Jul 5, 2012

headless torso. pretty sandals. fair trade.

While making up stories about imaginary people is my day job, I also moon-light as many other things. A preschool teacher, a wedding photographer, and (most recently) a headless model!

My sister-in-law and I are surprisingly similar. When we first met (and she grilled me with about 150 questions because I was dating her little brother) we realized with eerie surprise that we are like long lost twins. Both of us had dreams of becoming novelists and working abroad with NGOs (non-government operations). Both of us wanted huskies and a massive horse ranch in Montana. Both of us had the dream destination of New Zealand.

Well. I became the novelist and she became the adventurous NGO worker in El Alto, Bolivia. It's a town where you cannot breathe because it's at 14,000 feet. 

Give me oxygen!

Oxygen tanks are worth it when this is the view from your porch.

Anyway, adventurous sister-in-law lives in South America and works with women who are trapped in a pretty vicious cycle of poverty and prostitution. For the past few years she's been involved in putting together a program to teach these women how to sew purses (and thus help them earn an alternative income, which makes it miles easier to quit working the streets).

These purses are beautiful, and you can buy them here at http://sutisana.com/. You can also see my headless torso modeling said purses.

Also, on the fair-trade kick, I bought these amazing sandals today:



They're called Ssekos and they're pretty awesome. You can buy interchangeable laces and tie them in tons of different ways. PLUS when you buy them you help women in Uganda earn a living. Like TOMS, but prettier. :)

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