Fair Trade Blog

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