Networking

In India networking is a vital part of life. Business cards are freely exchanged and these links begin to form an intricate web. More so than in the Western world, it's truly all about building relationships that then connect you to the resources necessary to accomplish what you want.

We at IMPACT firmly believe that God brings people into our lives at certain times for particular purposes and that there are no mere coincidences. He creates His own networks.

While visiting with a friend in Secunderabad, Regina was introduced to Malathi Reddy. This was a God-ordained meeting. Renu is one of Regina's long-time friends and a gracious hostess who opens her home to missionaries. When in the Hyderabad area, Regina often stays with Renu. Such was the case a few months ago. But there was something a little different this time. Renu was of course excited to see Regina again, but she was also excited to introduce Regina to a woman that Renu had just made the acquaintance of a few days previously. A woman who lived a few streets over. A woman who was an entrepreneur. A woman whose workshop was located just a ten-minute walk away. A woman whose business was hand-block-printed fabric.

For those familiar with the IMPACT Sewing Center, you know that Regina often travels north to Rajasthan (a 30-hour train trip) to buy traditional Indian fabrics, including hand-block-print. This is an exhausting as well as costly trip but necessary to buy the quality fabric needed to make IMPACT bags. She had been looking for local suppliers but to no avail. That was about to change.

Regina and Malathi hit it off from the start – they were two business women who were determined to do something positive to improve the lives of others. They immediately put their heads together and began thinking about how both businesses could work together for mutual benefit. Malathi was completely open in showing off her workshop and freely shared her fabric suppliers' contact information, even going so far as to have her driver take Regina through the maze of Medina bazaar to point these shops out.

It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship. But there was more to come.

One week ago, while again on a shopping expedition, Regina went to meet with Malathi. But now it was Malathi who was excited to introduce Regina to someone. This someone was Lavanya.

Lavanya and her husband Vamsi were locals who had moved back to India from the United States two years previously along with their preteen daughter. Inspired by the work they saw being done with the poor in America, they wanted to come back to India and make a difference.

One of the first things they did was enroll their daughter Lalita into public school. Public schools have an extremely bad reputation in India, and anyone who is able to afford it sends their child to private schools for a quality education that will lead them to a good job in the future. This was such an ingrained idea that there was even a newspaper article about what the family did, an article that stood out enough to Regina that she recalled reading it upon meeting Lavanya. Vamsi and Lavanya knew that to make a change in public education they had to work from within the system and not just criticize from the outside. By having Lalita be a public school student, they were able to bring about change through demanding a quality education for her and enabling the parents' of the other students to demand this for their own children.

A second thing that they did was begin training women to be tailors and then opening a workshop to make jute bags. This fact immediately spoke to Regina's heart and she readily accepted an invitation to view the workshop. Lavanya, Lalita, and Regina got along like a house of fire and spent hours picking each others' brains about how to run a successful NGO and make long-lasting positive changes in people's lives. Questions began to be asked about how these two NGOs could possibly network to help one another.

These new links being formed are promising. We don't know quite where God is leading us with these new contacts, but we are excited about the next steps along this developing network and anticipate who else God might let us network with.