VirtuArte.com

Ellen Dorsch spent the first two weeks of October in Ethiopia. It allowed her to get away from all the campaign rhetoric and more importantly gave her the opportunity to celebrate Sabahar's (one of her producer/partners) first anniversary in their new home.

Last year Sabahar moved into an old and overgrown park, complete with a tired-looking house and a leaning-to-the-left shed. A year later, weavers and spinners are working in a renovated and pleasant weaving shed, accountants and managers are doing their work in the brightly re-painted house, and the dyers and finishers have a well-aired space on the first level where they work and some of their children like to "hang out" after school.

Sabahar has much to celebrate: the company has grown from five employees in 2003 to over 80 full and part-time workers today. Their products are being sold in the US, South Africa, Japan, and Europe; plus, they are very popular wherever they are sold in Addis.

A party was organized, family and friends gathered to celebrate. As Ellen looked around, she could see that Creative Women makes a difference. Creative Women is Sabahar's largest customer and every order means more jobs.