Changing Lives, One Sale At A Time

Hand Crochet Garment Someone recently tried to discourage Jodie Sweezey. Without naming names, she said this person told her that her small effort wouldn't make much difference.But Sweezey is not discouraged easily. The captain in the Marine Reserves spent two seven-month tours in Iraq in the past four years.At one point, she was the sole woman in her unit in war-ravaged Fallujah. She not only survived to tell about it, but she also has started a cottage industry selling purses, backpacks, ornaments and other goods made by women in Iraq, Afghanistan, India, Jordan and Indonesia.One Starry Nite is run out of her three-bedroom apartment in South Tampa. She also sells at the Ybor City Saturday Market, among other places, and as of a few weeks ago is online at www.onestarrynite.com.In Iraq, Sweezey worked in civil affairs, whether it was seeing that families had blankets or helping Iraqis to rebuild schools and hospitals.She saw up close how a helping hand can matter. When a Marine officer at MacDill Air Force Base mentioned his wife was importing items to sell to help women from war-torn nations, Sweezey immediately was interested.She has been working with groups such as the Women of Hope Project and Third World Crafts, and she set up her business to supplement the few days a week she works at MacDill as a reservist."There is a tremendous need to help the war widows of these countries," Deborah Newell, vice president of Women of Hope, said from her Virginia Beach, Va., home. "We hope that businesses like Jodie's only grow."Newell said Afghanistan has 1.5 million widows, with 70,000 in Kabul, where her organization hopes to open a school in a refugee camp.Sweezey said Third World Crafts showed her how to order directly from businesses in Indonesia, Turkey and Jordan. The local businesses set the prices.Sweezey, 38, sees her business - named for a 2004 experience in Iraq when she saw a sky full of shooting stars - as a way to help women largely overlooked by coalition forces.Born in Michigan, she went to officer candidate school in 1991 after college and was on active duty until 1998, joining the reserves in 2003. She has a master's in history and likes to read and travel.She punctuates talk of her time in Iraq with words such as "dangerous." A photograph in a bedroom she uses to ship orders shows her walking down the street in Fallujah in full combat dress.As part of her tour of duty, she worked with an Arabic interpreter to search women for security reasons. This gave her insight into the problems they encountered trying to raise families, primarily the lack of supplies."Even the basics for something like treating a cut were not available in the hospitals," she said.In her apartment, decorated with family antiques such as a pedal-operated sewing machine, Sweezey recently showed off embroidered goods such as purses and totes. She said much of the money earned by the Iraqi women she knows is for material to sew uniforms so their children can go to school."It seemed funny to me at first," she said, "but if the children don't have uniforms, they can't go to school. That is the rule."From Indonesia come beaded eggs. The men, she said, make the papier-mache shells, and the women sew on the beads by hand. The delicate handiwork looks tedious. The eggs, which sell for $6 each, are in bright holiday colors, suitable for tree ornaments."I know if I tried sewing these tiny beads, I'd end up tossing the lot of them," Sweezey said, laughing.From Turkey, she has notecards with detachable crochet decorations and heart-shaped wood necklaces."The batik," she said, pointing out other items, "are crafts women have done for generations. Now they are learning to turn these skills into ways to earn a living."About the only product she doesn't see becoming a success with American consumers is a burqalike water-bottle cover shaped like the traditional full-length garment. She doesn't think people want to clothe their water.But the bookmarks made of burqa material probably will be OK."People are curious to see these," she said of the $3 item. "It gives you an idea how weighty this material is. It's polyester, so there's not much air getting in there."Sweezey said the women in Iraq and elsewhere need a way to standardize sizes and also some knowledge of how to tag items."I received a test T-shirt, but one arm was longer than the other," she said. "But these are all handmade so it will take some time."