Beach Bound

I'm leaving this afternoon to head to the lovely shores of Gulf Coast Alabama, where I'll spend nearly a week hanging out on the beachwith my husband, mom, dad, and three sisters. Could be fun... it will definitely be dramatic (with all my sisters there's no way that there won't be lots of high-pitched squealing going on). I packed my bags this morning. Listed below are a few of the fair trade things I brought...and a couple of things I wish I had packed.

Beach Bag
I can't imagine a much better beach tote than these recycled rice bags. Made in Cambodia, these bags were originallyused for transporting rice and animal feed. Brilliantly, this recycled bag found new life in the hands of disabled and disadvanted workers, many of whom are victims of land mines and/or polio.

Sarongs
Use it as a beach cover-up. Lay it on the sand and make it a picnic blanket. Take it home and make it a tablecloth. The sarong is a jack-of-all-trades--there's not much it can't do. Grab these kikoys, the East African version of a wrap or sarong, and you will be ready for just about anything.

Flip Flop Key Chain
Flip flops just might be my favorite article of summer clothing: they're comfy, laidback, and fun.
These key chains, made in Zimbabwe, are the perfect way to keep the summer spirit going...even when you leave the beach and get in your car to head back home.

The Twofer

Don't you love things that are two-in-one? If so, you'll fall hard for this adorable top that doubles as a breezy skirt. Packing this means I've got two outfits for the price of one.
Plus, the batiked shirt/skirt is made in Ghana by Global Mamas, a group that works with small women-led enterprises. Everyone wins!

Read All About It!

We're in the news! This week has been rather media-intense, as we've interviewed with Around and About on the local NPR affiliate, and have also met with Joy Lukachik, a Chattanooga Times Free Press reporter. Her article on fair trade, which headlines with World Next Door, is in today's paper.

Here it is:

Local fair trade businesses helping poor of world

By: Joy Lukachick

Forced to work the redlight district in the slums of India since she was 12 years old, Sunita finally found an escape from her prison.
She was approached by two Americans 10 years ago who offered to teach her to sew.
Today, Sunita, whose name was changed to protect her identity, is a manager for an American-run fair trade company in India called FreeSet, which produces handbags and blankets to sell in the United States.
She is able to support herself through the fair trade system, said managers of Chattanooga's World Next Door who sell only fair trade products including FreeSet hand bags and met Sunita in April.
"We can, as Americans, help countries that have workers who were taken advantage of," said Jency Shirai, a World Next Door manager.
Seventy-one percent of U.S. consumers have heard of the term "fair trade," the global movement to promote fair pay and economic growth in Third World countries, according to a report released by the Fair Trade Federation in March.
But of that number, less than 10 percent have purchased a fair trade product, the study shows.
Despite those numbers, fair trade is a growing industry in the United States, said federation Executive Director Carmen K. Iezzi, noting that the same report showed a 56 percent increase in the sale of fair trade products from 2007 to 2008 in North America.
Ms. Shirai said World Next Door sells only fair-trade products, including necklaces from Kenya and hand-carved boxes from Peru. The store owners pay a fair price for goods to ensure the Third World craftsmen are making enough money to support themselves.
When the local owners buy products from Third World craftsmen, the money is paid upfront, Ms. Shirai said. Her store is not nonprofit, but she said its mission is to be "a better alternative to business."
Owners of other fair-trade businesses in Chattanooga agree that people are not as educated as they should be on the treatment of farmers and craftsmen in the Third World.
If you ask shoppers at Greenlife Grocery, which carries a large range of fair trade products, some say they have never heard of fair trade. Others, however, seek out fair trade products.
"Fair trade is helping people (and) helping them develop a better life," said Dori Elliot from Trion, Ga., who makes special trips each week to shop at Greenlife.
Pasha's Coffee and Tea in St. Elmo only sells fair trade coffee and espresso, owner Ladonna Cingille said.
"If everybody did something small it could really help," she said. "It could put more pressure on people who are enslaving people."
On Frazier Avenue, Go Fish Clothing and Jewelry Co. displays pictures of craftsmen and seamstresses beside products sold in the store. The pictures put a face to the products, owner Sherra Lewis said.
"(The signs) notify shoppers of where the items came from," Ms. Lewis said.
Still, although fair trade is benefiting many people in poverty, there are still policies that can be improved, said Stone Cup Roasting Co. owner Jennifer Stone, who sells about 40 percent fair trade coffee. For example, she said some companies that claim to be fair trade are not paying enough to farmers.
Consumers should do their research when they purchase fair trade products and also consider giving money directly to organizations that help Third World workers.

Check out the Time Free Press's online version of the story to see a quick clip from Jency's interview.

I'd also like to note that, although I'm sure we didn't do a good job clarifying this initially, the couple who initially started FreeSet are New Zealand natives, not Americans.

Show Some Respect

Bono thinks Africa deserves more credit than it gets. The ever-cool U2 frontman tells us why in his recent New York Times column, highlighting President Obama's trip this week to Ghana.

I was especially interested in Bono's column because World Next Door stocks lots of products from Ghana, and works extensively with Global Mamas, a Ghana-based group that makes beautiful batiked clothing and bags.

Here are a few highlights/excerpts from Bono's piece:

"Quietly, modestly — but also heroically — Ghana’s going about the business of rebranding a continent. New face of America, meet the new face of Africa.
Ghana is well governed. After a close election, power changed hands peacefully. Civil society is becoming stronger. The country’s economy was growing at a good clip even before oil was found off the coast a few years ago. Though it has been a little battered by the global economic meltdown, Ghana appears to be weathering the storm. I don’t normally give investment tips — sound the alarm at Times headquarters — but here is one: buy Ghanaian."
...
No one’s leaked me a copy of the president’s speech in Ghana, but it’s pretty clear he’s going to focus not on the problems that afflict the continent but on the opportunities of an Africa on the rise. If that’s what he does, the biggest cheers will come from members of the growing African middle class, who are fed up with being patronized and hearing the song of their majestic continent in a minor key.
I’ve played that tune. I’ve talked of tragedy, of emergency. And it is an emergency when almost 2,000 children in Africa a day die of a mosquito bite; this kind of hemorrhaging of human capital is not something we can accept as normal.
But as the example of Ghana makes clear, that’s only one chord. Amid poverty and disease are opportunities for investment and growth — investment and growth that won’t eliminate overnight the need for assistance, much as we and Africans yearn for it to end, but that in time can build roads, schools and power grids and propel commerce to the point where aid is replaced by trade pacts, business deals and home-grown income.

...

President Obama plans to return to Africa for the World Cup in 2010. Between now and then he’s got the chance to lead others in building — from the bottom up — on the successes of recent efforts within Africa and to learn from the failures. There’s been plenty of both. We’ve witnessed the good, the bad and the ugly in our fraught relationship with this dynamic continent.

...

Africa is not just Barack Obama’s homeland. It’s ours, too. The birthplace of humanity. Wherever our journeys have taken us, they all began there. The word Desmond Tutu uses is “ubuntu”: I am because we are. As he says, until we accept and appreciate this we cannot be fully whole."

Listen Up!

Listen for us in the coming week on 88.1 WUTC, Chattanooga's NPR affiliate. Jency met this week with Julie Burrage of Around and About to talk about fair trade and share stories from the trip she and Nathan took to India and Nepal.
Not sure yet when this will air, but we'll keep you updated!

Thought for the Day

"We are everlasting debtors to known and unknown men and women.... When we arise in the morning, we go into the bathroom where we reach for a sponge provided for us by a Pacific Islander. We reach for soap that is created for us by a Frenchman. The towel is provided by a Turk. Then at the table we drink coffee which is provided for us by a South American, or tea by a Chinese, or cocoa by a West African.
Before we leave for our jobs, we are beholden to more than half the world."
-Martin Luther King, Jr., Strength to Love, 1963

Picture courtesy of the Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division

Summer Reading List

I'm a nerd, and I know it.

As a child, there were few things that made me happier than the freedom of hours stretched out with a good book. Summer reading lists never scared me--there was a new adventure waiting for me between the pages of every assignment.

Here at World Next Door, we believe that reading is one of the best ways to open a child's eyes to the world around them, and in accord with that principle, we stock lots of great children's books. If you're looking for a fun summer read that will give your little ones a global perspective, here are just a few of our favorites.

We're Sailing to Galapagos: A Week in the Pacific
Writen by Laurie Krebs Illustrated by Grazia Restelli

This brightly illustrated book follows a red-sailed boat and its passengers as they visit the islands of Galapagos, 600+ miles off the western coast of Ecuador. The visitors see giant tortoises, lava crabs, blue-footed boobies, and more, discovering a new wonder with each new day. A singsong rhythm makes the book perfect for reading aloud at night, and the beautiful collages used as illustration keep your eyes glued to each page.

Mama Panya's Pancakes: A Village Tale from Kenya

Written by Mary and Rich Chamberlain Illustrated by Julia Cairns
This African tale teaches children about life in a Kenyan village, and the importance of sharing what we have--even when it doesn't seem like much. Join Adika and Mama Panya as they visit the market, encountering friends at every turn. Adika is quick to invite their friends to join them for a pancake meal that evening, although Mama Panya worries she can't stretch the flour far enough. In the end Adika's generous impulses are rewarded as the village gathers for a feast. Bonus: spicy pancake recipe, map, and glossary of Kiswahili words.

Going to School in India

By Lisa Hedlauff

It can be a wild ride to get to school in India--racing across a river on a wooden swing, balancing gingerly as they tiptoe across a bamboo bridge, riding in a cart between two huge bullocks. And that just covers getting there!

This book gives kids an up-close look at what life is like for millions of children in India. Complete with photos of Indian kids in every imaginable school situation (night school, school in a bus, school after an earthquake...), this book introduces children to the challenges that others face. Going to School in India is cheerful, upbeat, and optimistic about the futre, even as it acknowledges grim facts about the present (98% of disabled children in India do not receive an education).

More on Fighting Sex Trafficking

Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times is one of my favorite reporters/columnists. He consistently examines difficult global and local issues, and does a phenomenal job of drawing attention to issues that might otherwise be forgotten or ignored. Not only does he write about these issues, but he travels regularly to all corners of the globe, and brings a unique, firsthand perspective to the topics he covers.

This week, he is answering readers' questions for The Times. Here's a query concerning whether it is possible to end sex trafficking. I thought his answer was worth sharing.

Q. How in heaven's name can sex trafficing of young women and girls be halted? It is outrageous that all over the world such abuse continues.
— Dr. James D. Fett

A. The crucial step to end sex trafficking, as with ending traditional slavery in the 19th century, is to shine a light on it. Once people are aware of it, then public pressure builds to end it. So it's important to build a movement to call attention to the abuses, and a number of organizations on left and right are doing that.
One of the impediments, however, is the distrust between left and right. They often disagree about what should be done with prostitution by consenting adults, and so they spar over that — instead of focusing on the huge common ground, the shared belief that no 14-year-old should be kidnapped and forced by a pimp to have sex with customers. My view is that we should focus on the common ground, because if the two sides can work together there'll be far more progress on eliminating child prostitution.
I've seen that progress is possible. In Cambodia, when I first reported on this subject, 10-year-olds were being sold openly to the highest bidder. These days, brothel-owners can go to jail for trafficking in girls, and so they're more careful about keeping younger girls and about keeping them against their will. One brothel owner I interviewed many times over the years found that her profit margins were eroding, and the risk of going to prison was rising, so she closed the brothel and opened a grocery store instead. That's what needs to happen on a broader scale.

A Blade of Grass

When I was a little girl, I could spend hours sitting cross-legged in weedy patches of our yard, plucking daisies or clovers and stringing them together in long, looping chains. My creations--necklaces, bracelets, crowns, even a ring or two--were probably not beautiful to anyone but me (and possibly my mom).
Still, I can't help but remember those long ago daisy chains when I see Zulugrass jewelry. Made of grass from the Serengeti, these brightly-colored necklaces and bracelets are handmade, just like my long-ago creations. Look closely, and you'll see that each piece is made of tiny pieces of grass, dyed a cheery color and strung together with sparkling Czech glass beads.
Here's their story, taken from informational material available anytime you buy a piece of their jewelry.

The Maasai people live in the Great Rift Valley of Kenya and Tanzania. A terrible drought that ended in 2001 devastated Kenya's pasture lands and the Maasai's livelihood disappeared as their cattle died. The men had to drive the few remaining cattle hundreds of miles away in search of better grazing, leaving the women in desperate need of income to support themselves and their children.
Philip and Katy Leakey, who live among the Maasai, decided to help their neighbors. They designed contemporary products that utilize the natural sustainable resources around them as well as the expert beading skills of the Maasai women. This work is offered in non-factory settings which span over 150 miles in the Rift Valley, Kenya.
The Maasai women like to work with the freedom to come and go as their lives dictate. Over a thousand women handcraft Zulugrass jewelry, for the opportunity to have their own income to better their lives.

We are proud to sell Zulugrass in our store. Click here to check out our online selection!

Top 10 Ways to Fight

I'm reposting this list of "10 Things You Can Do to Fight Human Trafficking" from a Dec. 30, 2008 post at www.change.org, written by Amanda Kloer.
Check out Amanda's blog post here for further elaboration on how you can get involved in ending human trafficking.

1. Throw a Viewing Party.
2. Host a fundraiser for a local anti-trafficking nonprofit.
3. Oppose the commercial sex industry, including prostitution, escort services, strip clubs, pornography and the "pimp n ho" culture.
4. Support new or better state and local anti-trafficking laws.
5. Buy fair trade.
6. Support education and business opportunities for women and girls.
7. Think globally, act locally.
8. Express the importance of freedom through art, music or performance.
9. Remember the past and learn from it.
10. Report suspected situations of human trafficking.

Give Us a Piece of Your Mind

...And we'll give you a 30% discount on your next purchase!
At the risk of sounding overly corporate, we'd like to ask for a few minutes of your time to take a brief customer survey.
We are recognizing the importance of learning more about our customers as we seek to be better servants to the global poor. Your responses will help us hone a better, more sustainable business, which will in turn help provide more opportunities to the artist cooperatives we work with overseas.
This short, 10-item questionnaire is geared mainly toward our brick-and-mortar customers, but we welcome input from everyone who cares to respond! Everything is anonymous and confidential. Follow the link below to access the survey and claim your 30% discount.
Click here to take the survey.