Human Rights Watch: Zimbabwe 2011

The Human Rights Watch released their World Report 2012, which summarizes the events of 2011.  Below are some of the categories they write about and the atrocities taking place.  For a complete view of 2011, read the entire report here.

Politics

• After a period of relative calm, 2011 saw an increase in politically motivated violence across the country.

• Police and prosecutors have been highly partisan and biased in their investigations and prosecution of acts of violence between supporters of the two parties. Groups allied to ZANU-PF continue to beat and intimidate citizens in the high-density suburbs of Harare with impunity, while MDC activists accused of violence are disproportionately arrested.

Human Rights Activists & Freedom of Expression

• The Zimbabwean authorities continue to use repression and intimidation to silence human rights advocates and to prevent them from exposing abuses and promoting respect for human rights.

• On September 21, police arrested 12 activists from the organization Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) during a peaceful march commemorating the international day of peace. Ten of the activists were released without charge but two leaders of the organization, Jenni Williams and Magodonga Mahlangu, spent 13 days in custody.

• There continue to be serious limits on the rights to freedom of expression and information in Zimbabwe, particularly in the form of threats of closure of independent media organizations, as well as the intimidation, arbitrary arrest, and criminal prosecution of journalists. The government’s actions seem primarily designed to inhibit criticism of government officials and institutions, and to muzzle reporting and commentary on the political situation in the country.

Diamonds

• While violence has decreased in the Marange diamond fields over the past year, Human Rights Watch research in June found that Zimbabwe police and private security guards employed by mining companies in the Marange diamond fields were implicated in abuses against local unlicensed miners. Private security guards working with the police routinely beat and set dogs to attack and maul local miners who stray into areas of the fields controlled by the companies. During patrols, police also fired live ammunition at miners as they fled the fields.

Interaction with the World

• The United Nations Human Rights Council’s first Universal Periodic Review of Zimbabwe took place in October 2011. Zimbabwe rebuffed at the outset all recommendations pertaining to investigating allegations of violations, combating impunity, and bolstering protection in the Marange region, and related to freedoms of assembly and expression, including repealing or amending the POSA.

• Due to the absence of meaningful human rights improvements, the European Union and United States have maintained targeted sanctions on Mugabe and others within his government.

As elections still loom in 2012, political violence is sure to rise, human rights activists and journalists will most likely face more oppression, and Zimbabweans will bear the brunt of the uncertainty.  It’s important to let the government in Zimbabwe know the world is watching and we want to see their incredible potential work for positive change. 

The Geography of Women's Economic Opportunity

The treatment of women reflects a society’s commitment to equality and social justice. But it also reflects its ability to harness human capital, advance to innovative frontiers and generate higher levels of economic prosperity for all members.

This eye-opening article explores the Geography of Women’s Economic Opportunity. 

Most Zimbabweans have few economic opportunities, but women face more barriers than men.  And they are often the ones left to provide for children, parents, and other relatives. 

This map shows how countries rank in Gender Equity: 

 

Do you see Zimbabwe?  It’s there, in the gold color, inside the black circle.  Zimbabwe scores very low in education, economic participation, and empowerment of women.  On all of the maps in this study, one thing is clear: "ocieties which emphasize tolerance, individual autonomy and self-expression over hierarchical, authoritarian values also have higher levels of economic development." For countries to prosper, they must encourage the participation of women in the business environment.  We believe that women are the key to economic and societal success.  The women of Zimbags are proving that one bag at a time.     

MLK Day & a Sale!

"All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence." -Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Here at Zimbags, we are aiming for excellence by changing some things this year.  The first step is to make room for change!  And that means good things for you: a sale!

Now through February 14th many Zimbags products will be up to 50% off.

What's on sale?  The ZimTote,  The ZimMarket Mini, The ZimPouch Mini, The ZimLunch Mini, The ZimOnsies & Shirts, The ZimTableCloths, and the beautiful ZimWall Hangings!

Make sure to get yours now, supplies are limited.  All proceeds go making big changes that will help the women of Zimbags -- be part of the change!

Changes are coming!

Hi there!  Guess what?  Things at Zimbags are changing this year.  We are excited to start sharing these changes with you soon.  Keep your eyes open for new and exciting things.  

The image above is just one hint at the awesomeness ahead.  We have also joined Twitter!  Come follow us to learn about what's happening with Zimbags.  

It's 2012 -- Zimbags 5th year in operation, celebrate along with us this year as we grow and change.
 

Art can change lives.

We believe art can change lives.
(and it's cool when you can take your art with you!)

Check back soon to:

• See the ZimSignature Collection.
• Meet our new artist!
• Get updates on Zimbabwe.

Happy Wednesday!
-The Happy Bag Elves

Happy Women's Day!

Today is the 100th International Women's Day.

Since we work in Zimbabwe, we are particularly interested in the girls and women of Africa and how they can change the world. When you educate a girl in Africa she is less likely to get HIV/AIDS, she is more likely to have a small and healthy family, she will earn much more money and be able to pass those benefits onto her children.

A woman can end the cycle of poverty. That's why we choose to work with women artists in Zimbabwe. The women of Zimbabwe often care for many children and live on less than $1 a day. They are often unable to pay for school for their children and struggle to pay for food and medical care.

So today, please consider purchasing from Zimbags and support a woman artist in Zimbabwe who are working hard to break the cycle of poverty with their children. Celebrate the strength and courage of women by supporting some incredible artists in Zimbabwe!

And we have made it even easier for you by offering 10% off any Zimbag featuring artwork of women.


We can bag poverty in this generation. And ending poverty never looked so good.

-The Happy Bag Elves

Save 10% in March!

Happy (end of) Monday to you!

Tomorrow, a new month begins. March. The march toward spring. And hopefully this sale will put a spring in your step (very punny, huh?).

March 8th is International Women's Day (more on that later), so for the whole month of March all Zimbags with artwork featuring women are 10%. Get your Zimbag, support women artists, and celebrate International Women's Day! The bags included are the folding Zimshopper, the Zimshopper, the Zimtote, and the Zimblack tote. The art on your bag will look something like these:

Zimbags make ending poverty a beautiful thing.

-The Happy Bag Elves

The Lives Behind the Numbers

The average teacher, government worker, or civil servant in Zimbabwe makes about $200 a month. Recently the state statistics agency in Zimbabwe put the poverty line for a family of five in Zimbabwe at $467.

Just to eat the bare minimum amount of calories to stay healthy, a family must spend $150. Teachers, government workers, and civil servants can’t afford to house, clothe, and feed their families, let alone pay for schooling or healthcare.

And when you look at the country as a whole, they are the lucky ones. Most Zimbabweans are unemployed and living on less than $1 a day.

Of course, these numbers are heartbreaking and shocking, but behind the numbers are the actual people living their lives and working hard.

There are 5 women artists we know in Zimbabwe that are working hard to provide for their families. They create art using the sadza technique. They cook cornmeal (sadza), create traditional Zimbabwean designs and art with the sadza on cotton fabric, wait for the sadza to dry in the sun, paint over the design, seal the paint with heat, and then remove the sadza from the fabric.

This process is time and skill intensive. The artwork produced is vibrant and beautiful, like the Zimbabwean spirit. We purchase this artwork at fair prices and sell it in our webstore where you can make the beautiful artwork your own while empowering women in Zimbabwe.

Like the woman in this beautiful sadza painting, the women artists we work with gracefully balance their burdens and carry their families as they walk toward their future.

Thanks for supporting Zimbags and helping these women lighten their heavy burdens.

Always,

The Happy Bag Elves

There is no template, but there is solidarity.

After being in power for 30 years, President Robert Mugabe shows no sign of loosening his grip on Zimbabwe. The last election was violent, many were tortured, imprisoned, and killed. And the outlook for a future election is not good.

This article in the NYT lays out some of the warning signs this time around.

In Mashonaland West, Mr. Mugabe’s home province, people said they were already being warned by local traditional leaders loyal to Mr. Mugabe that the next election would be more terrifying than the last one, when their relatives were abducted and attacked after Mr. Tsvangirai won some constituencies.

“They say, ‘We were only playing with you last time,’ ” said one 53-year-old woman, too frightened to be quoted by name, repeating a warning others in the countryside have heard. “ ‘This time we will go door to door beating and killing people if you don’t vote for ZANU-PF.’ ”

Mugabe has been in power far too long and it is worsening the situation in Zimbabwe. On top of worrying about feeding their children, sending them to school, finding jobs, and every-day things... the people of Zimbabwe also fear threats of violence.

“There’s no template about the solution to the Zimbabwe crisis,” he said. “We have learned this over the last 10 years. There is no template for how we’re going to deal with Mugabe.”

There may not be a template for how to deal with Mugabe and the crisis in Zimbabwe, but there are things we can do. Even from thousands of miles away. Even physically removed from the situation, we can stand in solidarity with the people of Zimbabwe. We can spread the word about what is happening. I hope that the news continues to cover the situation in Zimbabwe so that Mugabe knows the world is watching. You can spread the word by telling your friends and family, writing about it on your blog, sharing links and information on Facebook....

Solidarity: arising from common responsibilities and as between members of a group or between classes, peoples, etc.

Let's make sure that the people of Zimbabwe know that they are not alone in their fight for justice and fair treatment. Stay informed about what is going on and spread the word. Voices are powerful. The more voices, the louder the call for what is right.

-The Bag Elves

2011!

Happy New Year to you! A lot of us are busy making New Year's Resolutions for the year. With a new calendar comes a fresh start to be better versions of ourselves. We want to give you a few ways Zimbags can help with your resolutions.

Here are 11 ways Zimbags can help in the New Year....

1. Get in shape. Use a ZIMtote or ZIMblack tote to carry your workout clothes, yoga mat, running shoes, and water bottle to the gym.

2. Keep working out! Wear your ZIMshirt out on your run or walk.... get a good workout and show off your rocking style and body. Or take your ZIMchalk bag to the climbing gym to show people how you can hang from a rock by one finger.... and in style while helping women half-way around the world.

3. Do what matters, spend time with family. Spend more time with your baby cuddled up in his or her cute ZIMonsie! Or make dinner with your honey and serve it on a ZIMtablecloth. Or cuddle up on the couch and admire your beautiful, new ZIMwall hanging. Or pack lunches with the little ones the night before school in their ZIMlunch mini (napkin notes with lots of hearts are especially fun!).

4. Spend time with friends. Bring dinner and wine from the market to your friends in the spacious ZIMshopper. Send a faraway friend a note on a ZIMbag card to let them know you are thinking of them.

5. Eat better. Pack your ZIMmarket mini full of yummy veggies and fruits. And then carry them all home in your ZIMfolding shopper.

6. Learn something new. Pull your glasses out of your ZIMpouch mini and read the news (and Zimblog). There is always something new to learn. And each Zimbags product comes with the story of one of the women artists...it's always great to read someone else's story, especially if you are helping them.

7. Get organized. Write your lists in a ZIMjournal, keep a ZIMfolding shopper in your purse so you don't forget your reusable bags, and keep your coupons tidy in a ZIMpouch mini.

8. Save money. Use any of your reusable Zimbags to get discounts a discount at the grocery store, Target, IKEA, or many other stores. Choose to reuse and not use plastic and you are bringing down prices in the long run. If we get rid of the need for plastic bags, stores won't have to buy them.

9. Do something good for the planet. We work hard to bring you products that not only help you reduce the need for plastic and trash, but we work hard to keep our process environmentally friendly. All of our bags are made from recycled fibers or plastics or are organic. The paper we print our tags, invoices, and information on is made from recycled paper bags and can be recycled when you are done with it. Each bag gives you the opportunity to say no to plastic bags. And if you give gifts in Zimbags, you reduce the amount of trash being produced. We believe every small step is important. So we try to focus on not only the big things, but the small things we can do to help. Find out more here.

10. Give great gifts. This year, make sure to give great gifts to those you love. Zimbags not only make wonderful gifts, they make meaningful gifts. And not just for the person you are giving them to, but to the women artists who make the beautiful artwork. Share Zimbags this year. And if you are shopping for one of your hard-to-shop-for friends, give a Zimbags gift certificate! There is something for everyone in our webstore.

11. Do something good for others. Share the Zimbags story with your friends and families. Each bag features the artwork of women artists in Zimbabwe and all of the proceeds go directly back to them. The women in Zimbabwe face extreme poverty, low life expectancies, and hardships that most of us can barely even imagine .... every purchase you make is a help in the lives of these women and their families. And we are always looking for volunteers and donations to help. If your resolution is to help others, you're in the right place!

Here's a beautiful song for you today:

Happy New Years!

-The Happy Bag Elves

Art & Hope: The Perfect Christmas Presents.

Good morning! It is a rainy day here, but Christmas is on its way so we are excited. And we are especially excited to share some incredible paintings by the women artists with you. The wall hangings are all available in the webstore now. Each one is hand-painted and features traditional Zimbabwean art in vibrant colors. They are perfect for framing and would work well as groupings.

Here are a few that we think would look lovely together.....

Grab your coffee and peruse the rest of them! The colors and scenes are warming on a chilly day like today. And the proceeds from every purchase go straight back to the women artists. Buy art, spread hope and love -- we think it's a great combo.

Merrily,
The Happy Bag Elves

Thoughts...

The Christian Science Monitor has a 3 page article online about the possibility of the "unified" government unraveling and early elections taking place in Zimbabwe, still without a constitution. They write that the current state of things is "reminiscent of the violent 2008 elections" and that "Even if elections are held and Mugabe loses, analysts say, it's unlikely that Mugabe will allow a new president to replace him."

***

“If elections are held next year, we will witness another blood bath, another disputed result, and Mugabe will remain on the helm," says Makumbe.

***

We try to be optimistic and hopeful, but it seems like the bandaid that has been (barely) covering this fatal wound is being ripped off.

***

It says something about the current state of Zimbabwe that the journalist who wrote this article had his/her identity "withheld due to security concerns."

***

Though we may not be able to change those in power, we can help those who are under that power. The women artists we work with live with all of this going on around them. Their work allows them the money they need to survive in such turbulence - in a country that has the highest inflation the world has ever seen, one of the lowest life expectancies, and a growing HIV infection rate. The extreme poverty, unemployment, the poor health -- all of these things are related to the current political climate of Zimbabwe.

***

"If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one." -Mother Theresa

***

We believe in the power of helping one person. We believe that Zimbabwe has a bright future.

-The Bag Elves

What's your bag?

Everybody has a bag. On my trip into downtown Seattle this last weekend I paid attention to the bags that were all around me. There was the Seattle Symphony bag, the King County Library System bag, the bag that said LOVE, the cute tote that had different kinds of mustaches all over it, the bag with yoga silhouettes, and countless others. And my bag? Well, it was a Zimbag. ((A new kind that we haven't even introduced you to yet and I was 'testing' out, but more on that later.))

3 and a half years ago, Lauren and I decided to make putting an end to extreme poverty in Zimbabwe our bag. We hired women artists in Zimbabwe to create artwork for reusable bags and started sewing the artwork to the bags. It wasn't an easy start and we have been learning as we go (see: English major & History major take on the business world), but we have watched as 7"x7" inch sadza artwork from Zimbabwe gets sewn on to bags and stamped with the Zimbags Z or the phrase "bag poverty" and given a tag with the story of a woman artist we work with. And we have watched Zimbags go out into the world. Every time we sell a bag it is a new thrill, because we know that is more money to go back to purchasing artwork from the women in Zimbabwe, but also because we know that bag can tell a story. That bag has an important history. And right now, the story is a bit grim.

When we first started Zimbags we held an art auction on a snowy night in Seattle. We called it Gallery 33 because the life expectancy for women in Zimbabwe was 33. We held the auction to raise money and awareness for the crisis in Zimbabwe and in hope that the situation would get better. Sadly, it hasn't. The life expectancy for women in Zimbabwe has fallen to 30. 30. And the UN just ranked Zimbabwe the worst place to live.

We don't want to bury you in statistics and sad stories, but 30 as a life expectancy is unacceptable. There won't be a Gallery 30 this year, but please consider supporting Zimbabwean women this holiday season. Make changing the outlook for women in Zimbabwe your bag. Tell the story of these women artists by carrying one of their bags.

Always,

Meghan & Lauren
The Happy (sometimes sad, but always hopeful) Bag Elves

PS -- And don't forget to email us your entries for the November giveaway! (contact@zimbags.org)

Fresh Start: Art for Your Monday....

Hi there! The last few weeks have been very busy for us Happy Bag Elves here at Zimbags, but we couldn't wait to share this with you...

Zimbags art is now available for purchase!

Do you have enough reusable bags right now? Are you looking for some artwork for empty walls in your house? Do you need some beautiful colors and patterns for a quilt you are working on? Do you just want to own some hand painted Zimbabwean art? Well, now you can.

The same artwork that is featured on our Zimbags is now available on its own. Visit the Zimbags webstore to purchase yours today. Choose from Safari Animals, Cultural Scenes, or Traditional Designs (click here to see some of the artwork). The colors are vivid and bright and the paintings are all done in the Sadza technique.

Each piece is completely hand painted and original. No two are the same. And the proceeds from each 7" x 7" piece of artwork goes directly back to women artists in Zimbabwe who are overcoming extreme poverty. Your purchase helps provide sustainable jobs and income for women living and raising families on less than $1 a day.

What a great combo ... art and helping women.


Here are some of my favorite pieces:




Do you have a favorite? Share it with us!

When you order your Zimart, feel free to shoot us an email at contact@zimbags.org if you have a specific color or design you are itching to own. We will do our best to make it happen. As Happy Bag Elves, we love to grant wishes.

Have a happy Monday,

The Happy Bag Elves

World Wide: It's all about the ladies.

Zimbags mission is to empowering women to rise above extreme poverty. We work with women artists who are raising children, caring for parents and siblings, taking in orphans, abandoned by partners. Women who are involved in the lives of a whole web of people, who can affect real change. Often women throughout the world are denied access to schooling and find themselves married young and raising more children than they have money to feed, clothe, and send to school. It is a cycle that can be stopped. When a woman is empowered through education and employment, it empowers and enables the people in their lives to thrive.

Here are a few articles about issues effecting women throughout the world:

Empowering Women & Girls

"Though worldwide, women and girls have made some significant gains, serious problems persist. Violence against women and girls, inadequate or more expensive healthcare, forced marriage, declines in maternal health, sex trafficking, and the inability to access funding for economic opportunities and education are just a few. The consequence of not focusing on empowering women and girls -- particularly in developing nations, totalitarian regimes, and war-ravaged regions, is that these nations won't realize the substantial gains and returns they would have, if they had invested in girls and women."

The Goals World Leaders Like to Achieve

"To solve women's issues globally, policy makers and educators must focus on reducing poverty and increasing education rates in those countries reporting the highest levels of violence against women."

In Zimbabwe, 80% of the population is unemployed. Women find themselves left with children, no income, limited resources, and few options. If we don't do something to reverse the slide into poverty, a whole generation will be denied education and the cycle will start again.

What's going in Zimbabwe right now? Here are a few updates:

-on the Public Meetings about the Constitution in Zimbabwe.

-on a charity started in Zimbabwe by Richard Branson. ("Zimbabwe is considered to be one of the most difficult nations in Africa to help. Its gross domestic product has fallen to $1.8 billion from a peak of $13 billion, its official unemployment rate is 90 percent and it president, Robert Mugabe, is notorious for repression of his political opponents." and we support people and organizations that are willing to help this beautiful nation. Here's the link to Enterprise Zimbabwe - check it out.)


We hope this helps you to stay informed about what's going on. We know it's hard to find the time to find out what's going on in the world, so we are trying to help. Let us know if you have any links you would like to share.

Thanks,
The Happy Bag Elves