Fair Trade Blog

My heart rose into my throat as I read the latest notes from the field, penned by Arghand Cooperative’s Jennie Green after her recent trip to Afghanistan. The challenges Arghand has faced in the last few months have nearly undone a venture that I support and respect.

I want to do more to support them. So, Arghand soap will be featured with a discount from Friday, November 27th through Thursday, December 24th.   I’ll take for a little less to make your holiday shopping more affordable in the hope that you will buy a little more of their wonderful product.   

Arghand has always had it’s share of challenges, but not as overwhelming as the ones they have just worked through.

The Canadians had recently withdrawn their consent to ship Arghand products through their APO.  As Jennie prepared to go to Kandahar to help find a way to ship out a backlog of supply, three men in the cooperative confronted Sarah Chayes, the founder, about deteriorating safety in Kandahar.  Since the corrupt election in August, resurgence of the Taliban (who are now blending with the local populace), and renewed violence, they had decided the danger of working for Arghand had become too great.

As always, the Taliban had it in for those Afghans who were known to collaborate with foreigners, or worked for the government, and the daily reports of murders kidnappings, suicide attacks and bomb blasts became especially worrisome when the victims started to be neighbors and friends – Jennie Green

They wanted to dissolve the cooperative and distribute the assets evenly among the members, so that they could take their nest eggs and begin again, perhaps in a safer places, even Pakistan.

After many days of painful discussion, Sarah and Jennie convinced the three men to stay on at the cooperative as they put it into “survival mode.”  For six months the cooperative will be operating at reduced capacity as they attempt to remain under the radar and hope for the situation to improve. 

We have a growing history with Arghand since we started carrying their soap in the fall of 2007.  You’ve helped us provide income for them as we continue to reorder.  More than a dozen Afghans, mostly women, are supported, at least in part, by Arghand. 

Jennie assures me there is plenty of supply for the holidays, thanks to the backlog that had built up before shipping resumed.  We just got another box with all of their soap varieties and more pebbles are on the way. 

We badly want to succeed.  We don’t want to surrender our years of hard work to a sinister enterprise. – Jennie Green

They have not surrendered.  As long as Arghand survives, I know there is hope for the Afghans. 

Keep shopping your good values.

Arghand Cooperative, maker of wonderful soaps, body oils, and scarves in Afghanistan, is once again facing a big challenge. So many of you have purchased their products, so I thought you would appreciate an update.

Until recently, the Canadian Military was allowing the cooperative to use their postal service at Kandahar Air Field to deliver product to North America.  Suddenly, they shut down that option without explanation.  The cooperative has been scrambling to find an alternative.  Word is they have uncovered some promising leads.

Unfortunately, hundreds of packages of Pebbles (my favorite item) are waiting in Kandahar for a way to our store and others.  That’s why they are currently unavailable on our website.  We still have plenty of single pieces in great varieties like Desert Fields and Pomegranate.

The good news is that the solar power system, so long in coming, is up and running! The 14 members of the cooperative are no longer at the mercy of the local power grid, so they can run their oil presses and other equipment whenever needed.  This means Arghand will be able to produce body oils again.

Here are a couple of photos.  On the right are the new solar panels on the roof.  On the left, Abd Al-Ahad and Bacha work on the installation.

Keep shopping your good values!

Just this week, both the president and General Petraus made the astounding assessment that America and NATO are losing the war in Afghanistan. After eight years of fighting and attempting to rebuild that country, we are failing.

If you haven’t heard what Sarah Chayes, founder of the Arghand Cooperative, has to say about how to get out of this mess, here is a link to a guest interview she did on the Rachel Maddow Show this past Tuesday.

In the brief segment, Sarah advocates for making the Taliban irrelevant instead of working to defeat them on the battlefield or subvert them by negotiating with willing elements.  Both solutions have been floated by the new administration, though Obama has said that a larger military presence is certain.

Sarah also described the life and death struggle of everyday life for Arghand’s members.  I hope you watch her interview.  We’re all concerned about the future of the country as well as the little cooperative we’ve come to know and love through the wonderful soap they make.

I hope you watch this enlightening interview.

Keep shopping your good values!

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.

Is Fair Trade accountable?   Can you trust that when you buy from us, the product you recieve is Fair Trade?  The short answer is yes, though the big picture is more complicated.  

The items we carry come from all over the world and it would be impossible for me to track them all.  That’s why certification organizations like the Fair Trade Labeling Organizations International are so important.

FLO International certifies mostly agricultural producers and workers through 20 certification organizations that joined forces in 2004 to synchronize standards and represent under a single recognizable brand. 

You probably recognize this logo from quite a few Fair Trade products. If you want to view some other Fair Trade logos to look for, check out this Wikipedia entry.

We obtain products primarily through members of the Fair Trade Federation.  That group requires their members to go through an application process that focuses on their Fair Trade practices.  When we offer FTF member products like our colorful blouses from Minga Fair Trade Imports, we can channel that trust to you our customers. 

Unfortunately, there are occasional abuses. Workers may not be paid the standard wages, or products may be labeled as Fair Trade when they are not.  Some unscrupulous behavior is inevitable, but it is light years ahead of a system that generally embraces the bottom line over any other concern.  

Sometimes we decide that we can’t wait for, or don’t need, certification to partner with a cooperative.  We contacted Arghand Cooperative on the suggestion of a customer.  Though they are not certified by any organization, we felt we had to connect you to their wonderful soaps and oils so that this foothold of stability and economic progress in Afghanistan can endure. 

Trust, yet verify, someone once said.   Well, we’re doing both.   

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