| Bouncing Back from Natural Disaster |
| Friday, 09 April 2010 20:05 | |||
 Toronto, Ontario, April 2010 – With the sadness and tragedy of natural disasters all around us these past six months, it’s uplifting to hear about how a group of resilient women in the Philippines is turning the tide and working hard to put the pieces back together after a devastating typhoon.
When the international TV crews move on from places like the Philippines, Haiti and Chile, and the grief and shock subside, it’s important to learn and appreciate how the communities affected by these powerful natural disasters recover and how others can continue to help these hard-working people rebuild their lives. In September 2009, the Typhoon Ondoy struck the suburb near Manila where a Women's Cooperative is located. The typhoon severely damaged their production facility and equipment, and even more heartbreaking was the loss of the lives of two women of the cooperative, and the flooded homes of many more. After grieving the human and personal loss, followed by several months of hard work repairing the damage to their business and homes, the cooperative is now a shining example of how the rest of us can help people and businesses recover from a natural disaster. “Although we provide relief support, particularly in the form of 5% of our sales going to their relief and scholarship funds, what victims of a natural disaster really want is a sense of normalcy and to get back to work,” says Larry Duprey, the founder of Bazura Bags (www.bazurabags.com), the cooperative’s primary sales and marketing team in North America, even though he is an independent company selling their products. “The women at the cooperative are not relying on just charity to keep their business going, they are proud of the products they make and want meaningful work and support in the form of well-earned business,” adds Duprey. Something that people in wealthy nations often overlook is that more than ever we are a connected global community, and beyond donations, the ongoing long-term success and economic recovery of people in affected regions is linked to the purchasing decisions that people worldwide make on a daily basis. “It is more important that ever for our company to get the word out about their heartwarming story to encourage people to provide support by purchasing their high quality eco-friendly products so they can get their sales back to where they were before the storm,” notes Duprey. “Plus,” he added, “Their will to rebuild and move on in memory of their friends is inspiring.” For more than a decade, the Philippine Women's Cooperative has been utilizing used, colorful and non biodegradable juice containers that would otherwise clutter landfills, fields and streets of their community, to create Bazura Bags. The handcrafted and eclectic bags and accessories add glamour to recycled goods while helping clean the environment, supporting the livelihood of less fortunate, but empowered women and their families. With only the help of the local village council, six Filipino women set up the cooperative which has grown to include over 500 members today. 20% of its members work full time at the cooperative, which organizes schools and groups of adult collectors to gather over 50,000 used juice containers per day. They are washed, sanitized and recycled into a wide variety of fashionable and durable bags, accessories, home furnishings and even footwear that are exported and sold in over 15 countries around the world. By transforming "basura", the Filipino word for garbage, into a collection of eco-chic bags and other accessories, millions of juice containers are kept out of crowded landfills and more resources that would have been used to make products from virgin materials are conserved. Bazura Bags is committed to giving garbage a new life as fashionable new bags and accessories that support the environment and fair trade. Bazura Bags are featured in over 80 styles in bright colors thanks to the colorful juice containers from which they are made. The most popular styles include grocery and market bags, backpacks, coin purses, messenger bags, lunch bags, purses and the Doy bag. "Doy packs" are what the drink containers are called in the Philippines. New styles include woven bags and bags made from other recycled materials such as recycled rice bags and advertising banners. Bazura Bags retail from $5.00 to $60.00 and are available at stores in the US and Canada and online at www.bazurashop.com. For more information about the company and its social mission, please visit www.bazurabags.com. SOURCE: Bazura Bags
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