Fair Trade Blog

Things are not getting better in Afghanistan.  We hear about more deaths, new attacks, a reinvigorated Taliban, but little of it sinks in here at home.  In this age of simmering wars, causualty reports, skirmishes, and bombings have lost their impact. 

It takes a hardened first-hand account to bring home the miserable chaos that rules in much of Afghanistan.   I just got an inside look at Afghanistan from Sarah Chayes, a founder of the Arghand Cooperative in Kandahar.   She sometimes sends missives to Arghand’s retail partners.    

There is a brittle frustration in her “Notes from the Field,” dated August 22.  In a report that pressed on my heart, she wrote in part:

I’m feeling a little funny again, that slight pounding of the heart upon the instant of awaking in the morning, sleep broken when the dogs bark at night, that sense that something is brewing…

Little of what she narrates of life in Kandahar sheds hope for the situation there.  She feels that the recent jailbreak and tandem attack on Arghandab by the Taliban had little to do with territory and everything to do with sending a loud warning.  

The message they intended to deliver to the local population came out in stereo: we can come in here when we want to.  If you’ve been collaborating with the government or the foreigners, we’ll know about it.  We’ll string you up by the heels long before ISAF gets around to mounting a counter-attack.  Ordinary people make up the audience that matters in this fight.  For them, the menace of the Taliban message, as expressed in the June assault, couldn’t have been more convincing.

Sarah has been arguing for years that the Karzai government is threatening the future of the country as much as the Taliban.  Corruption, self-interest, and double dealing with the Taliban, have put the average Afghan in the middle of a no-win situation.  Afghans are now forced to chose between competing evils.

In the midst of all the turmoil, the cooperative continues making the essential oils for their wonderful soap.  Often they are running their presses at odd hours when electricity is available.  Sarah reports the cooperative is just about finished planning and paying for a solar electrical system that will gain them independence from the unreliable local grid.  

Still, the future of any enterprise in Afghanistan, including Arghand, is tenuous.  But we keep hope in play by supporting Arghand while we pray for change.  

Keep shopping your good values.

We like to think of the Fair Trade movement as strong, healthy and on course for inevitible and continuing growth.  The reality is that it has more challenges than we might realize — perhaps more than ever before.

Progress in Fair Trade in perhaps most vulnerable in Africa.  Fair Trade has been established there for many decades, but now faces global forces unforeseen even a few years ago.   Many African economies have suffered negative economic growth bought on by a toxic convergence of civil unrest, rising oil prices, climate change, and now food shortages.    

The World Bank estimates that poverty has increased as much as 6 percent in some parts of the world due to the hike in oil prices in recent years.  African counties like Guinea, Guinea Bissau, and Senegal import 100 percent of their oil.  Their oil bills are a fraction of the amount they spend on public services and poverty reduction programs.

Lately, the growing spectre of food shortages is drawing attention away from economic development toward simple survival for millions of Africans.  The Africa Progress Panel, chaired by Kofi Annan, said recently that food shortages threaten to destroy years of economic progress and drive 100 million people into poverty. 

Civil unrest is hindering economic progress as well.  Tribal violence in Kenya threatened dozens of Fair Trade producers in that country earlier this year. Though stability is returning, it reminds us how many different ways in which Fair Trade networks can be damaged.  

The challenge of war and social strife certainly extends beyond Africa.   If you have been following the story of Arghand cooperative in Afghanistan, started by former NPR reporter Sarah Chayse,  you know that even after many years of struggle, the very existence of the cooperative is still threatened by the Taliban.    

Just this month Taliban forces escaped a prison in Kandahar province.  Last week, government forces launched an offensive against Taliban fighters in Arghandab where the cooperative is located.  As Sarah said this morning in an NPR interview, the cooperative is a “soap factory in a shooting gallery… 

Certainly these challenges are discouraging, but I believe there is opportunity in every circumstance. Many of the principles of Fair Trade — sustainability, equality, democracy, economic independence – can be applied to tribes, towns, provinces, and nations as well as individuals and cooperatives. 

Arghand Soap is once again available on our website and in our shop, so we eagerly await your order for this special product.  We have Amandine, Anisette, Elixir of Artemis, Mountain Herb, Pebbles, and my favorite, Pomegranate.  Dig in! 

We also have more Arghand bookmarks featuring colorful photos of  women working with pomegranantes.  A beautiful reminder of their handmade products.  We include one with each order.  

Arghand continues to move ahead.  The resumption of shipments is a step forward.  The cooperative is planning to get solar power installed so that they can continue working even when the local power fails.  We hope that project is completed soon so that the cooperative gains a little more independence from the situation that continues to swirl around them.

Meanwhile, spring has finally arrived in the northern tier.  So has a lot of spring and summer fashion. Look for new items on our website next week! 

Keep shopping your good values!  

Kile

So many inquiries about when we will once again have soaps from Arghand Cooperative in Afghanistan!   I believe our collective patience will be rewarded. 

Another delay has reared it’s ugly head.  We received word on March 4th that their most recent shipment had been delayed.  Apparently, the usual channel through the Canadian military had broken down, so the process for shipping out of the country had to be re-established.  On top of that, the Canadian post office apparently had an issue with the size of the shipment. 

Unfortunately, we have no other specifics.  We do know that it normally takes several weeks for the shipment to reach North America and then more time for Arghand to work through their back orders.  But we are hopeful we will have supply on the way in a few weeks. 

I hope you have bookmarked our homepage so you can keep up to date.

In the meantime, we will have some exciting new products to offer you online in April.  Spring brings us new jewelry, clothing, and accessories for you to browse. 

Keep shopping your good values!

Kile

Since Arghand Cooperative founder Sarah Chayes’ interview with Bill Moyers aired on Friday, Feb., 22, we have been inundated with orders and requests for Arghand soap.  Unfortunately, we have only a few pieces of soap left at this time.   Please call for availability.  608-630-1548.  

Intense, moving, and eye opening, Sarah Chayse’s appearance last night on Bill Moyer’s Journal could not have been more powerful.   (Bill Moyer’s Journal is rebroadcast on some stations, so check local listings.  You can watch the video here.)  

She expressed the ongoing struggle of the Afghan people from the point of view of someone who has lived in the country for some time now.  Her personal and journalistic perspectives on the war are enlightening to anyone who watches the interview.  

Six years now after the overthrow of the Taliban regime, she says security and opportunity for Afghans is slipping away.  It is no longer possible to drive the main highway from Kandahar to Kabul without threat from the Taliban. Poppy is resurgent as a crop and is so prolific it has become the currency of trade in some situations.  A billion dollars for infrastructure has only resulted in electricity for a few hours a day.  Conditions in which Arghand must produce soap and oils are difficult. 

Moyers asked her if she is still optimisitc, if she still has hope.  “I don’t think hope is relevant,” she said.  “I think determination is all that counts.”   She insists that we can’t let the world take up a new global war in which the East is locked with the West in endless struggle.

Her soap cooperative gives us an opportunity to share her determination.  

One of the great things about Fair Trade is that when you give fairly traded gifts for the holidays, you are really giving twice.   Your friends and family get beautiful handmade gifts from the far corners of the globe and you give to the artisans, workers, and growers with a living wage and sustainable work environment.  

Last week, I mentioned the Arghand soap from Afghanistan that we offer.   Well, it’s a prime example.   Many people have stopped by to pick out beautiful packages of soap to give as gifts.   The stone-shaped pieces of soap, made from local materials including mountain herbs and flowers and local oils from almonds and pomegranates, are a great gift for anybody, but those purchases also sustain men and women in that war-torn country. 

Each piece of soap represents hope for the future as they struggle to overcome decades of war and civil strife.  The people of Afghanistan are in desperate need of alternatives to poppy growing.  Unfortunately, the drug trade has taken center stage once again with record poppy crops under cultivation.  

Your fair trade gifts do have the potential to change the world.   Arghand soap is but a small part of the growing alternative of fairly traded products.  We have jewelry that gives living wages to artisans in Ecuador, furniture from salvaged hardwoods that save trees, coffee that sustains families in Ethiopia — and that’s just a small sample.  

So give fair trade for the holidays and give twice.

Keep shopping your good values! 

Kile

I had been wondering how to get our message out on Wisconsin Public Radio.  WPR listeners are loyal, informed, and socially conscious.   They are the kinds of people we opened to serve.  I stopped wondering last Wednesday when I found out Sarah Chayes figured it out for me. 

Don’t worry, I ‘ll explain.   A customer came in some time ago asking if we carried a certain kind of soap.  She was curious because she had heard about it on NPR.  After a bit of searching, with the tidbits of information she gave me, I found the website for Arghand, a soap making cooperative in Afghanistan. 

Arghand was brought to life by Sarah Chayes, a former NPR reporter who worked extensively in Afghanistan, along with local artisans.  Members of the coop make eight soaps using local ingredients including pomegranate oil and herbs.  Their goal is to develop alternatives to the growing of poppy for the expanding drug trade as well as providing employment in that war-ravaged country. 

We started offering Arghand soap several weeks ago and telling their powerful story to our customers.    Recently, Sarah appeared on “Here on Earth: Radio Without Borders,” a WPR program hosted by Jean Feraca.  Sarah was kind enough to mention our store by name as one of their newest retailers.  The archived program, An American in Afghanistan, is available at the Here On Earth website. 

We were surprised, but very pleased by the publicity.  We have had many inquires about the soap.  We hope we have started a long and beneficial relationship with Arghand.  Stop by the shop or our e-store to check out the story of Arghand and try the soap.  

Keep shopping your good values!

 Kile