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At 6:20 a.m., in the dark and wet of Curepipe, the first customer, a lady, was standing outside the gates. Within the next hour, the waiting crowd had grown to over 25. Despite the ongoing drizzle and cold, such people were prepared to get in line and wait until 10:00 a.m., on Saturday 3 rd July, for the gates to open. Surely that meant that there were bargains to be had and the reputation of the annual Flea-Market was now firmly established in the minds of Mauritians in and around Curepipe!
Preparation and Planning
The first planning meetings took place in January with a small committee of 6 brothers and sisters going over the notes from last year and fixing the date in July. At that time, it seemed such a long time ahead and everyone had plenty of time! Before July, the annual CTMI international conference had to take place. Immediately thereafter, an evening concert was being planned by the Fundraising Department. However, slowly, but surely, the various permits and authorisations needed were being approved. Posters, tickets and other documentation were designed; short “flea-market” presentations in church on Sundays were commissioned.
By the end of March, a house had been rented for storage and sorting of donations received, the organisation of the team and department leaders completed, and the appeals beginning to go out to private companies as well as individuals. Church members across the island were beginning to sort out the things that they wanted to donate to the Flea-Market. Suddenly, the largest fundraising event for the church in Mauritius had moved into a higher gear. By this time, the committee was being assisted by an enlarged group of people looking after specialised tasks.
A second review of the results and comments of the 2003 event was undertaken to ensure that mistakes and omissions were not repeated. With more departments, more donations, more improvements in general, trying to find the right layout within the constraints of the ECC church yard started becoming a major problem. Trying to find a reliable supplier to provide the 500 m² of covered tent area became the next problem, as the work would have to start a full 4 days before, in addition to remove the major structure immediately afterwards so that parking was not a problem on Sunday morning.
Some Good Fundraising Ideas
One of the exiting ways for local church members to contribute includes the prize draw. All the churches and cell groups across the island contribute one or more item of household products or groceries. This is used to make up a huge overflowing trolley of high value goods, which can be won for an outlay of Rs.10.00 only. As this equates to €0.30/$0.35/£0.20, it is well within the means of everyone and the draw at the end of Flea Market day is eagerly awaited by both the public and church members.
At the same time, the children’s department also get together to prepare crackers for sale to young children visiting. They will put together small items, including sweets, pens, and other useful objects in brightly wrapped paper and cartons.
A Team Effort
As the donations piled up in the rented house, a small team of ladies visited local shops and supermarkets to ensure that our prices are set correctly so as to be cheap enough to attract, and also avoid overcharging the public. Simultaneously, the catering team, which is always the largest group, with over 100 workers this year, began their planning and organising. This would involve the preparation of over 1500 cooked meals, dozens of cakes, hundreds of sandwiches and thousands of light fried snacks. In addition, the catering team provided breakfast for over 350 workers at 7:00 am. This year, the team even started work on Friday night preparing the food so as to be ready on Saturday morning. Many of them did not sleep for over 36 hours in order to ensure that their department could contribute to the success of the day!
Sorting and Pricing
As June approached, the very complex, time consuming and labour intensive task of sorting, categorising, repairing and pricing began. On some days, the work continued from early morning to well past 10:00 at night. As the more donations came in, the system of sorting and pricing itself had to be reviewed. There were days when over 40 brothers and sisters came to work in their free time. Some had even taken leave from their paid employment to be able to support the effort. Gradually as donations continued even beyond the expectations of everyone, new storage places had to be found.
Final Preparations
The big day was fast approaching and the final preparations were going according to schedule. The different teams to supervise specific tasks were coming together to plan their role in events. These included those who would distribute pamphlets in and around Curepipe to over 6 000 households, the security team who would help with crowd control on the day, the catering team had a huge list of foodstuffs to buy in at the last minute to ensure freshness. Over 100 workers would come in from outlying districts to sleep over and accommodation needed to be found for them. A small group went out in the rain putting up large banners at the main intersections in Curepipe.
Finally, on Sunday 27 th June, all the stock was moved from the rented house into the main church hall. This was done to facilitate the checking and pricing of stocks and to allow the 22 teams to familiarise themselves with their stand and what they had to sell. Slowly, but surely, the individual workers all came in at different times of over the next few days. Their first task was to set aside the stock for the pre-sale evening and to ensure that quantities and prices were as they should be. By the very nature of the products involved, the plants department waited until the last minute to bring in their stocks. Some had been grown from cuttings made months previously just for this event!
Wednesday 30 th June was the final briefing day with the full complement of workers present for a last question and answer session. By this time, the list of those taking some role or other in the event had grown to over 370. The next day, Thursday, the church hall was converted by shifting the heaps of cartons, and removing all the chairs, to be ready for the pre-sale. The evening was a great, if hectic, success for the organising team. Small adjustments were made in a number of areas as a result of problems encountered by team leaders and cashiers.
Pre-Sale Evening
The first of a series of large meetings were held with the team and department leaders to brief them on arrangements for the final week. This year, it was decided to hold a pre-sale evening for all the workers, allowing them to benefit from the many items on sale. This was arranged as it has proven impossible in the past 2 years for anyone manning a stand on the day even to contemplate trying to do any buying as a result of the pressure of the crowds. The pre-sale ended up being a major fundraising event on its own, as the number of people who turned up and the amount sold was quite substantial at 25% of the total takings of the flea-market.
D-Day Minus 1
Friday, and only 24 hours to go! The tent was clearly not going to be delivered for 6:00 pm as planned. Some departments were still making last minute corrections to both prices and stocks. Catering people were everywhere! As the covered areas under the tent became available, sorting out the equipment required for each department became the top priority. An obvious lack of space for tables, cartons, workers became evident very quickly. Signs were put up and everyone had to manage somehow! At 1.00 am on Saturday, the last of the organising committee members left the hall for the night in the rain. We were all due back for the morning briefing at 6:00 am…..
D-Day
The town of Curepipe in mid-winter is not a very attractive place in the first place; when it rains it can be quite depressing. Yet, such obvious natural obstacles cold not dampen the palpable sense of excitement inside the hall so early in the morning. A last reminder of key points, distribution of papers and other useful tools for the day, a time of prayer, checking to ensure everyone was present, then it became time to move the cartons outside into the individual stands. This took the best part of 2 hours. During this time a hot drink and sweet buns and croissants was made available for everyone. Experience had shown last year that many would not have time to eat or drink for the next 10-12 hours. Sadly, the rain continued pouring down and last minute adjustments had to be made to the tent as a result of the accompanying wind whipping onto into many of the stands.
For those involved in organising and supervising the event, the day itself passed by like a blur. Once the gates opened and people started flocking in, there was little time to do anything except react as best as possible to what was happening on the ground. The best laid plans had to be set aside as some stands were simply overwhelmed by the crowds. In some cases, it was impossible even to approach the workers to help, provide change, or collect their takings. As is usual in such events, the first customers made the best of the vast choice presented to them. The shoes department along with dishes were the first to be cleared out; then it was the turn of the decorations. The clothing departments did non-stop business from opening till well past the scheduled closing time of 4:00 pm. The rain did certainly have an impact on the number of people who were prepared to stand in line to come in. As a result, there was a bit too much food prepared for the numbers who actually showed. However, as is usual for the hearts of the brothers and sisters in Mauritius, everyone rallied together and bought the remaining cakes, meals, etc. so that nothing was wasted.
Upstairs, and out sight, throughout the day, the finance team was busy counting the proceeds. The final result showed that, with twice as much stock donated as in 2003, the Flea-Market had increased the net takings by 65% over the previous year. In addition, there is a substantial amount of leftovers which will be sold in mini flea-markets in the churches across the island.
Conclusion
In conclusion, we can rate this year’s Flea-Market as the best ever, with many lessons learnt to make it an even bigger and better fundraising event in 2005. Already debriefing meetings have been held to analyse all aspects of this year’s big day. A new venue, a new name, larger stands, different layouts, these are all points that are already being considered for next year.
At 10:00 that night, the last of the workers, from the finance department left the church. For so many of the 350, this had been an event where individually and as a group, they had been able to contribute to the vision of supporting and raising funds for the work of CTMI in Africa, India and elsewhere. Their tiredness was combined with a sense of satisfaction for a job well done!
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