ABAN sells accessories to support Ghana

Fashion often aids transformation — in Ghana, it is transforming women’s entire lives.

ABAN, or A Ban Against Neglect, is a nonprofit organization that educates, empowers and employs impoverished women — including many mothers — in Accra, Ghana, through a two-year educational program that results in job placement upon graduation.

Program funding comes from the sale of accessories made by Ghanian women out of recycled plastic and the nation’s traditional fabric. The organization recently released Ahemaa: a new, more modern line of Ghanian printed fabric.

“We wanted to use fabric from a Ghanian company, produced in Ghana,” said Mary Kathryne Hutton, ABAN’s operations manager. “It’s about exploring different looks for our products — (Ahemaa) is a lot more modern because we think we can provide a product that’s still supporting our program but can have the aesthetic for multiple consumers.”

Hutton said that Batik, ABAN’s earlier line, is a much more traditional, specific aesthetic. Batik products are made with a combination of recycled plastic bags — found on Accra’s streets — and white cloth stamped with wax and dyed different colors. She said that while Ahemaa is more modern, it stays within ABAN’s West African style.

Lindsay Sebastian, ABAN’s communications manager, said despite the addition of printed fabric to its collection, ABAN remains steadfast on using Ghanian products in order to continue to break the nation’s cycle of poverty.

“We want to ensure that we continue to utilize and empower Ghanian businesses,” she said.

Sebastian said sales of the Ahemaa line have been great thus far. ABAN co-founder and 2009 UNC graduate Callie Brauel said she credits this success to a collaboration between U.S. and Ghanian design.

“Our overall aim is to incorporate patterns that are strong, bold and feminine,” Brauel said.

“The process of combining different culture elements in our design has been one of the highlights of my job and really a symbol of our organization — playing to the strengths of both countries to make something unique and beautiful.”

While connecting the designs of different nations, ABAN also hopes to globally connect women, Hutton said.

“I think this goes beyond just creating awareness for global issues — we’re also creating empathy and understanding and, ultimately, connectedness with women globally,” she said. “I think women have an innate ability to connect and empathize with others — we’re emphasizing that.”

ABAN members said they can see their impact on people’s lives. Their most educated graduate received a full ride to a private high school, and now dreams of becoming a military officer in two years.

“(Meeting the women) had a huge impact on how I view my position,” Sebastian said. “I want to do all I can to help them achieve their dreams for the future and what they want for their children. We are really working to help these women change their lives, not just provide a bandaid for their problems.”

In addition to the changes ABAN members bring to Ghana, Brauel said she hopes buyers know the transformations to which they are contributing.

“Our tagline is ‘the fabric of change’ for a reason,” Brauel said. “Each product is an act of transformation. It is plastic turned fabric, glass turned beads, white cloth turned colorful batik. It’s poverty turned dignity, abandonment turned hope, neglect turned empowerment. Each product made changes lives and the environment.”

arts@dailytarheel.com