Five years ago, Rachel Oren held down a glamorous job as a buyer for Israel’s biggest department store. These days she spends much of her time in sandy desert tents, dressed in a tank top.
And she couldn’t be happier.
In 2002, Oren launched Ethnicware Limited, a boutique business drawing on the artistic talents of Israel’s Bedouin women. Those women, most of them unable to read or write, are earning money for the first time in their lives making colorful hand-embroidered clothing, jewelry and accessories.
Though the products dazzle the eye, Oren has struggled to keep the business alive. That’s why she teamed up with BlueStar PR, a San Francisco-based pro-Israel visual media company, to create “Threads of Progress,” a short documentary about her work with the Bedouin.
Oren will appear at the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco on March 20 to screen the film and share her story with Bay Area audiences. Also appearing will be Ishmael Khaldi, vice consul of the State of Israel, and himself an Israeli Bedouin Arab.
Filmed in the Bedouin village of Ksefa, “Threads of Progress” recounts Oren’s efforts to bring self-sufficiency to the poverty-stricken Bedouin community. She and a partner built Creation House, a community center where the women gather to meet, greet and sew.
Though their husbands were initially suspicious, the Bedouin women managed to bridge the culture gap thanks to a friend of Oren’s, a Jewish convert to Islam who had married a Bedouin man. She sold the community on the program and helped Oren put Ethnicware on the map.
Says Oren, “To come into this village, learn the culture, see all the problems they have, and on the other hand see this beautiful culture and the handmade projects they can do, altogether it was amazing.”
With an initial investment of $70,000, Oren started the company, hoping to generate sales in Israel and around the world. The Bedouin women create all manner of crafts, including embroidered handbags, jeans, damask knives, Yemenite-style beadwork, bowls and baskets. They even embroider shoes.
Besides bringing in much needed shekels, the women also develop computer, business and math skills. Perhaps most importantly, they have the opportunity to socialize together, something Bedouin women with large families rarely get to do. “It has so many social aspects,” adds Oren. “The women are not like [they were] before.”
As an added bonus, Ethnicware provided a rare chance for Israeli Jews and Arabs to work together in harmony. “Even though we are close together, their whole culture is so far away,” says Oren. “But they are not afraid of me. I treat them with honor and respect. This is very important for them. It’s good for both of us.”
Capitalism being what it is, Oren’s business has struggled in the face of global competition. For a little start-up like hers to make a dent, she has had to put up her entire life savings.
It hasn’t been enough.
Though sales are good and the products have been placed in fashionable Manhattan and Beverly Hills shops, Ethnicware is not yet profitable. While paying the salaries of the Bedouin women is paramount, Oren has been feeling the financial squeeze as never before.
With “Threads of Progress” soon to make the rounds at JCC’s and other Jewish outlets around the country, and with Oren’s upcoming appeal in California, she is hoping to get the additional backing she needs.
Until then, Ethnicware will keep on flying on a wing and a prayer. For Oren, the well is as dry as the Negev in mid July.
“My husband says, ‘No more! That’s it,'” she laughs. “That’s why I agreed to come and speak [in San Francisco]. Everyone is expecting me to come back and say we are going on.”
Rachel Oren will appear at a screening of “Threads of Progress” at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 20, at the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco, 3200 California St., S.F. For information, call BlueStar PR at (415) 543-6300.
Ethnicware Limited can be found on the Web at www.ethnicware.co.il.