Bumps on the road

Remember our last chat in our newsletter? Let me give you a quick rundown. About 1.5 years ago, we started this crazy journey to build our very first workspace in the heart of Suriname's interior, in a village called Drepada.

Now, let's fast forward a bit. The building process is still in full swing, and I won't lie, there were times when we felt like we were in way over our heads, filled with doubts, anxiety, and a sense of hopelessness.

You see, creating a workspace for our awesome sewing team was a massive commitment. We made a promise to this sewing crew almost 7 years ago, and as two women from Europe, we were trying to build something with no cash in our pockets. Can you imagine what those women must have thought when we agreed to build something in their community. It was like building sandcastles.

But despite our doubts, we pushed forward. Eventually, we found the perfect investor and signed the deal. This contract was no joke. We were responsible for every step of the building process. No pressure, right? Not only were these women counting on us, but the entire village was depending on our success. Talk about a crazy responsibility!

As they say, the first step is always the toughest. Right from the start, we faced some resistance from the locals. You see, we wanted to involve the community by hiring local workers, but that was easier said than done. Our investor had certain quality standards in mind, and let me tell you, the quality standards in the interior were quite different from what our investor had in mind. We scratched our heads, wondering how on earth will we  find common ground.

But guess what? We managed to bridge that gap because our investor understood the importance of community involvement. Eventually we found a local contractor from the village to build the workspace. We are now 6 months further and almost finished… with yet another bump on the road.

Read about this in our next blog.