Fair Trade Blog

The news that Haiti had been hit by a devastating earthquake wrenched my heart. If ever there was a less prepared or deserving country for that kind of trauma, it is Haiti.

As far back as I can remember, Haiti has never gotten a break. I remember clearly when President Clinton sent in troops because the country was literally falling apart and military intervention was the only way to try to pull it back together.  Since then it has been hit by four hurricanes in a row in 2006 and recently suffered political turmoil when Parliment threw out it’s corrupt president. 

About 200 years ago, Haiti liberated itself from the French through a slave uprising, but has been an impoverished nation ever since.   Despite numerous, generous aid efforts, Haiti has never been able to pull itself up.  In the past decade, economic growth has fallen into negative territory, though it had been more stable recently. 

Even those in the Fair Trade community have looked at Haiti and shaken their heads with a helpless feeling.  Late last year I talked to a woman doing mission work there.  She wanted to start a woman’s knitting cooperative.  On the day she had set for a meeting, dozens of women trekked up a hill to a small house looking for work, but they had so few resources, she did not know if they would be able to get a cooperative off the ground.  Many of them had needs much more basic than getting work.  Some had not eaten in days. 

A wholesaler I work with also told me that he had been considering a visit to Haiti to investigate starting businesses there.  But he said he was hestitant because he has been told by others there are simply no resources to make hand crafts.  The once lush, green countryside has been more than 90 percent deforested.  

Now a quake has left the country without infrustructure even to support the distubution of aid. 

As I read about the millions pouring into disaster relief, donating dollars feels like an empty gesture.  Haitians don’t need money right now.  They need food, water, stability, and hope — things I can not bring them just by opening my wallet.  Later, the survivors will need my donations to rebuild, but not now.

Perhaps, all I can do right now is pray and push my government to send the things that will make a difference – supplies, heavy equipment, and people power.

No year is without its challenges. In 2009, we challenged ourselves to open a new shop (Rhubarb), to expand our Fair Trade business, and to meet more of you, our customers. We did that and then some! I even went to Ecuador on an educational trip earlier in the year.

We consider ourselves blessed to have grown our business.  But, it’s not easy to appreciate our growth with so many hurting from the sick economy.  

I had the privilege of taking a customer’s order for gift cards over the phone a few days ago.  She said she appreciated our store and thought it was quite lovely.  I hear that sometimes and it warms my heart.  What she said next, though, made me really think.   ”Thanks for being part of the solution,” she said.    

Part of the solution…  It’s particullarly easy this time of year to focus on a day or a week or a holiday that’s literally around the corner.   But as the new year approaches it’s also time to reflect on who and what we are, and how we want to manifest the gifts we are given. 

So, although I don’t often sit around thinking about how we are changing the world, it’s nice when someone reminds me that I’m trying to be part of a solution and not part of a problem.

I am going to ponder that as we take our winter’s rest.  We’ll be closing the store for a few weeks starting December 24th.  It’s time to visit family and friends to make sure they know how special they are in our lives.  (Most of them live much further south than us, which is a nice little perk.)  

We’ll be back and open for business on January, 15th, 2010.  See you then, and in the meantime…

Keep shopping your good values!

Congratulations! You are making a difference!

Flying in the face of a global recession, you grew the Fair Trade business last year. In the U.S., sales of Fair Trade Certified products gew by 10 percent, according to the Fair Trade Foundation in the United Kingdom.

We weren’t even the strongest supporters of Fair Trade. Consumers in Australia and New Zealand spent 72 percent more on Fair Trade products, the highest of any group. Canada increased spending by 67 percent and seven countries increased spending by more than 50 percent. The Brits spent 43 percent more and exceeded the U.S. in spending for the first time.  

What were you buying with all that money? Tea sales rocketed up by 112 percent, cotton products rose by 94 percent, and coffee gained 14 percent in sales.  

Most importantly, how many were you helping by spending dollars to support sustainable production, living wages, and community building? At the end of last year, there were 746 Fair Trade Certified producer organizations representing over a million and a half farmers and workers.  

Good job!

Keep shopping your good values.

I can’t remember a time when people did not complain about the stress and commercialism of the holidays.  For certain people, I suppose that the last minute rush is part of the fun.  You know the kind — with a twinkle in their eye, they share the adventures of their last minute rush– including all their gift shopping.  

American consumer culture has wrapped itself in the 30 odd days between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Any honest retail owner will tell you that the holidays make or break them every year. 

We are no different here at Driftless Fair Traders, but we do make a difference with our e-store.  Most of our shoppers know that they are not simply buying a present, they are choosing a gift with something special.  That’s why more and more people are doing nearly all their holiday shopping with us.  

Last Saturday I had the pleasure of helping one of our customers pick out gifts for everyone on her list.  It wasn’t a simple thing and she spent a good deal of time making her choices.  But when we were finished, she was beaming, not only because she had accomplished her goal, but because she loved the experience of shopping for gifts she felt good about giving.  “You have such beautiful things,” she said more than once.  

We want you to feel as good about where your gifts came from as you do about where they are going.  That’s why we shop as carefully as you do this time of year.  Everyone wants the act of giving to be special and we work hard to make it a more satisfying experience. 

We hope you will visit our e-store and keep shopping your good values!

As easy as it would be for us as American’s to feel sorry for ourselves after last week’s near melt down of our financial foundation, most of us still have a paycheck, a safe place to work, and pretty nice place to go home to at the end of the day. 

It’s easy to forget that there are lots of places in the world where people have none of the things I just mentioned.   They get up wondering about their safety and how to meet their daily needs. 

In times like these, a little perspective is good for the soul. 

Our government is regularly using the “T” word — as in trillion dollars – to describe the amount of money it will take to bail us out of our current financial mess.   It’s a number that bears little resemblence to any reality in our daily lives.  So how much is that really?  If you stacked up a trillion pennies, the stack would reach past the moon to a height of 986,426 miles. 

Back here on earth, let’s compare a trillion dollars to the amount of money it takes to sustain a worker in say, Kenya.   The living wage in that country is somewhere between $5-10 per day — so a worker there might be able to sustain themselves for a month on the cash you have in your wallet or purse right now.  

The national hangover from the housing bubble and our financial crisis will pass, and while there is probably more pain ahead, it teaches us once again that just because we can live beyond our means for a time, doesn’t mean we should.  

Shopping is not on many people’s minds in these tense days of serious financial reconsideration,  but we’re here when you want to join hands with artisans around the world to change the world – one purchase at a time. 

Purchasing Fair Trade products is one way to help end poverty around the world. There are a whole host of other ways, including charitable donations, but the latest and hottest trend is giving micro loans to impoverished entrepreneurs.  It’s something I’m considering doing myself.  

Micro loans are not new, but since Muhammad Yunus, a Bangladeshi banker, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for his work through his Grameen Bank, the concept has achieved cache across the globe.  

Basically, micro loans are small amounts of money loaned to budding business people in impoverished parts of the world.  The amounts can range from the tens of dollars to a few hundred dollars.   The start ups can range from buying a cow for milking to purchasing a cell phone to provide communication services to a whole village.  

Micro loans have helped thousands build sustainable businesses and escape poverty.  The process is not without it’s critics, however.  

A recent New Yorker article points out that there is evidence that the micro loans are helping individuals stay out of poverty, but are not helping to build a middle class — a necessary step for entire countries like Bangladesh to emerge from poverty. 

This larger issue, say critics, is the so-called “missing middle.”  Credit has always been available to the wealthy, even in impoverished areas, and micro loans are allowing the poor to become self-employed in their own microbusinesses.  But credit is still scarce for middle class business people ready to build enterprises that employ others — business start-ups or expansions that require more than a few hundred dollars for a small factory, workshop, or storefront.  

Though its perhaps important to note this ”donut hole” of need, it seems to me to be a red herring.  Micro loans are designed to lift individuals out of poverty, not finance the next generation of employers.  Programs should be created to extend credit to larger enterprises that will create sustainable work for the poor.  Microfinance will not accomplish that goal.  

Kiva is one of the largest and best known non-profit orgs where you can make micro loans online.  Using their site, you can choose an entrepreneur and then help fund their loan request.  As with many other microfinance programs, Kiva does not collect interest on their loans for the investor, you simply get the principal back to reinvest or withdraw.  Another avenue is a direct donation to the Grameen Foundation which in turn provides micro loans. 

Some Fair Trade organizations offer micro loan programs as well.  A Greater Gift will provide your loan to their producing cooperatives to help them support their production, for example, by buying raw materials.  There are also micro loans programs that will generate a small return for your money.  

As with any investment there is risk involved,  so do your homework before you pull out your credit or debit card. 

Keep shopping your good values!

Kile

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