Runners with a Conscience: Join the Starfish Project
The Starfish Project is many things: a jewelry brand, a shelter, a business and a charity. Their core purpose is to help and empower exploited women in Asia by providing them with counseling, housing, health services and, perhaps most importantly, vocational training for alternate employment. While the organization’s goodwill work is widespread, this October they're taking it local by organizing a running team for the Beijing Marathon. Anyone interested can join them for their last few weeks of training (read below for details). We talked with director of operations Pip Nelson about the sensitive nature of their work, the public’s misconceptions and the value in handcrafted jewelry.
What would happen if Starfish Project were to suddenly shut down?
I don’t really want to think about it because it would be horrible. Most of the women would have no option but to return to abusive and exploitative situations. Some might be able to find work using the vocational skills they have gained at Starfish, but many people would not even give them a chance because of their background.
What are the biggest misconceptions about your work?
One has to do with the exploited women themselves. When people first meet these women, they sometimes can’t understand why they would end up in exploitation and think that because they are not kept locked up, they are ‘free’ to leave, but they aren’t. There is so much that happens to them that people can’t see and their stories are filled with stories of abuse and trauma.
Another misconception about Starfish Project is that because we are also a charity, our jewelry is ‘cheap.’ As an organization, we have a strong emphasis on creating a viable, self-sustainable business so that we can provide long-term employment for the women we work with.
Why jewelry?
Most of the women we work with have a very low education level and so we needed to create a product that people love to buy, but that does not require a great deal of skill to produce at the outset. As the women gain more technical skill, they take on more demanding pieces.
Do you plan to expand beyond jewelry any time soon?
For the time being we are sticking to jewelry but with our new catalog we are bringing out a whole new line. The new catalog is 52 pages long and full of new designs that cover a range of styles and taste.
Tell us about Starfish’s involvement in the Beijing Marathon.
Starfish Project has an open call for runners to run to fundraise for us in the Beijing Marathon in October. September marks our last month of training; anyone who wants to join can partner with us by contacting g.lee@starfish-project.com.
Do you need any previous experience to join your running team?
No. You just need to make your family and friends aware, get them to sponsor you by giving a tax-deductible donation (in the US) at http://www.razoo.com/story/Beijing-Marathon-1, and then turn up to run on October 21.
Some of us can’t run but would love to help. How can we contribute?
You can tell your friends and family about Starfish Project, “like” us on Facebook and Twitter, purchase your Christmas gifts from www.starfish-project.com, get people to sponsor the runners through http://www.razoo.com/story/Beijing-Marathon-1, and turn up on the day to cheer on the runners.
Photos: The Starfish Project
