Thanks to you, we have some wonderful things to share about BABA BLANKETS™. We felt that creating a newsletter would be the perfect way to show our appreciation and deepen our connection. We consider you part of our community of supporters either because you have purchased from us in the past, signed one of our guest books, or you are among our close business associates, friends and family members. You are the ones with whom we want to share all of our big wins, interesting developments and exciting new opportunities. If you have any suggestions, please share them with us. We want our newsletter to be a reflection of our mutual community.

This month, BaBa Blankets™ was covered as a full feature story in Black Enterprise magazine’s May issue. The article is a major segment in the issue, spanning across five dedicated pages including two full page photos. This level of national exposure represents a great milestone for us. And, it comes just as we officially launch our new website www.babablanket.com. This site has more background info on our enterprise, including wonderful profiles of the women and girls, a short documentary video on the inspiration behind BaBa Blankets™, streamlined online shopping capabilities and much more. Please add it to your favorites and share it with your friends.

We also want to invite you to share in a potential journey that two of the women in our collective will make from Ghana to the United States. Beatrice Agbesinyale and Rita Makase were invited to represent BaBa Blankets™ at the Santa Fe International Folk Art Market this coming July. You can read more about this incredible opportunity here and you can help support their trip by purchasing from our new BaBa Blankets webstore before the end of June. We have developed some beautiful new designs and we are offering a very special community of supporters' coupon just for this.

It’s been almost two years since I re-launched BaBa Blankets™ in Ghana and began piecing together our collective approach to African women’s self-development. I have to admit, the learning curve has been incredibly steep! Here, we are not only learning how to grow our enterprise, we are also figuring out how to ensure the most meaningful growth for each woman involved. I still wonder what could have prepared me for the challenges that come along with this type of social entrepreneurship in Africa. I can only hope that it’s this sort of ‘baptism by fire’ that inspires the very type of innovative solutions needed to some of our age-old issues in the developing world.

Throughout this journey, I’ve held closely to my belief that a truly sustainable development effort cannot depend on outside funding. For better or for worse, this tenet has placed our success (and survival) squarely in our own laps. There haven’t been any quick fixes or handouts along the way. Our approach has been to focus on bringing you cultural products that are undeniably special and compelling enough to inspire natural support.

I want you to know that each one of your purchases has made a big difference for our collective. Every sale has meant ongoing sustainability, growth and opportunity for us. We’ve gone from being beginners in an unfamiliar industry to becoming famous for our quality. Today, our work is even more striking than ever before. We’ve introduced new design lines, color families and more product choices. We’ve expanded our outreach beyond the women who work with us directly to support adolescent girls in Ghana’s rural areas. Our goal is to help these incredible young women stay in school and out of the menial street jobs that attract them to the urban areas. Now your purchases are converted into two pathways – creative development for African women and more education for African girls.

Over these years working in Africa, I’ve found that the beauty is in how much we can do with so little, while the inspiration lies in how much there is yet to be done. Great or small, these are our strides towards a meaningful positive impact. Thank you for helping us to make this way!

I look forward to sharing more of our journey with you. Please don’t hesitate to send me your stories, thoughts and This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . Hearing from you is much appreciated food for my soul.

All the very best,
Aminata

In November 2007, we initiated the BaBa Blankets™ SISTA Scholar Program in Bolgatanga, a rural northern region in Ghana. SISTA stands for Stay-In-School Tuition Assistance and we developed this program to provide exceptionally inspiring girls from Ghana’s village communities with the support needed to complete their secondary school education (i.e. high school). Through this program, girls who might otherwise drop-out of school to search for urban street jobs (like carrying loads) are given support to continue their education.

We’ve learned that many girls from these rural areas cannot afford the huge jump in cost from junior secondary school (i.e. middle school) to the secondary school level. The fees are usually more than one hundred times what village families pay for the lower levels and most are boarding schools. Beyond what the families face in this sudden increased tuition, the boarding costs for a girl’s upkeep far exceed what most rural families can manage. Because many girls cannot pay, their only choice is to drop out and join the workforce before they have achieved full literacy or gained any tangible skills.

Our enterprise goes into these areas to find girls who have a remarkable academic drive and vision for their future. These girls want to go to school more than anything else in the world, and despite some incredible challenges, they refuse to give up on this dream. In this first year of our program, we have selected six extraordinary girls for the BaBa Blankets™ SISTA Scholar Award. This is our humble beginning to what we intend to develop as a major community resource for Ghana’s northern school girls. We don’t want to see any girl drop out of school to find menial work when what she really wants (and needs) is an education. It doesn’t take much to keep these girls in school, so we are making it our business to see them through.