When life hands you lemons... make lemonade!  We were supposed to be in Nepal and missed the earthquake by one day.  Due to the natural disaster, the airport was closed - causing members of The Peace Exchange Board of Directors to find an alternative place to travel.  Things do not always go according to plan... Africa to Nepal became Africa to Austria.  One of our fellow board members lives in Vienna and we were so lucky to be able to transfer flights and land in Europe.  Taking a couple of days to acclimate we are back to work in Vienna.  Discussing marketing/branding and designing our new Peace Exchange t-shirts.  Board members from across the globe unite and work together in fair trade and design to help Congo.  Stay tuned for 3 shirt lines to soon unfold!  www.ThePeaceExchange.com 

Women of The Peace Exchange

It has been an incredible 2 weeks in Democratic Republic of Congo.  What has been the most impactful is seeing the transformation in the lives of our seamstresses within one year.  While our efforts were to open a second sewing center, which we did, we also wanted to spend quality time with our artisans and check in with them.  What I found was inspiring.  Not only are the women doing much better, they have found a sense of true community with one another - a sister-hood so to speak. Women who have very little and who have experienced much hardship are now working in a joyful environment.  I guess that's why I love fair trade so much.  It empowers at the root level.  It gives hope in the midst of despair.  I have seen with my own two eyes transformation in the lives of women and children.  Enjoy the video and may you too feel uplifted by the work being done in Congo.  I love these women!!!!  - Katie Bond, Founder of The Peace Exchange.

Making Connections, Finding Friends, Changing Lives in Congo

Katie and Iris are in The Democratic Republic of Congo this week where amazing things are happening as The Peace Exchange is making progress toward opening a new, second sewing center in the city of Bukavu.

On Thursday, Katie had the chance to meet and talk with Dr. Denis Mukwege, a French-trained Congolese gynecologist and founder of the Panzi Hospital in Bukavu, which specializes in treating survivors of horrific sexual violence.

Dr. Denis Mukwege

Mukwege, who last year was awarded the European Union's Sakharov Prize is also regarded as a probable candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize, has become the world's leading expert on how to repair the internal physical damage caused by gang rape. At Panzi, he has treated thousands of women who were victims of gang wartime rape since the Second Congo War, often performing as many as 10 surgeries a day.


You can read more about Dr. Mukwege's absolutely heroic work HERE.

Dr. Mukwege founded Panzi in 1996 as a response to the devastating war that surrounded his community in the eastern provinces of the DRC. As a direct outcome of the war, maternal mortality was on the rise, and Dr. Mukwege hoped to improve access to cesarean sections and other obstetric interventions.

The Panzi Foundation website tells more of the harrowing story:

"[Dr. Mukwege's] first patient, however, wasn't a mother in labor, but a survivor of rape whose vagina and rectum had been destroyed with a knife. Dr. Mukwege was appalled, and as the epidemic of sexual violence flared up along with the pace of the war, he dedicated significant hospital resources to treating women with fistula, saying,

'The perpetrators of these crimes destroy life at its entry point. The women can no longer have children. Often they get infected with AIDS and will spread the disease. Their men are humiliated. So the perpetrators destroy the entire social fabric of their enemies, their communities, their future generations, without even killing the woman.'"

Mukwege and his staff performed more than 2,400 fistula surgery's last year for free. No joke. Today, the Panzi is at full capacity with more than 450 beds.

Katie and Iris visited the hospital Panzi Thursday and are scheduled to return today to meet with Dr. Mukwege's staff to brainstorm ways The Peace Exchange and the Panzi can collaborate.


One way is a new design we're in the process of creating called PANZI PANTS — a line of men's trousers, women's capris, and pajama pants with a portion of the sale of every pair going to Panzi Hospital! Check out the prototype below!

  We are just so excited about all that's happening in Congo now and what's on the horizon for the future of The Peace Exchange, our friends, and colleagues in this beautiful, challenging land and we knew you all would share our enthusiasm.

Dr. Mukwege and his colleagues also are doing ingenious work integrating clean energy through his solar panel initiative. You can learn more about that project in the video below.

The Peace Exchange + YogaWorks

On the morning of Saturday, March 21, we spent a wonderful day in Santa Monica partnering with two different YogaWorks studios—the Main St. and the Montana St. locations—to spread The Peace Exchange message and show off our fun and funky yoga mat bags.

In fact, we had so much fun that we will be back at the Main St. studio with even more gear next week! If you're in the Santa Monica area on Friday, April 10, please stop by for a class and to take a look at all the hand-sewn, fair trade products we will be selling, including yoga bags, beach blankets, wine, grocery and sling bags—all handmade in the Congo by some truly remarkable women.

Check back here for updates and shop our collection online—Mother's Day is coming up, after all!

The Peace Exchange + YogaWorks

Friday, April 10—Main St. Studio

2215 Main St.

Santa Monica, 90405

310-272-5641

World Water Day: More Than Half of Congo's Population Still Lacks Access to Clean Drinking Water

A UNICEF report on worldwide access to clean drinking water released today said that while sub-Saharan Africa — the region with the lowest drinking water accessibility in 1990, has been gaining access to drinking water at the rate of 50,000 people per day since the year 2000 —  the region which includes the Democratic Republic of Congo (where The Peace Exchange works with women seamstresses) still accounts for more than 2 out of 5 of those without access globally.

That's 325 million people.

Most countries in the region are not on track to meet the United Nation's Millennium Development Goals' target, which expire this year. 

"There are now only three countries; Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mozambique and Papua New Guinea where more than half the population do not have improved drinking water," according to UNICEF.

• Of the 748 million people globally still without access to clean drinking water, 90 percent live in rural areas and are being left behind in their countries' progress.
  
• On average, nearly 1,000 children die every day from diarrhoeal diseases linked to unsafe drinking water, poor sanitation, or poor hygiene.
  
• For women and girls, collecting water cuts into time they can spend caring for families and studying.
  
• In insecure areas, it also puts them at risk of violence and attack. UNICEF estimates that in Africa alone, people spend 40 billion hours every year just walking to collect water. 

Women in Nepal Are Exiled Once a Month

The Peace Exchange recently began working in Kathmandu, Nepal, with a group of at-risk women, many of whom escaped inhumane conditions working for slave wages inside Nepal's notorious brick kilns and factories. Nepali women face many challenges — systemic, economic, and cultural.

According to the New York Times, 

In far western Nepal, many believe that women who are menstruating are impure and bring bad luck. And so they are exiled each month, leaving them vulnerable to rape and other horrors.

Rooted in Hindu and other traditional Nepali beliefs, the practice of banishing women from their homes during menstruation is known as chaupadi. Even though the Nepalese government outlawed it 2005, the practice still persists.

International Women's Day

A year ago to date ~ this is where we were... on the ground in Central Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo to be exact.  The Peace Exchange celebrated International Women's Day spending time with the women of Eastern Congo.  Women of all ages walked miles, even hours to gather in support of one another.  The day was filled with stories of hope and empowerment.  Allowing the women to gather in community and be heard, there were moments of laughter and tears.  Speakers were brought in to discuss issues of safety, women's rights, sexual violence, education and fair trade.  The meeting was one that will always remain as a powerful image in the mind's-eye.  As the founder of The Peace Exchange, I am honored to travel off the grid and go into parts where women struggle for basic rights ~ things that we take for granted.  DRC is one of the hardest places on the planet to be a woman.  With so many single mothers working for less than $1 a day, it breaks my heart.  This is why fair trade is so important... it is a gateway, an open door to empower women. #Makeithappen www.internationalwomensday.com #PeaceExchange www.ThePeaceExchange.com