Now the workshop is intergenerational, mothers, children, and a rotating cast of volunteers.
What we learned
Programs that stick are programs the community owns. Our job at Kejora is often to open a door, and then get out of the way.
