Dr. Ray Pinniger – Chengdu-Expat explores the extraordinary life of Dr.Ray, finding out about her travels, what brought her to Chengdu and the founding of Blue Sheep – her social enterprise.
Dr. Ray Pinniger is a hugely respected and notable figure in Chengdu’s international community. Some may know her for her extraordinary work dedicating her life to the poorest of communities around the world, by providing essential healthcare and sanitation services. Whereas others will know her from her Gaosheng Qiao store, Blue Sheep – which is aims to help disadvantaged people and ethic minorities in Sichuan, Tibet and Nepal.
Blue Sheep a social enterprise in Chengdu whose purpose is to provide an income to those who are disadvantaged, disabled or homeless. Blue Sheep facilitates the training in arts and crafts and provides the platform for their goods to be sold. Everything Ray buys from their producers is bought on receipt so the craftsmen aren’t waiting for their product to be sold.
The result? Blue Sheep now provides income to over 600 beneficiaries or producers and there families, helping them to maintain a basic standard of living, pay off any healthcare debts, as well as bringing a new meaning to life through newfound independence.
As a child Dr. Ray was always looking for adventure, so had known from a young age she wouldn’t stay in England. While studying Medicine at Bristol University, she chose to do her elective two months in Nepal. She meet a women who was seriously ill and had spent forty days on a stretcher traveling on mountain trails to a hospital. This kick started a career in teach modern medicine in rural areas, going to places others wouldn’t or couldn’t go. Ray has worked all over the world; in slums in Africa and refugee camps in Sudan and Iran. She was involved in hovercraft expeditions to bring health workers and medical care to the remotest of places in Papua New Guinea and Nicaragua. It was an expedition travelling up the Yangtze river in 1989-1990 that first brought her to China. After living for 7 years in Tibet she is now settled in Chengdu, where since 2014 she operates Blue Sheep.
Chengdu-Expat: How did Blue Sheep start and why Chengdu?
“It’s interesting because I had decided that I didn’t want to go to the big cities in China as I preferred to be out in the countryside, particularly in the mountains or by the sea, but because of certain circumstances I couldn’t go back to where I was working in Tibet. In Chengdu, I met a friend working with disadvantaged or unemployed members of the Yi minority – who were making handcrafts but couldn’t sell them. I didn’t think I would stay in Chengdu but decided to help this cause and increase their sales. I tried in shops and restaurants but no one was willing to do it. For two years I collected these handcrafts and would see if friends were interested in buying it. It gained a lot of interest so was worth continuing, and with Chengdu expanding as an international city and with lots of minorities, different cultures and interests I thought it would be possible to make it a business so we registered as Blue Sheep in 2013. We now work with over 35 different companies that have their own group of people, like a particular minority or a group of disabled people, with about 600 producers behind it, so with their families it helps around 3000 people. Chengdu happens to be a good centre for doing this, particularly because it is such an international city now which is good to keep this business going and also because it is within reach of a range of different minorities, peoples and cultures.”
Chengdu-Expat: What does your weekend hold for you?
“Normal weekends involve running errands for Blue Sheep, making reports, doing emails and keeping the business running. Recently we have been quite busy planning a renovation for the shop as well as having cameras following me for videos and a documentary. I’ve been to see a group of five homeless disabled people who used to beg on the streets of Chengdu. These five men who have become friends said they once used to fight for their patch of street. They sat on the street to beg, as a bed would cost 30 Rmb a night. To get around, they had to scoot around in little trolleys, pushing themselves with their hands because they can’t walk. All of them live in a tiny room where the 3 beds are jammed together and they have taken in others with disabilities so there are seven of them in this room. The next tiny room is where they work and have learnt to do leather work and carving. Because of their disabilities, they all can’t do every process so they have divided the work up between them. They have improved a lot recently and we try to sell their stuff. They try to sell at the night market too. They have really changed their lives completely. Instead of being alone and begging, now they have more purpose in life.”
Chengdu-Expat: What are the difficulties of running a social enterprise?
Well for a social enterprise, I would say it is early days in China. A social enterprise lies in between a charity and a business, though closer to the business end. It must be profitable but the purpose of it is to benefit society. In some other countries social enterprises can apply for some tax relief and possibly get other benefits. Blue Sheep has been an experiment here to see if it is possible for this business to run at a profit. Also keeping pace with trends and fashions is difficult. When thinking about selling to different international markets trends change and preferences in other countries are different but we must also keep them relevant for China. Keeping quality up to international standards is difficult too.
Chengdu-Expat: What are been yours and Blue sheep’s recent accomplishments?
Blue Sheep received a Prema Gaya Award at the Good Festival in October 2016. That was the first Good Festival, taking place in Lausanne, Switzerland. They wanted to get together a ‘community of Artists, Entrepreneurs, Scientists, Writers, Filmmakers and other practitioners’ to learn from one another but also award people from around the world whose actions furthered 8 of the UN 17 Global Sustainable Development Goals. We received one of these medals as Blue Sheep was appreciated for impacting at grass roots level and cross cutting all of the 8 sustainable goals.
Chengdu-Expat: What’s next for Blue Sheep and yourself?
I would like Blue Sheep to be a really sustainable business, so that I can pass it on and it would not be a money sink for the next person. My aim is that virtually 100% of all the profit will go the producers themselves or to other causes of need such as after natural disasters or a family in need. I want to expand the number of people we are helping, provide more training programmes, which disabled people can partly run themselves and also showcase the cultures, and skills of different minorities and artisans so others can appreciate them also.
I follow a little motto we had once; ‘I may not be able to change the world but I can change the world for one person’ Any time we can help one person, that makes life worthwhile – even if it isn’t the whole world.
Interesting how trying to convert ethnic minorities is a “social enterprise”