After checking on the progress of the meditation pants production in the morning, the team divided forces in the afternoon to get several tasks accomplished. Dave and Jen went with Ignatius to check out homes as possibilities for a second Living Compassion House. The rest of us hitched a ride downtown to do more fabric shopping.
Surprisingly enough, it was difficult for us initially to find the stores that carried the chitenge cloth. Because the shops pretty much all looked the same to us from the outside and seemed to carry everything under the sun (from Cheetos to soap to appliances to plastic dolls), we split up on the main street and all went in different shops to check. Caverly told us the secret was to “Look up” when we entered because all the fabric was displayed from the high ceilings down. It’s true that one could have easily missed the fact that any cloth was there at all, unless you knew where to look. We eventually bought over 300 meters of various unique fabrics.
We brought the fabric back to the sewing coop. Then we discussed with Dorothy some ideas for other products to be made with the cloth and sold through Living Compassion, including men’s and women’s shirts, other pants styles, skirts, children’s clothing and tote bags. By the end of the trip, the staff at the tailoring school had made samples of four different shirts, two skirts, and another style of pants. Sue had brought with her a pattern for a simple cloth bag and, when she got her hands on one of the sewing machines, she was able to create several prototypes.
Before we left, we all picked out Africa pants to wear for the following day, which was Tuesday, July 26, the “Day of Living Compassion.”