Mbote Mes Amis,

I hope everyone is well, safe, and healthy. I’ve been going a bit crazy this past week. With travel being restricted I’ve had to rely heavily on WhatsApp. I honestly don’t know how I could run my business without it.

I’ve been working with an artisan for the past two and a half months. We are in the process of making beautiful earrings out of malachite. We met briefly when I was in Kinshasa in February. During confinement, we spoke often about how we can manipulate malachite, the weight of an earring, and what metals to use with the earrings. Let me back up and explain what malachite is. Malachite is a strikingly beautiful stone with rich, patterned coloration in shades of green. The majority of malachite found in the world comes from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This stone has been used medicinally in many cultures for thousands of years. It is a powerful healer and balancer on every level and has natural bacteriostatic qualities, so it can be used to support the immune system and fight infection. It’s a stone everyone should be wearing during these times and going forward. We could all use extra healing power.

Through WhatsApp, I was able to have video chats, send photos and drawings, leave voice messages, and text. By the way, this isn’t a promotional post and we aren’t getting paid to talk about WhatsApp. Voice message has been especially helpful since the lead artisan primary language is Swahili. My Swahili is nonexistent. I know the bear minimum so writing it is a very difficult task for me. Being able to leave messages in French, Lingala and my broken Swahili has allowed the project to move forward.

Another wonderful feature that I’ve been using is not saving photos and documents to my camera roll. This saves me a lot of space on my phone. I’m able to go back and reference images, notes and voice messages without taking up precious space on my phone. Imagine if I saved all the photos, documents and images from Artisans in Kenya, Ghana, Congo Brazzaville, DRC, Rwanda, South Africa etc….

Technology has been a lifesaver and it has allowed me to continue to run my business. Nothing takes the place of being able to be at the workshop with the Artisans, touch the items, and give real-life feedback but for the foreseeable future this will do and I’m grateful to have this option. Without it, I wouldn’t be able to continue to operate my business.

I also want to take time out to thank you all for your continued support. 2020 has been an unprecedented year. Everyone has been affected by the pandemic in some way. I’m grateful to you all for your kind words, encouragement, and support. It’s not easy but we will get through all this together and stronger.

I can’t wait to show you the amazing earrings and other fun things we’ve been working on.

Bisous,

Adolophine

Whatsapp Everyone?