The World Next Door

Under Construction...

2010-02-03T20:02:00.004-05:00

Well, it's taken us longer to tie up all the loose ends associated with closing our Chattanooga store than we thought.

We had hoped to have the website back up and running by now, but with end-of-year taxes, job hunting, and keeping food on the table, we just haven't found the time. We liquidated so much inventory in the Chattanooga store closing sale that we're practically starting from scratch.

But we're working on it. It shouldn't be too much longer before we're ready to make sales again. Thanks for bearing with us, and stay tuned!

Greed is so last year

2010-02-03T19:59:00.003-05:00

Good editorial on FT.com from Thom Robertson, dean of U Penn's Wharton School of Business...

link

"Business schools have an obligation to create knowledge that will enhance social and economic welfare."

Chattanooga Store Closing

2009-12-10T16:34:00.001-05:00

After much deliberation, discussion, and sifting through advice, we've made the difficult and painful decision to close down our Chattanooga store shortly after Christmas.

We're grateful for all of our wonderful customers who have been so supportive of our little shop and our mission, and we are not technically going out of business. Will and Kim will still operate the seasonal store in Lakeside, OH, and Jency and Nathan intend to keep World Next Door alive through booths at our favorite community events like Culture Fest and Normal Palooza. We also intend to keep our online store going. We feel a strong calling to continue to represent the global poor as much as we can, and who knows -- maybe one day we will be able to reopen a Chattanooga store.

But until then, we need your help! We have lots of inventory to liquidate, so we're offering a 50% storewide discount during our last Christmas Open House, from 5PM to 9PM on Saturday, December 12. Come clean us out!And, help us celebrate our incredible 4 years of fair trade, from the time we started in 2005 with Chattanooga T-Shirts and fair trade jewelry, to 2007 when we became an exclusively fair-trade store, through today. We'll have refreshments and a fun atmosphere, plus better deals on Christmas gifts that make a difference than you'll find anywhere!

Thank you for your support over the last 4 years, and we hope to see you on Saturday night!

Gratefully,

Will & Kim Honeycutt, owners

Nathan & Jency Shirai, managers

Do We Have the Best Customers, or What?

2009-11-13T13:03:00.005-05:00

This may be the cutest thing I've seen all year.
Remember that Halloween chocolate giveaway we did? Well, people showed up, and I had a great time ooh-ing and ah-ing at lots of really cute and creative costumes. I thought the fun ended that night, but then, this week we received an adorable thank you note from two very polite trick-or-treaters.

Here it is:

Dear World Next Door,

Thank you for the delicious fair trade chocolate ~~bats~~ bars. We had fun tricker treating at your store. It makes us happy that you care about all the people in World. Your store is very special and one of our favorite stores.
Thinking of you and smiling,

Sweetest Kids Ever

(OK, they aren't really called that, but they are! Don't you agree?)

Back from Nepal!

2009-11-11T15:47:00.014-05:00

Well, I returned from Nepal on October 29 and hit the ground running- end of GPS' Robin Hood, fair trade home parties, Normal Palooza- it's been a busy 2 weeks! I had access to internet just a couple of times and so was unable to post anything. This trip was so different from our trip in May, but once again I came back encouraged by what is happening in Nepal to fight human trafficking. It is an honor to play a tiny part in the work there. Being able to meet the women really makes selling products at World Next Door so personal and real. It really is making a difference! These girls are being loved and treated with dignity and respect- some for the first time in their lives. We ate together, laughed, and danced! Even with the language barrier, it was a great time. Visit our website here to see some of the hats and scarves I brought back. I would love to post pictures of their smiling faces but because of security issues when it comes to trafficking, I can't post them on the internet. Here are a few though of Nepal.

The girls made flower necklaces to greet us with on our first day at the halfway house.

Some school kids that later that night danced for us. I couldn't find my dad and I went outside and they had placed him in a chair in the middle of a crowd and were dancing for him. So fun!

These are houses on the cliff next to a river. There are

little girls climbing down the ladders with buckets to get their water. The bottom picture shows it better.

Getting product ready to come home

We were in the mountains the second half of the trip- my dad was a part of a medical clinic. It was harvest time so everywhere we went we saw "walking haybales". People in Nepal can carry anything!

The mountains in Nepal are breathtakingly beautiful.

Chew on This

2009-11-09T14:50:00.003-05:00

Looks like Nestle is in talks to make Kit-Kat fair trade...

FBD: Nestle’s Kit Kat could follow Fairtrade trend (UK)

by FoodBizDaily.com staff writer London
November 09 2009 - Discussions are underway between Nestle and Fairtrade for the confectioner’s Kit Kat brand to become Fairtrade-certified, reports claim.
Kit Kat is Britain’s best-selling chocolate bar, which would make it the biggest single Fairtrade-certified brand if talks are successful, according to dailymail.co.uk.
The Fairtrade logo is already appearing on rival brands as Fairtrade earlier this year certified Cadbury's Dairy Milk.
The Daily Mail reported that a spokeswoman for Nestle would only confirm that discussions had taken place with Fairtrade.
Kit Kat sales increased nearly 20 %this year following an advertising campaign with Girls Aloud.
The shift towards Fairtrade would be the latest in a string of efforts by the global food giant to improve its ethical credentials.
Last month Nestle announced its commitment to using only Certified Sustainable Palm Oil by 2015, the year when it said sufficient quantities were expected to be available.
It was also reported that the company is to spend 110 million Swiss francs ($109 million) on "sustainability initiatives" for the cocoa sector in the next decade, which includes providing millions of disease-resistant plantlets to cocoa producers to help boost yield.

At the End of Slavery

2009-11-05T15:17:00.006-05:00

I just learned about this from Nathan and Jency and WOW. What a wonderful idea! At the End of Slavery is the latest documentary by International Justice Mission, and is an eye-opening look at the heartbreaking slave industry that is in full swing today across the globe. Did you know that there are more slaves today than at any other time in human history? This is real, it is happening not so far away from you and me, and we can have an impact.

The ways to get involved are myriad: host a screening of the film; write your Congressional representatives; simply tell a friend. IJM is billing next weekend, Nov. 14-15, as the Weekend to End Slavery. IJM president Gary Haugen will address filming parties across the U.S. at 8 pm Saturday night. Then on Sunday, churches across the country will encourage believers to get involved in the struggle for justice.
Honestly, this is not something you want to miss. (That sounds so trite--but I mean it from the bottom of my heart.)

Just in case my words aren't enough to convince you to check this out, here is what IJM says about the documentary:
Narrated by actor Danny Glover, At the End of Slavery: The Battle for Justice in our Time takes you inside the violent and ugly business of modern-day slavery — the buying and selling of human beings — from the brothels of the Philippines to the brick kilns of India.
Undercover footage and first-person testimony from former slaves and respected experts expose the enormity of the crime — but a remarkable strategy and the courage of today's abolitionists offer hope for a final end to this brutal trade.
Shot on location in the Philippines, India, Cambodia and the U.S., At the End of Slavery takes you to the frontlines of today's battle for justice and includes true stories of former slaves and undercover footage from police operations to rescue children from brothels. International Justice Mission's investigators, lawyers and social workers and their clients, along with other leading abolitionists and anti-trafficking experts, show that there is nothing inevitable about slavery. Law enforcement success in finding and rescuing victims, and prosecuting perpetrators, demonstrates the real possibility of an end to this trade.

Who Made Your Bag?

2009-11-04T14:15:00.003-05:00

Does it ever feel like we've lost touch with our roots? I, for one, don't usually have much of an idea where my food comes from (although I did have a small but successful veggie/herb garden this summer, thank you very much!), don't make my own clothes, and don't know as much as I wish I did about the people who work hard to provide the necessities I use in everyday life.
Well, this project is the answer to the ache I'm feeling to be closer to my "roots."
This project, MEND, is a clothing line sponsored by Invisible Children. The group was created to raise awareness about the invisible war in northern Uganda by sharing the personal stories of those involved.
"MEND is designed to seam a personal connection between products, their creators, and you. MEND is proof that what we wear can- and will- make a difference."
Watch this video: I promise you won't regret it!

Turn It Upside Down

2009-10-31T13:24:00.008-04:00

Happy Halloween!
In honor of the day, we're doing our own version of the Reverse Trick or Treat thing we told you about earlier--handing out chocolate and information on fair trade chocolate to all comers in our store. I thought I'd share with all of you in Internet world what, exactly, we're sharing with folks, and give you a taste (bad pun, I can't help it) of the info we're sharing with everyone today.

I also thought you might be interested by this Creative Loafing story on a family who is celebrating Halloween with Reverse Trick or Treat for the first time this year.
I've posted the full article below. (OCD note: I am not responsible for the spelling errors in this story!)

Shannon Ward knows that what she buys for her family effects other people.That’s why she and her three kids are participating Reverse Trick or Treating this Halloween.
Seven year old Glynis, 11-year-old Nathan and 13-year-old Thomas will be handing out cards attached to a fair trade piece of chocolate to people in Ward’s father’s Huntersville neighborhood.
“I noticed that with Sameritan’s Purse, the group that sends the shoe boxes, a lot of them go to countries where a lot of chocolate and coffee comes from and I wondered how many of those families are farmers who are getting taken advantage of?” Ward said.
Global Exchange, a global human rights protection agency based out of San Francisco created this program. The organization has been around for over 20 years. 2009 marks the 3rd year of the Reverse Trick-or-Treating program.
This is the first year that the Ward family has had a chance to participate.
“Fair trade is really important to my family and we only buy fair trade chocolate and coffee. There is such an enormous amount of chocolate consumed around this time of year and Valentine’s Day that I just wanted to let people know about it. I think if more people knew about what fair trade is and what it means when they don’t buy fair trade that it would sway them to make different decisions or at least think about the decisions that they’re making.”
So, what is fair trade?
It is a social movement to get higher payment to the farmers in developing countries that produce things like coffee, chocolate and sugar to name a few items.
Ward said that she and her family try to expose as many people to fair trade items. Whenever there is a chance to share things at her kids’ school, The Community School of Davidson, she makes a handcrafted hot chocolate made with fair trade ingredients to get the conversation rolling.
Where does Ward find fair trade coffee and chocolate. The coffee, she said, is easy.
“You can find fair trade coffee any where. Even Wal-Mart and Food Lion sell it now,” she said.
But the chocolate, you have to search for. Here’s a hint — it ain’t Hershey’s. Ward said stores like Earth Fare and Healthy Home Market have fair trade chocolate.
She also said she buys some fair trade chocolate online at Sweet Earth Organic Chocolate.
Ward said she hopes that more people will start paying attention to fair trade and think about the choices they make.

2009-10-30T13:17:00.002-04:00

This is not so much an event as it is a simple freebie.
Shop at World Next Door on Halloween dressed in your Halloween costume, and you'll receive a free bar of fair trade chocolate!

Anyone who makes a purchase on Halloween, but is not in costume, will get a free individually wrapped piece of fair trade dark chocolate.

Savor the sweetness of fair trade and know that the money you spend on every fair trade purchase chips away at extreme poverty in developing countries.

End Human Trafficking

2009-10-29T14:47:00.003-04:00

Remember the video we posted just a few days ago? The one that urged consumers to think twice about the impact their choices have before purchasing? Well, I've found more on the subject, courtesy of Voice of America News, which brings us more on the awareness campaign by the International Organization for Migration.
According to VOA News, Richard Danzieger, head of the Global Counter Trafficking Program at IOM, says that, although problems like poverty and misogyny contribute to human trafficking, it is the consumer's demand for unreasonably inexpensive labor and goods that drives the trade.

He [Danziger] says the campaign aims to change consumer behavior through the use of soft power, not hard power. "We are not asking people to boycott a particular brand or boycott a particular super market or chain store. We are simply asking people to find out what lies behind the products they buy. We are asking people to buy responsibly," he said.
The International Labor Organization estimates 12.3 million people are in forced or bonded labor and sexual servitude around the world.
Danziger says stories about human trafficking usually focus on women and girls used for sexual exploitation. But he says both men and women are trafficked for labor exploitation.
He says there have been large increases in the last five years in the trafficking of men and boys to work in the agricultural, construction, fishing and domestic service sector. "We estimate, based on some ILO (International Labor Organization) figures that in industrialized countries there are over 100,000 trafficked migrant workers. So, severely exploited migrant workers. If they were paid their back wages, the wages they are due, it could come to something like $2.5 billion. So, we are talking about large sums. Throughout the world, there is an estimate by the ILO of what we call stolen wages of almost $20 billion," he said.

Halloween Sale

2009-10-29T14:33:00.003-04:00

Buy Responsibly

2009-10-27T17:24:00.002-04:00

This is a simple look at why we should think about the repercussions of our buying choices. This commercial was shot for the "Buy Responsibly" campaign kicking off in Europe, which is sponsored by International Organization for Migration. This clip is only 30 seconds long, so you have time for this.

Here's what blogger Amanda had to say after seeing the video: "Our demand for cheaper products is one of the big drivers behind human trafficking in a number of industries, from the food we eat to the clothes we wear to the houses we live in. In fact, slavery in the production of consumer goods is so pervasive, I can guarantee that both you and I own at least a handful of items made by slaves; we have eaten food grown, harvested, or produced by slaves. So if we are going to get serious about ending human trafficking, we need to take the Buy Responsibly campaign's message to heart and make an effort to purge our buying habits of slave-made goods. So does that mean you should boycott every industry that has used slavery? No. For one, it's not a very sustainable lifestyle choice. Information about which products have been tainted by slavery is often outdated or inaccurate. Plus, the use of human trafficking in supply chains is so prolific, you'd be starving and naked before long, and very few people are willing to live like that voluntarily. While boycotts have changed and can improve corporate behaviour, boycotting may put non-trafficked workers' jobs at risk, making some workers worse off. Before considering boycotting a certain product, think about who will profit from and who will be affected by the boycott. If you do boycott, make specific demands and agree to end the boycott when those demands are met. Another effective way to buy more responsibly is to buy products from companies that have a commitment to fair labor practices. When given a choice between a Fair Trade item and another one, go with the Fair Trade option. Choose products from companies with reputations for treating workers fairly. Tell companies that the rights of workers is an important consideration in your choice of products. These may seem like very small steps, but as companies see that fair labor standards are important to consumers, they will meet that demand like they now meet our demand for low prices."

New, New, New!

2009-10-24T14:20:00.002-04:00

Heads up: there is a LOT of new stuff on our website. Most of these are new products from Handmade Expressions, one of our primary fair trade partners. Be sure to check everything out!

Free Coffee Cupping

2009-10-15T11:11:00.004-04:00

Come join us this Saturday, Oct. 17, from 2-4 p.m. as we host a free coffee cupping (like a wine tasting, but with coffee) at our store. Guests from Pasha Coffee and Tea will be on hand to guide us through the experience. Pasha is the only coffeehouse in Chattanooga to serve only fair trade and organic coffee and tea, so their staff have lots of experience and wisdom to share.
We at World Next Door will also be sharing a bit about how Fair Trade principles benefit small coffee farmers in developing countries.
You don't want to miss this! We look forward to seeing you Saturday.

Back to Nepal!

2009-10-14T15:32:00.004-04:00

Well, I never dreamed that I would be going back to Nepal in the same year. But I leave Friday! Nathan and I continue to be amazed at the number of connections we have with this country. Not only through fair trade organizations that we work with, but also through other friends in town. This trip though, Nathan will be unable to come as there is much work to be done at World Next Door! Stop by and say hello because he might be kinda lonely :-). And at the end of the month we'll be participating in GPS' annual Robin Hood event, so Nathan and Beth (our amazing, awesome, "we could not do this without her!" blog writer and assistant manager) will be quite busy. My dad will be going to Nepal this time, and I'm excited about showing him a little more of how fair trade works.

If you'll remember with me back to late April and May, Nathan and I were in India and Nepal visiting fair trade groups. We also started a relationship with an organization that is rescuing girls from being trafficked at the border of Nepal and India. You can read about how that works here. We're selling their banana fiber products in the shop right now and are very excited about the customer response. Sometimes when you purchase things, you think they will sell, but you never really know until they go on the shelves. These products are beautifully made, and everytime I look at them, I can't help but think of the women and girls in Nepal who are being empowered through the skills that they have learned at the half-way house. Not only have they been rescued/prevented from a life of prostitution, but they are being empowered to go back into their communities to help other girls learn how to read, write, sew, etc. It is very exciting! You can see some of these products on our website. Scroll down to the bottom and look for the banana fiber hats and scarves.

Half of my time in Nepal will be spent at the half-way house, hopefully talking about products and how we can partner with them better as a store. The other half will be in the mountains where my dad and other Nepali doctors will be doing a medical clinic. We fly into a village in the mountains, and then have to hike 3 or 4 hours- complete with horses carrying our medical supplies!- to another village where the clinic will be. I don't have any medical experience but I can play with kids, run medicines to people, and be an extra set of hands. I will try to post some blog entries while I'm gone but probably will not have as much access to a computer as Nathan and I did last time. I'm sure to come back with lots of stories though!

So, see you in a couple of weeks with (I hope) 3 or 4 duffel bags full of product!

Why Bananas Matter

2009-10-09T11:26:00.006-04:00

Bananas are a quick, cheap, nutritious and delicious snack. But some producers are slashing their banana prices so low that it may harm the farmers who try to make a living off of this produce.

This article in Britain's The Independent offers some thought-provoking questions--and answers--on the subject of why the price we pay for bananas at the market actually matters. The Independent decided to tackle the subject after Britain's second-largest supermarket chain slashed their banana prices by more than half since last Christmas.

Here are some excerpts:

So? Supermarkets are always cutting prices, aren't they?
It's special for two reasons. One, bananas are the top selling item in British grocery - the trade is worth nearly £600m per year. In terms of value, only petrol and lottery tickets outsell bananas in supermarkets. This means that banana prices have become a key weathervane, like the prices of traditional staples such as bread and milk, of supermarket prices in general. People notice banana prices. If shoppers think you have cheap bananas, they may think your prices are lower across the board. Secondly, and more importantly, in real terms these are probably the lowest prices for bananas that have ever been charged.

Well that's great, isn't it?
It very much depends on who you are. If you're a banana consumer (and most of us are), your weekly banana bill has been cut by half in less than a year. There's a recession on, and every little helps. Bring on the banana fritters and the banana splits. On the other hand, cutting the price in half, and perhaps saving you 50p per week, might represent disaster for thousands of farmers in the developing world, who grow bananas - and barely make a living doing so - and have seen the prices they receive steadily drop over the last decade. These are tough times for the public in Britain, but they are desperate times for poor farmers in countries such as Costa Rica and Ecuador.

Why should we worry about banana producers?
Because banana production is the archetypal example of how agriculture in the developing world can perpetuate social injustice and trap people in poverty. Bananas are the most popular fruit in the world - shoppers spend more than £10bn on them annually, and they are the world's fourth most important crop after rice, wheat and maize.
Banana production is consequently an operation on a gigantic industrial scale and is dominated by just five huge companies, Chiquita (formerly United Fruit), Dole, Del Monte, Noboa and Fyffes, which control 80 per cent of the global trade between them.
They grow bananas in vast monoculture plantations in tropical countries, employing tens of thousands of workers. But, according to the Fairtrade Foundation, many of the workers are paid pittance wages insufficient to provide for their families - less than £1 per day in some cases - for working long hours in very difficult conditions, and often prevented from forming trade unions to protect their rights and improve their working lives.
The situation of small independent banana producers is also precarious, and in the Windward Islands in the Caribbean, which were once the mainstay of Britain's banana supplies, 20,000 out of 25,000 banana farmers have gone out of production since 1992.
Every time the price of bananas in the rich countries falls, there is pressure on the big producers to cut the wages and benefits of their workers to maintain profits, and often impossible pressure on independents to match the low prices. Between 2002 and 2008, supermarket price wars saw the price of loose bananas in the UK slashed by 41 per cent, but Asda's latest price cut is something again.

Why is it different from other price cuts?
Because it takes banana prices to a historically low level, almost certainly below the cost of growing them, picking them and shipping them across the world. The Fairtrade Foundation, which now gives its accreditation to a quarter of the bananas sold in Britain, has been tracking banana retail prices in the UK since 2000 (when they were at 90p per kilo) and the baseline of the graphic it has used was set at 65p, as no-one ever expected prices to fall below that. Now Asda has cut them to 46p - way off the graph.
"We've never seen this," Harriet Lamb, the Fair Trade Federation's executive director, said yesterday."It never even occurred to us we would see prices go this low. This is the lowest level since records began after World War Two, the lowest level in absolute terms ever. It is completely unsustainable. It is ludicrous. It is just Asda playing games. It is also completely pointless, as their rivals will all follow suit. The point is what the long-term impact will be for farmers and workers in the banana industry. It is clearly impossible to cut prices by this much without making the deepest cut of all - to producers' livelihoods."

Bundle Up

2009-10-06T12:42:00.012-04:00

Our winter gear has arrived in store and trust me, you will love it. Toboggans, gloves, mittens, scarves, ponchos. Most of these are made in Bolivia, Ecuador, or Nepal, although we just added a few hats from Guatemala to our collection this morning.

The hats and mittens from Ecuador and Bolivia are made by Artesania, a company started 25 years ago by a Columbia grad after he traveled to these two countries and fell in love with the indigenous culture and tradition of descendants of the Incan people.

So cute! We sell these in both children and adult sizes. Talk about a fun Halloween costume.

This poncho and the hat below are made out of banana fiber in Nepal. Approximately one billion tons of banana fiber are thrown away every year; clothes like these put what was formerly waste material to good use. In addition, impoverished people can benefit from making and selling clothes and accessories (i.e. the ones you see pictured below!) made of the banana fiber that is plentiful in their local environment.

Be sure to check out these products in our online store.

News of the Day

2009-10-03T14:38:00.004-04:00

Check this out:

Dole Fresh Fruit has reportedly signed a deal with third-party certifier TransFair USA to import bananas and pineapples under the Fairtrade label.

The agreement, reported in The Packer, would make Dole the largest importer of Fairtrade-certified bananas and pineapples in the US.

“Dole will be working closely with TransFair USA on promotions,” Bil Goldfield, communications manager for Dole Fresh Fruit, confirmed.

According to Mr Goldfield, the company started exporting Fairtrade-certified bananas from Ecuador and Peru to Wal-Mart-owned Sam’s Club outlets in August, and plans to extend the project to include Central and South American organic and conventionally grown pineapples in due course.

The volume of Fairtrade products will initially represent only a small percentage of Dole’s annual volume, The Packer reported.

La Paz De Dios and Fair Trade

2009-10-02T09:10:00.006-04:00

There's a great organization here in Chattanooga with whom we've had the privilege of working quite frequently over the last couple years. They're known as La Paz de Dios, and they provide all kinds of support services to the local Latino community. As we understand it, their primary aim is to empower Latinos to better and more fruitfully integrate into Chattanooga, both socially and economically. And that's good for them, and for Chattanooga.

We recognize that the past few decades' upsurge in Hispanic immigration into America has become a flashpoint for controversy at all levels of politics, business, education, social relations, and more. But what no amount or quality of argument will change is that, right now, there are a lot of people living in our country, and our city, that have come here from Latin America, legally or illegally, in search of better lives for themselves and their loved ones back home. La Paz reaches out to this community and provides English training, job counseling, translation services for school enrollment, and good old-fashioned volunteer service work to get people plugged in and on their feet. And that's probably just a fraction of the whole list of things they're up to. It's community and economic development mixed with compassion, on a local level.

I can't remember the exact numbers, but I remember reading in the New York Times in early 2007 that the World Bank (I think) estimated the total amount of remittances (that's people working abroad and sending money back home) to outweigh the total amount of official government aid by a margin of billions of dollars. Many foreign workers that come to the US are here because they are trying to support their families back home. While La Paz works to get those that come here plugged in, the work we do here at World Next Door helps bolster those communities abroad through fair trade.

For anyone just now finding out about us and what we do, Fair Trade is the name of a business practice that guarantees fair wages and safe working conditions to farmers, artists, and craftsmen living in countries where economic exploitation, or a dearth of opportunity, is prevalent. It's business conducted in a dignifying way, and it's a way for us as Western consumers to leverage our buying power to chip away at global poverty with each purchase.

Many of the products we sell in our store come from countries where many migrant workers that have come to the US originate -- places like Guatemala, Mexico, and more. From now until Christmas, we're teaming up with La Paz to attack both ends of the Latino challenge.

Shop with us online at http://shop.worldnextdoormarket.com/ and enter the following discount code at checkout:

lapaz

Instead of receiving a discount yourself, we'll make a donation to La Paz. 10% of your purchase price will impact Chattanooga's Latino population, and 50% (the cost of the goods we sell) goes directly to the community where it was produced. The other 40% will go to pay our bills and taxes.

On the left-hand menu you'll see an option called "By Country." This will let you browse our products based on where they were produced. While the 10% donation will apply no matter what country's products you purchase, if you pick one from a Hispanic country you'll be supporting:

A Latino community overseas, attacking poverty and helping to chip away at the incentive to emigrate;
The work of La Paz, helping to engage Chattanooga's Latino community to become more integrated and productive in our area, and;
Us, a locally-owned and operated small business.

And shipping is always free!

From our newsletter...

2009-10-01T11:29:00.003-04:00

PHD Indoor Frisbee
Made in Guatemala
$9.99 Regular Edition
$14.99 Sport Edition

These things are too cool not to mention. These hand-knit flying discs are produced in a fair trade workshop in Guatemala, and are safe enough to use indoors! Bright and colorful, they're good for copious rainy day fun!

The Sport Edition is made from slightly heavier material for more weight and distance.

There are far too many colors for us to sell these online, so if you can't make it to our Chattanooga store, make your inquiry by phone: 423.634.7799

Magazine Bead Making Workshop this Saturday

2009-09-29T17:04:00.001-04:00

October is World Fair Trade Month! We'll be having fun fair trade events 3 Saturdays in October, starting off with a magazine bead making workshop this Saturday, October 3rd from 11 AM to 2 PM. All materials will be provided.

Learn a skill that women in Uganda use to support their families, and see if you can make a bead as good as the kind we sell in our shop!

Kids are welcome, but we do ask that you keep a close eye on the glue!

Wedding Season

2009-09-26T12:32:00.004-04:00

I'm headed to a wedding this rainy afternoon, which made me think of what wedding ceremonies are like around the world. Here's a quick glance at what folks in some of the countries that supply our fair trade goods do to celebrate marriage.

India: Brides in India wear pink or red for their wedding. They are also decked out in lots of jewelry, and their hands and feet are painted in exquisite patterns of henna tattoes.
After swapping vows in the ceremony, the father or brother of the groom throws flower petals on the new couple. Then, he holds a coconut over their heads and circles it around them three times.

Peru: Good-bye, bouquet toss; hellos, charm pull! In Peru, wedding charms with ribbons attached are put in between the layers of the wedding cake. Before the cake is cut and served, each single woman pulls a ribbon. Whoever pulls the ribbon with the ring is supposed to get married within the next year.

Ghana: Most Ghanans are Muslim or Christian, which of course leads to a wide variety of wedding traditions. Still, many still "knock on the door;" that is, the groom's mother and uncle visit the girl's family to formally propose the marriage for him.

Indonesia: Post-ceremony, most wedding receptions in Indonesia kick off with a procession to the reception site. Features of this procession include a long chain of flowers, and professional dancers performing traditional dances as family and friends wait for the new couple to arrive.

Kids: We Want Better Schools!

2009-09-25T15:08:00.004-04:00

South African kids are taking it into their own hands. Tired of sub-par schools and education, this week thousands of children marched in Cape Town, asking for books and libraries for their schools. The march on city hall was organized by Equal Education, a movement that the New York Times reports has its movements in the anti-apartheid marches of the previous century.
Ninth grader Abongile Ndesi told NYT: “We want more information and knowledge."

Here's some more of what's going on in South Africa, per the Times, as these students step up to demand their own when it comes to education.

Last year, Equal Education gave students in Khayelitsha, home to more than 500,000 unemployed and working-class people, disposable cameras to document problems in their high schools. They returned with shots of leaking roofs, cracked desks and children crowded around a single textbook.
One image — a bank of window panes at Luhlaza high school, all shattered, captured by a student named Zukiswa Vuka — proved the most resonant. Some 500 windows at the school had been broken for years, leaving the students shivering in wintertime classes.
Equal Education’s first campaign was to get them replaced. The school agreed to put up about $650, an amount the group said it would match. That left some $900 still needed. Over months, the group met with local and provincial managers, organized a communitywide petition drive, held a rally of hundreds of township students and garnered coverage in local newspapers.
...
The libraries campaign is the group’s first attempt to tackle a national issue. With financial support from Atlantic Philanthropies and the Open Society Institute, among others, it is also hoping to broaden its membership to include teachers and more parents and to graduate to bigger victories.
...
Abongile, the ninth grader from Luhlaza high school, noted appreciatively that she did not have to sit with chattering teeth in class this winter because the broken windows had been fixed.
“I saw that Equal Education can make something impossible possible,” she said.

I don't know about ya'll, but all this talk of kids hungry for libraries reminds me of something going on here in Chattanooga...
Picture taken by Pieter Bauermeister for The New York Times

Tea Time

2009-09-24T14:37:00.005-04:00

Bleh. This week has, so far, been a tough one. I've come down with (and now fought off, hurray!) an unpleasant strain of something: the flu, a bug, some virus, who knows. But spending a good part of the past two days camped out on the couch has done one good thing: it's reinvigorated my love of hot teas.

Coffee is great, don't get me wrong, but when I've got a sore throat or a stomachache or sometimes just because I'm craving the taste, tea is the drink of choice. There's something soothing, comforting, even healing about a hot cup of tea.

With that in mind, I thought this was the perfect opportunity to feature a few of the fair trade teas we sell at our store. We stock teas made by Equal Exchange, a company that is committed to supporting a fair and sustainable way of life for its growers. Here are a few favorites:

Wild Rooibos: I fell in love with Rooibos tea last year after a friend who had lived in Africa introduced me to the herbal drink. It is, without question, my new favorite. Accordng to Equal Exchange, the red tea "has a fruity character with vanilla overtones and is naturally caffeine free. Rooibos contains antioxidants, which are known to promote good health." It is sooo good!

Earl Grey Tea: This tea is a traditional favorite, made of certified organic Darjeeling tea. I love drinking Earl Grey all day long--it's great with breakfast, for a midafternoon break (it's the definition of traditional teatime to me), after dinner.

Green Magic Tea: The health benefits of green tea are well-known, so get on board! This tea is grown in Sri Lanka by members of the Small Organic Farmers Association.

How To Buy Fair Trade Coffee

2009-09-19T12:27:00.006-04:00

Coffee and chocolate are two areas where it makes no sense NOT to buy fair trade--at least for me. These are ordinary items that we consume all the time, and it is easy to find both chocolate and coffee fair trade. Plus, not buying fair trade has real consequences for the growers. I've blogged about how coffee growers in west Africa depend on human trafficking and child labor to keep their plantations growing strong.
Anyway, I'll get down off my soapbox now and tell you about this video, which explains briefly and clearly how and why buying fair trade coffee is muy importante. This video talks about why to buy fair, where you can find fairly traded coffee, how to know if a product is fair trade, and how to encourage more stores and coffee shops to sell fair trade.

Here at World Next Door, we sell two brands of fair trade coffee: Land of a Thousand Hills, and Equal Exchange. Come by our store and pick some up!

FLASH SALE

2009-09-18T13:27:00.005-04:00

It's a sudden sale tomorrow, Saturday September 19th! We're offering a 50% storewide discount, but you'll have to act fast -- it'll only happen between 3PM and 6PM!

If you haven't been in yet this fall, it will be a great chance to scope out our...

New Fall Tops from India -- chic designs so you can feature your taste for fashion and human rights.
Long Sleeve Bamboo Shirts -- a seasonal favorite, and an essential layer for fall.
Freeset Bags -- handy jute bags from Kolkata, in new colors and designs.
Zulugrass Jewelry -- now featuring different lengths and simple, attractive charms.
More!

Harry Potter, Fair Trade, Take 2

2009-09-17T13:34:00.003-04:00

We already blogged about the connections between Harry Potter and fair trade. Now, smart girl Hermione (known in real life as actress and Brown University freshman Emma Watson) says she's spent the last year serving as creative advisor for People Tree, a fair trade clothing line.

Watson has helped design a summer wardrobe for teens, including everything from basic cotton tees to jersey dresses and poplin shorts.

"I wanted to help People Tree produce a younger range because I was excited by the idea of using fashion as a tool to help alleviate poverty and knew it was something I could help make a difference with," Watson said. "I think young people like me are becoming increasingly aware of the humanitarian and environmental issues surrounding fast fashion and want to make good choices but there aren’t many options out there.
"It has been the most incredible gap year project.”

For more on Watson and People Tree, check out this Sky News article.

Fair Trade Month

2009-09-15T11:29:00.006-04:00

We're gearing up for Fair Trade Month (aka October) here at World Next Door, and you're invited. We've decided to hold three Saturday events in honor of Fair Trade Month throughout October, seeing this as a way to inform more folks about fair trade and have some fun in the process. Here's a sneak peek at some of wjat we're planning for Fair Trade Month. Make sure you come by!

Saturday, October 3
Event: Make-your-own-paper beads!
Time: 11am-2pm
Bring your kids and make your own magazine paper beads, just like we sell in our store. We'll also be talking about the folks who make magazine jewelry in Uganda. Their work benefits AIDS orphans--come visit and find out more!

Saturday, October 17
Event: sample fair trade coffee with local fair trade coffee and teahouse Pasha, and yummy chocolate brownies from Alchemy Spice
Time: 2-4 pm
Have you ever wanted to find out more about the coffee you're drinking? You know--where it's from, how it's made, who grew this? This is your chance to find out. The experts at Pasha will be on hand for this free coffee tasting event, and would love to answer your questions.

Saturday, October 31
Event: Fair Trade Halloween - come into the store in your Halloween costume and get a FREE bar of chocolate. People, this is perfect for kids! If you buy something, we're also going to be giving out free mini chocolates. What can I say, we're sweet!
Time: All day
In addition to bringing your little ones by for a free chocolate bar, we're also going to be doing that Reverse Trick or Treating thing we blogged about earlier. You want to be here.

Check out more info on Fair Trade Month here and here.

2009-09-14T15:27:00.007-04:00

I've already told you about Half the Sky, the new book about the state of women around the world by husband-wife team Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. If you're not intrigued enough, Slate columnist Johann Hari has given us some more reasons to check out the book--or at the very least, investigate the subject.
Here is what she writes:

"While we rightly roared at racial apartheid, we act as though gender apartheid is a natural, immutable fact. With absolutely the right Molotov cocktail of on-the-ground reporting and hard social science, Kristof and WuDunn blow up this taboo. They ask: What would we do if we believed women were equal human beings, with as much right to determine their life story as men? How would we view the world differently?"

"They take the reader on a grand tour of all the issues that are ignored because women are ignored. For example—who has heard of fistula? It is today's leprosy, causing 2 million women to live and die as despised outcasts—yet it is virtually unknown. When a woman has a long, obstructed labor with no doctors to help her deliver, the blood supply to her vagina, bladder, and rectum can be cut off. The tissues die, and a hole is ripped in her flesh. From that hole, shit and piss will leak for the rest of her life in one long incontinent streak. Because she stinks, she is rejected by her husband and her community, and forced to live scavenging on the streets.
In every African town, you see fistula-stricken women, wandering aimlessly, their heads down in shame. They are the saddest people I have ever met. But this problem is cruelly easy to treat. For $300, a fistula can be repaired in 90 percent of cases. Fistula can be beaten, if only we value women enough to do it. There used to be a fistula hospital in Manhattan. Today, it is the Waldorf-Astoria.
Or how about the enslavement of women in brothels, which is now far larger than the trans-Atlantic slave trade at its height? Some 3.5 million women are being jailed, drugged, and raped for cash today. This brutalization of women doesn't have to happen any more than the enslavement of Africans did in the 18th century. As the authors write: "The tools to crush modern slavery exist, but the political will is lacking. That must be the starting point of any abolitionist movement." International pressure—set in motion by the acts of ordinary citizens—works."

Hari doesn't blink at the book's flaws, criticizing the couple's defense of sweatshops (Kristof believes the work women find in these squalid factories is, in the long run, better than staying home and working the fields).
Hari says:
"Anti-sweatshop campaigners—who he has explicitly chided—want all factories, everywhere, to adhere to certain minimum standards: No use of beatings, a maximum working day, safety precautions. Then they won't be sweatshops; they'll just be factories.
Whenever he is confronted with this argument, Kristof says that any country that imposes basic human conditions on sweatshops loses its trade to a country that won't and women suffer. But this ignores an obvious truth: Anti-sweatshop campaigners want to see these rules imposed everywhere. There should be no escape clauses and no places where multinational corporations can go to cheaply abuse women for a few extra pennies of profit."

Regardless, I'm planning on checking out this book--and soon. Tell me: are there other books I should add to my reading list? What have you read that informed and inspired you?

Fair Trade and Football

2009-09-13T13:20:00.006-04:00

Fall is, quite possibly, my favorite season of the year. Of course, I adore Christmastime, and springtime equals bliss in my book, but fall... fall is vibrant leaves, bonfires on chilly nights, camping weather. And football.
Born and bred in the southeastern United States, I learned to love football (particularly the college variety) the way I learned to walk and talk. It was everywhere, a part of life, and I grew up spending Saturdays attached to the TV or radio, holding my breath with every wavering pass and praying for mercy on fourth and longs.

Yesterday I went to a college football game (my first of the season) and it set me to thinking. While they're not often mentioned in the same breath, football and fair trade share more than a bit of common ground. Here's my top five list.

1. Play fair. This principle is obvious in fair trade: it's the foundation on which the whole movement is based. In football, make an unfair tackle or flout the rules in any fashion, and you'll suffer the consequences by losing yardage.

2. Teamwork. No single player can win or lose a football game. It takes a group of players cooperating together to reach the final goal: victory. A good quarterback depends on his offensive line, a running back needs blocks. Both offense and defense have to do their part. Fair trade similarly relies on groups of people working together for the common good. Farmers growing fair trade coffee in Africa typically band together in fair trade co-ops. They also depend on you and me--retailers and consumers--to stock and purchase their products. No single link in the chain can guarantee success; it's all about working together.

3. It's about work. No football team finds success without spending many, many, many hours on the practice field. Two-a-days in summer heat might equal a win in the cool of fall. But skip the practice and the outcome is all but guaranteed. Fair traders don't get far if they're not doing the unglamorous work. Making the product is just the first step. Then there's marketing, selling the goods, educating the public, shipping...and on and on the list continues.

4. Innovation. Albert Einstein once defined insanity as "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." A good coach mixes it up, knowing that repetition makes it easy to predict--and defeat--his team. A prudent fair trader understands that success depends on flexibility to changing times and circumstances. Artists must continue to create new and unique pieces, farmers must adjust their plans according to the changes each season brings.

5. Know the basics. A mastery of simple principles--like wrapping up a tackle or reinforcing stitching--leads to a big payoff in the long run. Who doesn't like to watch a well-executed game? Who doesn't like a beautiful and utilitarian purse? No one, that's who. Do your job well, and folks will sit up and take notice.

Happy Labor Day!

2009-09-07T14:22:00.004-04:00

Talk about fulfilled campaign promises.

Have you ever thought that promising folks an extra holiday each year is the surely the most certain path to political office? Well, you're not alone.

In 1894, President Grover Cleveland followed through on a campaign pledge and enacted the first ever national Labor Day. The movement toward Labor Day had been gathering momentum for awhile, and notably gained steam in 1892 when New York City union workers took an unpaid day in support of the idea. Labor Day was placed halfway between Independence Day and Thanksgiving because--as we all know--everyone needs a break about this time!

In 1898, Samuel Gompers, head of the American Federation of Labor, said that Labor Day was "the day for which the toilers in past centuries looked forward, when their rights and their wrongs would be discussed...that the workers of our day may not only lay down their tools of labor for a holiday, but upon which they may touch shoulders in marching phalanx and feel the stronger for it."

Fair Trade in 8 Minutes (OK, Just Over)

2009-09-04T18:17:00.004-04:00

Found this on Fair Trade the White House's blog and wanted you to see it, too. This is EQ.TV's mini-movie for fair trade.

Starbucks To Go Fair...In UK

2009-09-03T11:30:00.002-04:00

It's not happening here in the U.S., but Starbucks has announced that, beginning yesterday, all espresso drinks in the U.K. and Ireland will be fair trade.

"Starbucks said it’s the world’s largest purchaser of fair trade coffee and added that its move will contribute about $4 million annually to small-scale coffee farmers," according to the Puget Sound Business Journal. "The company said it gets most of its “Starbucks Fairtrade Certified Espresso Roast” from Latin America, mainly from Guatemala, Costa Rica and Peru."

Well, good. I wish this would happen here.

In Their Words: Laura Ling and Euna Lee

2009-09-02T15:21:00.008-04:00

They've spoken.

I've copied below some excerpts from an opinion piece written by Laura Ling and Euna Lee, the American journalists who spent 140 days in a North Korean jail. The column was posted on the Los Angeles Times website last night.

Interestingly, the thing that shines through the most in this piece is the women's passion and determination to shed light on the lives of North Koreans who have been trafficked across the China-North Korea border. Ling and Lee write:

"We had traveled to the area to document a grim story of human trafficking for Current TV. During the previous week, we had met and interviewed several North Korean defectors -- women who had fled poverty and repression in their homeland, only to find themselves living in a bleak limbo in China. Some had, out of desperation, found work in the online sex industry; others had been forced into arranged marriages."

Here are a few more glimpses of their experience.

On Their Capture

"When we set out, we had no intention of leaving China, but when our guide beckoned for us to follow him beyond the middle of the river, we did, eventually arriving at the riverbank on the North Korean side. He pointed out a small village in the distance where he told us that North Koreans waited in safe houses to be smuggled into China via a well-established network that has escorted tens of thousands across the porous border.Feeling nervous about where we were, we quickly turned back toward China. Midway across the ice, we heard yelling. We looked back and saw two North Korean soldiers with rifles running toward us. Instinctively, we ran.We were firmly back inside China when the soldiers apprehended us. Producer Mitch Koss and our guide were both able to outrun the border guards. We were not. We tried with all our might to cling to bushes, ground, anything that would keep us on Chinese soil, but we were no match for the determined soldiers. They violently dragged us back across the ice to North Korea and marched us to a nearby army base, where we were detained."

Shining the Light

"Our motivations for covering this story were many. First and foremost, we believe that journalists have a responsibility to shine light in dark places, to give voice to those who are too often silenced and ignored. One of us, Euna, is a devout Christian whose faith infused her interest in the story. The other, Laura, has reported on the exploitation of women around the world for years. We wanted to raise awareness about the harsh reality facing these North Korean defectors who, because of their illegal status in China, live in terror of being sent back to their homeland...

Many people have asked about our strength to endure such hardships and uncertainty. But our experiences pale when compared with the hardship facing so many people living in North Korea or as illegal immigrants in China...we would rather redirect this interest to the story we went to report on, a story about despairing North Korean defectors who flee to China only to find themselves living a different kind of horror. We hope that now, more than ever, the plight of these people and of the aid groups helping them are not forgotten."

Life in Limbo

"Most of the North Koreans we spoke with said they were fleeing poverty and food shortages. One girl in her early 20s said she had been told she could find work in the computer industry in China. After being smuggled across the Tumen River, she found herself working with computers, but not in the way she had expected. She became one of a growing number of North Korean women who are being used as Internet sex workers, undressing for online clients on streaming video. Some defectors appeared more nervous about being interviewed than others. But they all agreed that their lives in China, while stark, were better than what they had left behind in North Korea."

Protecting Their Sources

"We were left for a very brief time with our belongings. With guards right outside the room, we furtively destroyed evidence in our possession by swallowing notes and damaging videotapes."

Read the entire column here, on the LA Times website. I promise, it's worth it.

New for Fall

2009-09-01T17:26:00.006-04:00

It's that time of year and we are bursting at the seams here with brand-spanking-new products. Here's a quick peek at a few of the goods for autumn:

Dilly Belted Top
They're organic. They're pretty. And they're made in Nepal by a fair trade women's group. Yes, you want one.

Organic Tie Front Top

This cardigan-style top will look lovely layered. Organic, classic, and pretty. I plan to rock this look all fall and through the winter, too. (Thankfully it doesn't get too cold here in Chattanooga.)

And there's more! Just check out our online store to see all we have. I promise you won't be disappointed! (Hint: find these clothes in the "new" section of our online store.)

The Return of Monday Quote Day

2009-08-31T14:58:00.008-04:00

Today I've rounded up a few thoughts on poverty. Here at World Next Door, we believe in fighting global poverty. Fair trade is the means through which we have chosen to take our stand, because we believe this means of doing business offers some of the poorest among us--the "global underdog," if you will--an opportunity to support and care for themselves and their families. It is a shot at evening the score, at providing a dignified and sustainable way of life for those who are working hard and coming up short.

"Poverty often deprives a man of all spirit and virtue; it is hard for an empty bag to stand upright."

Benjamin Franklin, U.S. Founding Father, statesman, author, printer, scientist, inventor, and diplomat...among others

"The inevitable consequence of poverty is dependence."

Samuel Johnson, 18th century English author

"Poverty is like punishment for a crime you didn't commit."

Eli Khamarov, 20th century writer

Up, Up and Away!

2009-08-27T11:18:00.009-04:00

While other sectors of the economy continue to struggle to make ends meet, fair trade is growing and even expanding.

Here are a few of the numbers, from a Reuters piece written by Marcy Nicholson, that showed up in the article I found on forbes.com.
In 2008:
-Fair Trade Certified coffee imports grew 32% to 88 million pounds, from 66 millions pounds in 2007, according to TransFair USA Chief Executive Paul Rice.

-Fair Trade Certified banana imports grew by a whopping 250% to nearly 25 million pounds. Contrast that with 7 million pounds of fair trade banana imports in 2007.

-Fair Trade Certified products sold approximately $1.2 billion in 2008, up from $1 billion in 2007. Globally, retail sales were about $4 billion, Rice said.

There's even more good news. Rice expects banana imports to jump "significantly higher" in 2009 because Sam's Club plans to double its purchases. Look for retail values for fair trade to leap up to the $1.4-$1.5 billion range next year "as major companies continue to look to the long-term trend."

Here's a link to the full article. It delves into more topics--fair trade jeans anyone? They'll be here soon--so check it out.

Half the Sky

2009-08-26T13:22:00.006-04:00

"IN THE 19TH CENTURY, the paramount moral challenge was slavery. In the 20th century, it was totalitarianism. In this century, it is the brutality inflicted on so many women and girls around the globe: sex trafficking, acid attacks, bride burnings and mass rape."

Thus begins this weekend's piece in the NY Times Magazine by Times columnist Nicholas Kristof and his wife, journalist Sheryl WuDunn. Their article, entitled "The Women's Crusade," takes on the crucial issue of women's rights around the world. They've just written a new book, "Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide." (This title is based on a Chinese proverb which says that "Women hold up half the sky.")
Below are several quotes from their article that hit home with me on subjects near and dear to my own heart.

Also, be sure to check out this video on the NY Times site. Kristoff narrates a five minute slide show highlighting the issues he delves into in the magazine piece.

His last words?

"Women and girls aren't the problem. They're the solution."

Ok, here are the quotes.

Microfinancing and women:

"...Saima signed up with the Kashf Foundation, a Pakistani microfinance organization that lends tiny amounts of money to poor women to start businesses. Kashf is typical of microfinance institutions, in that it lends almost exclusively to women, in groups of 25. The women guarantee one another’s debts and meet every two weeks to make payments and discuss a social issue, like family planning or schooling for girls. A Pakistani woman is often forbidden to leave the house without her husband’s permission, but husbands tolerate these meetings because the women return with cash and investment ideas.
Saima took out a $65 loan and used the money to buy beads and cloth, which she transformed into beautiful embroidery that she then sold to merchants in the markets of Lahore. She used the profit to buy more beads and cloth, and soon she had an embroidery business and was earning a solid income — the only one in her household to do so."

Does this story sound familiar to any of you fair traders out there? I can think immediately of several groups we order from that work primarily with women (Sari Bari, Freeset, Hope for Women...)

Female mortality rate:
"Girls vanish partly because they don’t get the same health care and food as boys. In India, for example, girls are less likely to be vaccinated than boys and are taken to the hospital only when they are sicker. A result is that girls in India from 1 to 5 years of age are 50 percent more likely to die than boys their age. In addition, ultrasound machines have allowed a pregnant woman to find out the sex of her fetus — and then get an abortion if it is female.The global statistics on the abuse of girls are numbing. It appears that more girls and women are now missing from the planet, precisely because they are female, than men were killed on the battlefield in all the wars of the 20th century. The number of victims of this routine “gendercide” far exceeds the number of people who were slaughtered in all the genocides of the 20th century."

Death in childbirth:

"Another huge burden for women in poor countries is maternal mortality, with one woman dying in childbirth around the world every minute. In the West African country Niger, a woman stands a one-in-seven chance of dying in childbirth at some point in her life. (These statistics are all somewhat dubious, because maternal mortality isn’t considered significant enough to require good data collection.) For all of India’s shiny new high-rises, a woman there still has a 1-in-70 lifetime chance of dying in childbirth. In contrast, the lifetime risk in the United States is 1 in 4,800; in Ireland, it is 1 in 47,600. The reason for the gap is not that we don’t know how to save lives of women in poor countries. It’s simply that poor, uneducated women in Africa and Asia have never been a priority either in their own countries or to donor nations."

Human trafficking and modern-day slavery:
"In the developing world, meanwhile, millions of women and girls are actually enslaved. While a precise number is hard to pin down, the International Labor Organization, a U.N. agency, estimates that at any one time there are 12.3 million people engaged in forced labor of all kinds, including sexual servitude. In Asia alone about one million children working in the sex trade are held in conditions indistinguishable from slavery, according to a U.N. report. Girls and women are locked in brothels and beaten if they resist, fed just enough to be kept alive and often sedated with drugs — to pacify them and often to cultivate addiction. India probably has more modern slaves than any other country."

Get Your Cadbury

2009-08-25T12:27:00.004-04:00

Candadians rejoice! Today Cadbury announced that their Dairy Milk line will be fair trade in Canada by as early as next summer.
Australia and New Zealand will also go fair trade in 2010, officials for the chocolate company say. Cadbury announced earlier this year that British and Irish markets would also make the change to fair trade; that change is already going into effect.
Here's the good news: around the globe, about 1 in 4 Dairy Milk sales will be fair trade certified next year. The bad? The other three-quarters of sales--including the U.S. market--that will not be.
But let's focus on the positive here. Cadbury officials say that they will sell four times more fair trade cocoa in 2010 than they did in 2008. Cocoa farmers in Ghana, the country that will reap the benefits of the swap to fair trade, are expected to sell 15,000 more tonnes in 2010 than in 2008.
Here's what one cocoa farmer, Francis Sampson Kwesi, 48, said about how the swap to fair trade will help him (albeit to Cadbury public relations flacks):
"One of the main benefits is that I can invest the proceeds out of the cocoa in things such as the upkeep of the children’s school fees, as well as in developments for the whole community, such as building roads. It helps us to have a higher standard of living, as although the land here [in Ghana] is good for cocoa growing, when we are not in the season of cocoa, we need everything else to help make the environment more conducive for cocoa growing.”

OK, here are my thoughts. In the U.S., Cadbury Dairy Milk products are produced by Hershey. Can't we, here in the States, encourage these chocolate companies to produce and sell fair trade chocolate right here at home?
This is an old campaign by Green America that we've promo'd before, but feel free to jump on board again and encourage Hershey to go fair trade.
Why?
I'm so glad you asked. About 75% of the world's chocolate is produced in Ghana and its neighboring country, the Ivory Coast. Those in the know estimate that literally hundreds of thousands of children are working illegally in cocoa plantations in these two countries. (In fact, 50 children were freed from working illegally on these plantations in an Interpol operation this June. These children were purchased for cheap labor by plantation owner needing ready hands. Read about it here.)
True fairness would mean that the chocolate we love and enjoy is made by people who are able to enjoy their lives as well. It would mean that our pleasures would not require the pain of others.

A Little Bit Nutty

2009-08-24T13:09:00.006-04:00

You'll go nuts for these bracelets...literally!
Handcrafted in Columia by economically disadvantaged women, these bracelets are made of tagua nuts,, which grow on tagua palms in South America. The nuts used in this jewelry are indigenous to Columbia.
The tagua palm has an amazing story. They first became popular as a responsible substitute for elephant ivory. Today, they prevent the destruction of rain forests and are used to make everything from beads to buttons and even bagpipes!
Workers at Hope for Women produced these bracelets. This group aims to provide sustanable employment for women around the world, giving them the chance to take control of their lives and their future.
Here's what Rosa, a Columbian mother of two, says about her work with the company:

“Working with handicrafts is my life and I love what I do each day. I have been an artisan for more than 10 years, starting with collecting raw materials and then being trained to be a skilled craftsperson. The work is very comfortable and satisfying and I enjoy the relationships with the people I work with – they are like my second family...I think the sky is the limit for me. It doesn’t matter that I didn’t have the chance to study when I was young – with this work I know I will be growing everyday and I can take care of myself and my family."

You can buy these bracelets at our online store, or, as always, in our Chattanooga storefront location.

Autumn Hours

2009-08-23T17:33:00.002-04:00

School's back in and today is the first hint that fall weather is not too far away (we very much hope, although we still expect 90+ degree days for a good month). In keeping with the time of year, autumn hours will go into effect tomorrow.
Here's the schedule:

Sunday: 1 p.m. - 7 p.m.
Monday through Thursday: 11 a.m. - 7 p.m.
Friday through Saturday: 1 a.m. - 9 p.m.

We hope to see you soon!

Jackman Tackles Trade

2009-08-21T17:17:00.003-04:00

Hollywood star Hugh Jackman has taken on a new project, according to Britain's Hello magazine. Jackman has taken to the New York streets, camera crew in tow, as he barges into the restaurants and coffee shops of unsuspecting small business owners "tackling the issue of fair trade for producers in the developing world."

Hello says that:

Father of two Hugh is deeply involved in anti-poverty initiatives. After shooting an advert recently on the topic for the UN, he said his commitment was "as an actor... not an economist”...

He is looking to answer questions such as “How is it that a kid dies every three seconds from extreme poverty".

We're all in favor of this latest work...and can't wait to see the documentary he comes up with!

Reverse Trick or Treat

2009-08-19T15:59:00.008-04:00

Halloween is months and months away, but that doesn't mean it's too early to start thinking about how to make this year's ghoulish event the best ever.

I, for one, think that means fair trade. And luckily enough, for the third straight year, Global Exchange and Equal Exchange have partnered up to provide chocolate and fair trade info to hand to all comers. Here's what Equal Exchange says about the program: "The goal of the campaign is for trick-or-treaters nationwide to distribute informational cards, each with a piece of Fair Trade chocolate, to as many households as possible."

I know it's only mid-August (already? where has the summer gone?!?!), but it's already time to place orders for this year's Reverse Trick-or-Treat program. Orders for chocolate and postcards must be placed by Oct. 1, but word is that the chocolate will be gone long before then. (Note: orders from Southern states--like Tennessee--will cost $15 more for shipping since warm temperatures down here require 2nd Day Air.)

One blogging mom did this program last year. I thought you might be interested on her take on the experience, as she did the Reverse Trick-or-Treat a bit differently than the groups sponsoring the event suggest.

We gave the candy to teachers, the boys’ friends' parents, and neighbors a day or so before Halloween.
I felt a little preachy doing it, but I thought, “I’m giving them chocolate so I’m sure they won’t mind.” I wanted to spread the word a bit about the importance of fair trade chocolate, but I was hesitant to have my boys hand it out as they went door to door begging others for candy. I didn’t want them to give a message to people they didn’t know that might have been interpreted like this:
You know that candy you just gave me. It could have been better. The candy you just generously gave me, that I asked you for, was probably made from cocoa picked by poor kids who are being overworked. You should give different, better candy.
So we went the route of friends and neighbors who I thought wouldn’t interpret it like that.

Coldplay Says: Make Trade Fair

2009-08-18T12:33:00.006-04:00

This is an old video, but who doesn't want to see Chris Martin of Coldplay argue, via his music, for fair trade? Martin visited Africa a few years ago, sent by Oxfam America and Make Trade Fair. His goal was to "see firsthand the extreme poverty endured by so many and how fair trade in these areas can improve...lives."

Artist Profile

2009-08-17T11:14:00.010-04:00

Time for a look at some of the wonderful people we do business with!

Today I thought we'd focus on Soul of Somanya, based in Somanya-Krobo, Ghana. This fair trade company is "working hard to develop sustainable employment opportunities in the field of bead work for working-age orphans and other young people whose job prospects are very limited by their lack of family support and/or limited levels of education."
While the bead work and jewelry creation takes place in Ghana, marketing is handled halfway around the world in Mobile, Alabama! Soul of Somanya took its first baby steps in June 2008, when it hired 8 local young people to make jewelry and other beaded items. Most of the employees are working-age orphans who lack the support networks and career opportunities available to those with a family business to enter. In addition to offering sustainable, fairly paid work for these people with very limited career options, Soul of Somanya pays retail wages to local bead-makers who supply the beads used in the jewelry. This helps these bead-makers increase their profit margins and sustain their businesses.

Below I've posted pictures of the beads ("made from recycled glass...produced in open-sided, thatch-roofed huts, using traditional, labor-intensive methods" and, most importantly, of Soul of Somanya staff.
Come see us and check out our beads!

We Got a Facelift!

2009-08-15T20:47:00.002-04:00

Our store just got a makeover! I had big plans to post pictures of the new and improved World Next Door today but was bummed to discover that I came to work equipped with a camera (to take photos of the new design), a cord (to transfer pictures from my camera to the world wide web)...but unfortunately these two pieces of equipment were not compatible. Seems I grabbed the wrong cord for my camera. :(

That said, Jency and Kim have been hard at work giving our store a facelift. It looks awesome, and we have tons of new products (especially when it comes to home goods). Come down and see us... I promise you won't be disappointed.

P.S. I'll post those pictures Monday!

Crippling Cholera

2009-08-13T11:35:00.006-04:00

It's one of the fastest-working murderous diseases around today, and is known to kill victims within three hours if they do not receive medical care. Yet the disease is treatable and preventable, if resources are available.

Cholera is wreaking havoc in Zimbabwe, where the biggest epidemic in 15 years has already killed approximately 5,000 of the 98,000 who have been infected (that's an approximately 1 in 20 fatality rate!).
I had not heard of this outbreak until this week, when I received a letter asking for help from a charitable organization I regularly support. The disease (according to my unscientific cholera research on Wikipedia) is spread through poor sanitation as well as unclean drinking water and food. According to a CNN article from May of this year, UNICEF blaims the current epidemic on "faulty sewage systems, uncollected refuse and a lack of clean water."

The latest news from Zimbabwe is not bright for those seeking to curb the spread of the disease. According to a Reuters report filed on Wednesday, state doctors have gone on strike seeking better pay. This has paralyzed hospitals that were already struggling to deal with the economic crisis.

Here's an excerpt from that Reuters article:

(Brighton Chizhanje, president of Zimbabwe's Hospital Doctors' Association) said that any extended doctors' strike risked reversing the small gains made in reviving state hospitals.

"We are concerned about the lack of seriousness and prioritisation of the health sector. We wouldn't want to go back to last year's situation where all major hospitals were forced to shut down and turn away patients," Brighton Chizhanje, he said.

I'm not sure what will be done to rectify the situation in Zimbabwe, but I do know that I will now be paying more attention to news reports from south Africa. My thoughts and prayers are with the people of Zimbabwe.

The Relationship between Fair Trade and Sustainability

2009-08-12T14:19:00.003-04:00

I'm loving posting YouTube videos this week--there have been some good ones floating around. Here, Teresa Fabian, director of sustainability and climate change for PricewaterhouseCoopers, speaks at the Fairtrade Foundation Commercial Conference.
This is a rather ho-hum, business lecture, but she does make a few interesting points regarding fair trade. One being that Fabian believes fair trade is about to become much more mainstream.
"We are at a tipping point," she said, "and we could really see a lot more action in this area."

What do you think about what she has to say?

Ending Human Trafficking in the Middle Kingdom

2009-08-11T12:16:00.009-04:00

Here are the facts: in the last four months, Chinese officials have freed aproximately 3,400 women and children who were caught in the web of human trafficking. At the same time, they've arrested 824 suspected traffickers.
According to The Straits Times in Singapore and Xinhua on the mainland, China's Public Security Ministry has been involved in a deliberate campaign to curb human trafficking for months. That focus will continue through December, officials say.
Some of the women freed in recent raids had been forced to work as prostitutes, according to reports. As a nation, China is only now tasting the full effects of the one-child policy that has been in place for a generation. Some believe the lack of females of a marriagable age may be playing into the country's human trafficking woes. Here's an excerpt from The Straits Times article:

The trafficking of women and children remains common in China...
Women are also trafficked to be sold to men in remote areas who are unable to find brides, due to the sex imbalance resulting from China's one-child policy which has encouraged sex-selective abortions.
Population experts say that sex-selective abortions have boosted the number of boys born here for over a generation.
Men of marriageable age currently outnumber women by more than 18 million, a number that could grow to 30 million by 2020 due to a traditional preference for Chinese families to have male heirs.

Read the Xinhua report here.

Side note: I love Twitter. It has been an invaluable tool when it comes to finding out information about fair trade, human trafficking, and networking with others who are likeminded in their pursuit of global equity.
If you're on Twitter, please check us out. We go by World_Next_Door... hoping to see you there!

Fair Trade, the Norwegian Way

2009-08-10T15:10:00.004-04:00

This commercial aired in Norway in 2008. The text at the end reads: "Equity in the past" and then transitions to "Equity now."
Enjoy!

Monday Quote Day

2009-08-10T09:58:00.002-04:00

"Freedom in economic arrangements is itself a component of freedom broadly understood, so economic freedom is an end in itself ... Economic freedom is also an indispensable means toward the achievement of political freedom."
Milton Friedman, economist, statistician, and recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economic Science

They're Home!

2009-08-07T19:21:00.006-04:00

As everyone who glances at the news knows by now, American journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling are back home in the United States, following former President Bill Clinton's 20-hour trip to North Korea. Here's a Daily News article by Michael Saul with more of the details.

They didn't have to break rocks, just eat them.
As Laura Ling and Euna Lee celebrated their freedom and thanked Bill Clinton for his rescue mission on Wednesday, harrowing details of their ordeal as North Korean prisoners emerged.
Prison food was rice peppered with rocks. They were held in isolation from each other, gripped by fear that they would be shipped to one of the infamous hard-labor gulags in Kim Jong Il's Communist state.
"The past 140 days have been the most difficult, heart-wrenching time of our lives," Ling said, choking back sobs just moments after the two journalists were reunited with their families.
In a classic Hollywood ending, Ling, 32, and Lee, 36, bounced off a private jet at 6:19 a.m. at the Burbank airport near Los Angeles and rushed to embrace loved ones.
As tears flowed, Lee hugged her husband and knelt down to lock her 4-year-old daughter, Hana, in a tight embrace. Ling kissed her husband. Soon after, the families applauded when Clinton emerged from the plane.
"Thirty hours ago, Euna Lee and I were prisoners in North Korea. We feared that at any moment we could be sent to a hard-labor camp, and, then, suddenly, we were told that we were going to a meeting," Ling said.
"When we walked in through the doors, we saw, standing before us, President Bill Clinton," she said, pausing with emotion as she placed her hand on her chest.
"We were shocked, but we knew instantly in our hearts that the nightmare of our lives was finally coming to an end and now we stand here, home and free."
In June, the North Korean regime sentenced the journalists, who work for former Vice President Al Gore's Current TV cable channel, to 12 years of hard labor for illegally entering the country.
Kim pardoned them during Clinton's dramatic 20-hour visit.

Read the full story here: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/us_world/2009/08/06/2009-08-06_ling_lee_call_captivity_a_nightmare.html#ixzz0NXhFPOLD

Freedom!

2009-08-06T16:43:00.010-04:00

Fifty children, once forced to work as slaves on cocoa and palm plantations in the Ivory Coast, have been set free. An Interpol operation, conducted in cooperation with Ghana and Ivory Coast law enforcement, freed the children, ages 11-16, in a two-day operation earlier this summer (June 18 and 19). For me, stories like this are living proof of why fair trade works--and just how crucial the role of fair trade is in fighting human trafficking.
Here's what Interpol says about the children's work:

The children had been bought by plantation owners needing cheap labor to harvest the cocoa and palm plantations. They were discovered working under extreme conditions, forced to carry massive loads seriously jeopardizing their health... Children told investigators they would regularly work 12 hours a day and receive no salary or education. Girls were usually purchased as house maids and would work a seven-day week all year round, often in addition to their duties in the plantations.

Specially trained investigators in child exploitation and trafficking interviewed the victims with the responses providing investigators with a clearer picture of the extent of child labour in the region and potential regional networks. None of the children were aware that child labor is illegal.

...

With Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire producing around three quarters of the world’s cocoa, it is believed that hundreds of thousands of children are working illegally in the plantations across these two countries alone. The trafficking of children is often camouflaged by the cultural practice of placing young children with families of wealthier relatives to receive an education or learn a trade. In reality, they are often sold and their rights to education, health and protection denied. To continue tackling this trend, a second operation is scheduled for later this year in Ghana.

Here are some more links to sites with info about the freedom raids. The International Labor Rights Forum tackles the issue here, and Global Exchange delves into the relationship between fair trade and the forced labor of the cocoa business here.

Get It (for less!)

2009-08-06T16:37:00.002-04:00

Twenty percent off and ZERO SALES TAX on any clothing purchase up to $100. It starts tomorrow!
(This is for in-store purchases only. Sorry!)

Back to School

2009-08-05T11:05:00.011-04:00

Here in Chattanooga, teachers have started their pre-class planning and kids are loading up their backpacks and getting ready to head back to school. The summer (all too schort) is nearly over, and it got me to thinking: what does education look like around the rest of the world?

The World Bank does a great job keeping up with figures like this, and I've utilized their EdStats database to look up some relevant statistics. These include information on the country in general, as well as education-specific data. I've included the U.S. and the U.K., but am focusing on some of the countries that are top suppliers of goods here at World Next Door.
One thing I love about fair trade is that the groups we work with place a heavy emphasis on education. Without the stability and income that these companies provide, many families would not be able to send their children to school.
Ok, here are the stats. I thought that the literacy rates by country--especially when comparing female vs. male rates--are especially intriguing.

Just the Facts, Please

2009-08-04T11:29:00.006-04:00

Just as the North Star guided escaping slaves to freedom in pre-Civil War America, so the Polaris Project desires to be a beacon of hope, leading modern-day slaves out of bondage. This group, started in 2002, is now one of the largest anti-trafficking groups in both the U.S. and Japan. I just learned about Polaris Project yesterday--they are among those urging the current administration to compile a list of products made using the labor of modern-day slaves.
Here are some facts about human trafficking from Polaris Project's website:

-Human trafficking comprises the fastest growing criminal industry in the world, based on the recruitment, harboring, and transportation of people solely for the purpose of exploitation.
-Every year traffickers generate billions of dollars in profits at the expense of victimizing millions of people around the world.
-Labor trafficking is widespread in variety of situations that encompass domestic servitude and small-scale labor operations, to large-scale operations such as farms, sweatshops, and major multinational corporations.
-Sex trafficking is one of the most lucrative sectors regarding the illegal trade in people, and involves any form of sexual exploitation in prostitution, pornography, bride trafficking, and the commercial sexual abuse of children. Under international law, any sexually exploited child is considered a trafficking victim, even if no force or coercion is present.
-An estimated 17,500 foreign nationals are trafficked annually in the United States alone.
-The number of US citizens trafficked within the country is even higher. An estimated 200,000 American children are at high risk for trafficking into the sex industry each year.

Here at World Next Door, we are passionate about stopping human trafficking. We believe, from the bottom of our heart, that fair trade is a powerful tool in the fight against modern-day slavery. Human trafficking is a lucrative industry. If we hope to rescue its victims, they must have other avenues of employment to pursue in order to support themselves and their families. That is where fair trade comes in. By offering a fair wage, up-front payment for goods, and training in both skilled labor and business, fair trade gives people the tools they need to provide for themselves in a positive way. We, the consumers, get beautiful and unique products which we can feel good about supporting.
What could be a fairer trade than that?

Something to Ponder...

2009-08-04T11:19:00.005-04:00

“I pity the man who wants a coat so cheap that the man or woman who produces the cloth will starve in the process.”

Benjamin Harrison, 23rd President of the United States (1889-1893)

Tell It To Us Straight

2009-08-03T11:29:00.002-04:00

Four years ago, Congress told the Department of Labor to come up with "a list of goods produced by forced labor or child labor and the countries where they were made." Such a list would help consumers like you and me identify products made using modern-day slaves. After all, knowledge is power.

But, guess what? It's 2009, and that list is still MIA.
Here's what http://www.change.org/ says about the situation:

The list is designed to identify problem products (seafood, steel, textiles, etc.) and the countries where they are produced. Its release would provide consumers and shareholders with leverage to fight slavery worldwide. Empowered with this information, individuals could use their buying power to hold companies accountable and pressure them to rid their supply chains of slave labor.
In December...the William Wilberforce Reauthorization Act gave the department until the end of this year to comply with the mandate. However, due to the foot-dragging of the last adminstration's Secretary of Labor, the list is already long overdue. We must hold this administration to its promise of transparency, and demand the release of this list to the public now.

There is something we can do. Sign this petition to Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, and ask her to make the completion of this list a top priority.

Beat the Heat!

2009-07-31T16:30:00.010-04:00

It's hot out there. Stay cool in these strappy tanks, made by Avatar Imports. We sell them in our store for $32.

This top was made in a fair trade factory in Kathmandu, Nepal. This is a photo of some of the fair traders who made it!

By the Numbers

2009-07-29T12:15:00.011-04:00

I was stumbling around the Internet just now and ran across these figures from the Fair Trade Federation's March 2009 Trends Report. These numbers were cited by Nancy Jones, director of Chicago Fair Trade, in a longer May interview with the blog BuzzFlash.

Some overarching statistics describe Fair Trade Organizations (FTOs):
-78.4% of FTOs are for-profit businesses, up from 54% in 2003
-81% are involved in wholesale/importing, up from 67% in 2003
-13.8% have been in operation for more than 20 years

Some overarching statistics describe the producer partners of North American FTOs:
-76% of Fair Trade Production is done by women
-69% of artisans and farmers involved in Fair Trade are ethnic minorities
-Central America and South Asia remain the predominant source FTO areas

Fair Trade Organizations averaged:
-Nine North American full-time employees in 2008, up from an average of 7.45 in 2007
-Partnerships with 7,049 people in producer communities in 2008
-Sales of $517,384 in 2007, up from $499,893 in 2006

As consumer awareness grows about Fair Trade, conflicting forces influence Fair Trade Organizations. Recent studies indicate that 71.4% of US consumers have heard the term “Fair Trade” and 88% consider themselves conscious consumers, but only 6% could name a Fair Trade Organization unaided and fewer than 10% had purchased an item from an FTO.

Going Global!

2009-07-28T17:56:00.004-04:00

These girls in Ghana keep us supplied with bags, blankets, cute napkins and placemats, fun batiked tops and skirts. Here's a look at who Global Mamas is, what they do, and why.

Mission
Global Mamas enhances the international marketplace with unique, high quality, handmade apparel, and at the same time provides sustainable livelihoods for women and girls in Africa. Global Mama’s reduces the economic inequality of women by significantly increasing the revenues and profits of woman-owned businesses in Africa. This in turn increases employee wages, generates new jobs and improves the standard of living. We believe that helping women gain economic independence is the most effective way to reduce dependence on foreign aid and steadily create a prosperous society.

Why Buy Global Mamas Products?
Global Mamas is the name brand for goods produced through the efforts of Women in Progress, an international not-for-profit organization assisting women of Africa in attaining economic independence. All proceeds made by Global Mamas’ sales go directly to the women producing the merchandise and to the business development programs carried out by Women in Progress. Sales of Global Mamas’ products provide dignity to African women who are now able to earn an honest living through the production of handmade batik products. By helping women to help themselves, Global Mamas is taking small steps towards helping end Africa’s dependence on foreign aid and creating a sustainable society.

Our Difference
Global Mamas helps the women find export markets AND assists them in managing their growing businesses by providing hands-on personalized assistance in implementing practical business strategies into day-to-day operations. In fact, one requirement of being a Global Mama is the adoption of basic bookkeeping practices which enables a business to observe trends and plan for growth.

This information is taken from Global Mamas' website. Find out more information about them by visiting them at www.globalmamas.org.

Monday Thought

2009-07-27T18:04:00.002-04:00

"If ever the pleasure of one has to be bought by the pain of the other, there better be no trade at all. A trade by which one gains and the other loses is a fraud."

Ayn Rand

Five Reasons We Love Bamboo

2009-07-23T13:02:00.004-04:00

1. Bamboo makes a great fabric: soft (think silk or cashmere), durable, and beautiful.
2. It is sustainable. Wikipedia says bamboo is "the fastest growing plant in the world," and the American Bamboo Society quotes sources who claim bamboo has been measured to grow as much as 47+ inches in one 24-hour period.
3. Bamboo is hypoallergenic, and clothes made of bamboo will not irritate sensitive skin. It also does not hold odor, which makes bamboo perfect exercise gear.
4. Multi-purpose: bamboo is delicious and edible, and can be used for furniture, construction, medicine, clothing, and more!
5. Organic. Bamboo does not rely on chemical pesticides or fertilizers.

We sell great, fair trade, bamboo tee's and socks for men, women, and children. Click here to check out our online selection!

Have you signed yet?

2009-07-22T08:59:00.002-04:00

We mentioned this a while back, but here's an update.

World Next Door has agreed to support a campaign to "Fair Trade the White House," in which e-signatures are gathered worldwide in order to invite First Lady Michelle Obama to commit to sourcing as much of the White House's daily necessities as she can from fair trade providers.

The movement is rapidly gaining steam, with more and more signatures added daily, as well as more companies coming on board to lend their official support.

Go to http://www.fairtradewhitehouse.com/ to learn more, and be sure to visit the "Savings" section of the page for discount options from some great fair trade organizations, including yours truly!

Potter Thinks Fair Trade?

2009-07-21T16:04:00.007-04:00

This made me laugh.

Looks like some people are taking the Harry Potter love to a whole new level--one blogger has decided to promo fair trade based on the fair-minded leanings of Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore.

On a website titled What Would Dumbledore Do?, fans can share their take on "what it means to be loyal to the spirit of Albus Dumbledore." Fair trade is today's topic.

Again, although I can't help but chuckle at the site, Harry Potter fans (like me) will have to laughingly agree that the writer makes some valid points.

I've re-posted the beginnings of this post below. Click here to read the full article.

When Hermione Granger discovers that the food at Hogwarts is being made by house elves – essentially unpaid, indentured servants, she immediately starts a campaign to replace exploitation with fairness. Though Dumbledore is not as outspoken on this issue as Hermione is, he certainly shares her passion. For one, he agrees to hire Dobby, the first “free elf” in modern Wizarding history and pay him fair wages for his work.
But he later elaborates on how Wizards have treated the enslaved workers who are doing their cooking and cleaning – saying that we have come to regard them as servants “…unworthy of much interest or notice. Indifference and neglect often do much more damage than outright dislike…” (Half-Blood Prince 834).

In the United States, we are often indifferent to the fact that much of our food and clothing comes from sweat shop labor. Sometimes the very chocolate that we eat is grown by enslaved children on the Ivory Coast who are forced to live in small shacks, beaten and sexually abused. In less intense cases, farmers are still exploited and left to stay in poverty as they toil in the hot sun growing cocoa plants.

The One You've All Been Waiting For

2009-07-20T10:26:00.015-04:00

And if you haven't been waiting for it, I have. We've got audio of Jency's interview, which aired last week on Around and About. Jency talks about human trafficking, the experiences she and Nathan had as they traveled to India, and her dream to stop the exploitation of women and girls through an act as simple as selling bags.
Her radio interview is posted below.

Beach Bound

2009-07-14T11:19:00.023-04:00

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!

2009-07-11T10:23:00.006-04:00

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

2009-07-10T17:37:00.004-04:00

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!

2009-07-09T13:13:00.005-04:00

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

2009-07-09T12:42:00.003-04:00

"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

2009-07-08T15:30:00.015-04:00

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

2009-07-07T15:49:00.006-04:00

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

2009-07-05T16:57:00.007-04:00

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

2009-07-05T14:25:00.004-04:00

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

2009-07-04T16:04:00.002-04:00

...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.

Happy Fourth!

2009-07-04T14:52:00.003-04:00

Happy Independence Day, America!

A Crime So Monstrous

2009-07-01T10:10:00.007-04:00

There are more slaves today than at any other time in human history.

This is the heartbreaking, startling claim made by journalist Benjamin Skinner, whose 2008 book, A Crime So Monstrous, chronicles his experiences tracking down modern-day slaves across four continents.
Skinner defines slavery simply. According to his website, a slave is someone who is "forced to work, under threat of violence, for no pay beyond subsistence."

"Slaves languish in shadows, kept hidden by violent traffickers and masters. Going undercover when necessary, Skinner infiltrated trafficking networks and slave quarries, urban child markets and illegal brothels," reads the bio on his website.
I had never heard of Skinner until this weekend. I was riding happily in the car with my husband, bound for a carefree weekend at the lake, when I heard an interview with the author on To the Best of Our Knowledge on Public Radio International. The stories he shared in the brief 15 minutes I heard brought tears to my eyes. (Follow this link to listen to the interview yourself.)

He talked of Haitian children whose parents are faced with the choice of watching their children starve, or selling them into slavery.
Here is an excerpt from a separate interview with NPR, given in March 2008.

In the fall of 2005, he visited Haiti, which has one of the highest concentrations of slaves anywhere in the world.
"I pulled up in a car and rolled down the window," he recalls. "Someone said, 'Do you want to get a person?'"
Though the country was in a time of political chaos, the street where he met the trafficker was clean and relatively quiet. A tape of the conversation reveals a calm, concise transaction. He was initially told he could get a 9-year-old sex partner/house slave for $100, but he bargained it down to $50.
"The thing that struck me more than anything afterwards was how incredibly banal the transaction was. It was as if I was negotiating on the street for a used stereo."

Here is another excerpt from that same interview:

Though now illegal throughout the world, slavery is more or less the same as it was hundreds of years ago, Skinner explains...

Something disturbing has changed however — the price of a human. After adjusting for inflation, Skinner found that, "In 1850, a slave would cost roughly $30,000 to $40,000 — in other words it was like investing in a Mercedes. Today you can go to Haiti and buy a 9-year-old girl to use as a sexual and domestic slave for $50. The devaluation of human life is incredibly pronounced."

In Romania, Skinner found he could buy a mentally handicapped girl for the price of a used car. He writes of this experience for the Huffington Post.
In an attempt to make her sellable, her pimp had put makeup on her face, but when he presented her to me, the terrified woman was crying so hard that it had smeared. Her right arm bore angry, red slashes where apparently she had tried to escape the daily rape the only way she knew how.

The only way, I suppose, to end a post like this is by pointing to hope. Skinner's website cites ways to get involved. Here is his list.

Act. I. Understand the problem. Slaves are forced to work, under threat of violence, for no pay beyond subsistence. A Crime So Monstrous tells dramatic stories of the lives of a few slaves, as well as of the author’s often harrowing encounters with those who sell, own, and free them. But there are millions across the globe who are held in shadows.
Act II. Spread the word. Rally community organizations and press elected officials to commit to abolition. Use the might of government and business to fight this crime. The slavery of millions is our burden; if we do nothing, all of us are less free.
Act III. Give to Free The Slaves. On five continents, Ben Skinner saw the work of Free The Slaves and its British sister, Anti-Slavery International, the world’s oldest human rights organization. The groups use locally-based strategies through global partners to rehabilitate slaves and eradicate bondage.

The photos in this post are from Benjamin Skinner's website.

1/4th Off for the 4th

2009-06-30T14:34:00.003-04:00

25% off all jewelry and bags
Friday July 3 through Sunday July 5
Chattanooga store only

Taking a Stand

2009-06-30T14:31:00.002-04:00

I promised ya'll over the weekend that I would soon post some ways that we can stand against childhood sexual exploitation. From the website of Second Life here in Chattanooga, here are some signs to be aware of when monitoring children for signs of sexual abuse:

Signs of Child Sexual Exploitation
-Serious changes in behavior – children once open about friends and activities are now hostile, secretive, defensive about what they are doing and who they are spending time with.
-Going out in clothes that are ‘too old for them’ or that they have borrowed from older young women.
-Going places that you know they can not afford.
-Coming home with expensive gifts such as mobile phones, jewelry – even drugs – and not being able to explain how they came by them.
-Frequently staying out late, without explaining why.
-Repeated truanting, missing from home regularly or for unusually long periods of time.
-Being found in areas where they have no reason to be or coming home after days or nights away, looking well-cared for even though they have had nowhere to stay.
-Getting into trouble with the police, committing crimes.
-Bruises, marks on the body, sexually-transmitted diseases, pregnancy, drug and alcohol abuse or self-harm.
-Repeated phone calls, letters, emails from adults outside family social circle.
-Strangers hanging about outside your home.
-Young people getting into cars with unknown adults.
-Associating with other young people known to be victims of sexual exploitation.
-Friends at school express concern for them.
-Agencies expressing concern.
-Young people may try to tell you about their situation but not be able to

Land of a Thousand Hills Coffeehouse

2009-06-30T10:54:00.006-04:00

Check out that masterful brew!

That's a "Caramanilla" from the Land of a Thousand Hills Coffeehouse in Roswell, GA. It's a latte with vanilla and caramel. It was made with skill and served with a smile.

World Next Door has been selling LOTH coffee beans by the bag since we met Erin at a human trafficking conference at Bryan College last January. Jency and I were headed through Atlanta to go to a wedding last weekend, so we thought we'd stop in and check out their coffeehouse.

LOTH is empowering coffee farmers in Rwanda through fair wages and community development. One of their more recent initiatives involves providing improved bicycles for farmers to transport their harvest to market.

Here's a picture of the kind of bicycle they normally use...

And here's the kind that LOTH has provided to several farmers over the last couple months...

Vist the LOTH website to learn more.

Traffic-Free Zone

2009-06-27T11:16:00.009-04:00

Some people don't just lament human trafficking--they do something about it.
Street GRACE is a non-denominational, Atlanta-based group of churches who have banded together to fight "the commercial sexual exploitation of children" that takes place in their city every day. Here are some facts from their website that I, for one, was both shocked and saddened to read:

-Between 200-300 young girls are trafficked each month in the state of Georgia alone.
-Atlanta is a focal point in Georgia's sex trade industry.
-The average age of children who are sexually exploited is 14, although in some cases the girls are no older than 10 and 11.

Street GRACE (Galvanizing Resources Against Child Exploitation) works within Atlanta's community of faith to fight the sexual exploitation of children in the city, while also supporting secular groups and organizations who have shown proven success in advocacy, aftercare, and mentoring.
I've pasted below the beginning of an Atlanta Journal Constitution article that focuses on Street GRACE's beginnings--and their battle. Click here to read the entire article, which appeared in the AJC on Sunday, June 14.

Sex-trafficking fight goes beyond streets
For more than a century, congregants at North Avenue Presbyterian Church had little reason to think that anything other than worship was going on at their corner of North and Peachtree.
In 2005, they found out others had set up shop.
Teenage prostitutes, according to a mayor’s report on child sex trafficking, had begun working within a few steps of the familiar inscription from Matthew on the church’s wall: “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
Members of the congregation, appalled by the report, told the Rev. Scott Weimer they wanted to take action.
“I didn’t know what to do,” Weimer said, “but their response inspired me to move forward.”
Four years later, they have helped build an extraordinary coalition of Presbyterians, Catholics and nonbelievers, conservative Christians and feminists, Jews and Muslims, city dwellers and suburbanites, all of whom have found a cause involving religion, politics and sex they agree on: eradicating child prostitution from the streets of Atlanta.
“When you … talk to a girl who is 15 and has been prostituted, it doesn’t matter anymore if you are pro-life or pro-choice,” said Sen. Renee Unterman (R-Buford), who has become active in the campaign. “You just want to help, and debate about women’s issues or Democrat or Republican or black or white just stays away.”
Beyond the streets
These folks are not out in the streets, stalking pimps and picking up children. They’ve selected a different battlefield to which they bring particular gifts: the Legislature, the courts, fund-raising. This year, for example, the group provided hundreds of volunteers to lobby at the Capitol for anti-trafficking legislation. Members also are paying for additional safehouses for child prostitutes — tripling the number of beds from seven to 23.
“We couldn’t wait for the politicians to solve this thing,” said Marla Randolph of Sandy Springs Church of the Redeemer, part of the evangelical Presbyterian Church in America.
“And we can’t sit back and do nothing.”
It is more than being against sin, the religious groups say. There is a new flowering of justice movements and emphasis on social issues that has resulted in evangelicals campaigning against the torture of suspects in the war on terror and faith-groups speaking out on global warming.

Atlanta is a mere two-hour drive down an ever-bustling I-75 from Chattanooga, and while I've been unable to find statistics on childhood sexual exploitation in this city, it's a sure thing that our town is not immune. Sadly, I also feel certain that members of our community have been involved in the harming of these precious children.
Seeing how real the struggle is in Atlanta is a sobering wake-up call to me and to everyone here at World Next Door. We talk regularly about fighting human trafficking in countries halfway around the globe--India, Nepal--but unfortunately, I, at least, find it all to easy to ignore the very real crimes taking place in my own backyard.
Second Life is a Chattanooga-area group whose goal is the "restoration of the sexually exploited." For now, check out their website to find out more. I'll post more later on what we can do to take a stand against human trafficking right now, in our own cities and states.

2009-06-26T11:54:00.005-04:00

I fear that we are about to beat a dead horse into the ground on this blog with our continued talk of Freeset and Sari Bari, but we're putting a press release out on Monday and I thought I'd post it on here for you to see.
Thanks for your continued support of all we're about here at World Next Door!

The designs are simple: swirling daisies, the dark silhouettes of gnarled trees, cheerfully placed dots. A recycled sari, once used as a traditional Indian dress, is now a bamboo-handled purse.
The stories behind these bags, however, are more complex. The purses, available at World Next Door, downtown Chattanooga’s fair trade store, are made by women who were formerly forced to work in the sex industry in Kolkata, India. Today, thanks to fair trade, the women are able to support themselves and their families by creating and marketing the bags.
World Next Door managers Jency and Nathan Shirai traveled to eastern India in April and May, where they were able to meet some of the women who make the bags that line the shelves of their store.
“Every time I sell a Freeset or Sari Bari bag, I picture the women’s smiling faces and the joy in their eyes from having a job where they are treated with dignity and respect,” Jency Shirai said. “By selling their bags, we are playing a small part in Chattanooga to transform a community from the inside out.”
Sari Bari and Freeset are two of the companies the Shirais met with while in India. Sari Bari takes its name from two symbols: a sari, which is the traditional clothing worn by Indian women and the representation of womanhood, and bari, which means house or home. The company seeks the freedom and restoration of Kolkata’s red light districts by giving women affected by the sex trade industry dignified employment opportunities.
Freeset employs former prostitutes, many of whom were trafficked into Kolkata’s sex districts from neighboring countries like Bangladesh or Nepal. Today, more than 140 women work for the company, which produces approximately 1,000 bags each day. Employees at Freeset are paid a fair wage for their labor and receive health insurance and a pension plan with their job.
World Next Door’s relationship with these Kolkata-based businesses is living proof that local consumers who shop with their conscience in mind can make a global difference.
Fair trade is an alternative business practice that hinges on guaranteeing fair wages and dignified working conditions for producers in marginalized economic systems.

Blog Love

2009-06-26T10:24:00.008-04:00

Thank you, Handmade Expressions!
One of our fair trade partners, Texas- and India-based Handmade Expressions, this week featured Nathan and Jency's trip to India on their company blog. Click here to check out their take on World Next Door's visit to two artisan groups that create products for Handmade Expressions.

Handmade Expressions is an importer and wholesaler of fair trade, handmade products from India. All of the company's products are made by hand following strict fair trade standards. Partners earn a fair wage, work under safe conditions, and are given help to develop their communities.
Handmade Expressions was started in 2005 by Manish Gupta. Stateside, the company is based in Austin, Texas. A second arm of the company operates in India, where Handmade Expressions staff work to ensure that fair trade practices are upheld.

One More Thing...

2009-06-24T13:51:00.003-04:00

In my eagerness to encourage all of you to help us make Hershey's fair trade, I forgot to remind ya'll about the delicious fair chocolate option that is already available to us: Equal Exchange.

We sell delicious chocolate and coffee from this fair trade company, and I'd love to encourage ya'll to come by our store and check it out!

Chocoholics Unite!

2009-06-24T10:38:00.009-04:00

Yum. There are few things in this world that make me grin wider than good chocolate. I'll take it any way I can get it: chocolate ice cream cones on sweltering summer days (like today), mocha coffee, chocolate chip cookies... are you hungry yet? I'm pretty sure that any analysis would quickly certify me as a chocoholic.
So it was with great excitement that I discovered this campaign by Green America. The group is urging Hershey to join the ranks of fair trade chocolate companies.
It's about time America's chocolate company stands up for fairness. Britain's best-selling chocolate brand, Cadbury, has already taken the plunge. The company announced this spring that it plans to get its cocoa for the best-selling Dairy Milk bar from fair trade farmers in Ghana. (Check out this article to get the full story.)

Here's what Green America says in its argument for why Hershey should join the ranks of fair trade providers:
Fair Trade certification ensures that farmers are both able to meet the basic needs of their families and to continue to grow cocoa in the future by offering a fair price for cocoa. Fair Trade provides a path for farmers to increase their livelihoods and improve labor and environmental conditions in cocoa production. Fair Trade also has additional benefits like encouraging the development of democratic cooperatives where farmers have a greater voice in the market.
On the other hand, Hershey has not agreed to any third-party certification programs for their cocoa supply. Additionally, Hershey owns the license to produce Cadbury products in the US. Hershey is well placed to be a leader in Fair Trade cocoa sourcing for US consumers, but they need to know that we want our chocolate to be Fair Trade Certified™!

Green America is urging fair traders to call Hershey (1-800-468-1714, Dial "0") and voice their desire to see Hershey make the chocolate business a more fair industry. Again, check out Green America's webpage for tips on what to say and more info on how to voice your concerns.

Summer Sale-abration

2009-06-22T15:15:00.004-04:00

Brave the heat and make your way to World Next Door, where we are kicking the week off with an out-of-control Summer Celebration Sale. Beginning today and lasting through Friday, all jewelry and clothing are discounted 25%. Then, this Saturday and Sunday, we'll take 25% off of everything in the store!

Come by and see us in our downtown Chattanooga location at the corner of First and Market streets. Unfortunately, we're not able to extend this great sale to our online customers; this is a one-time, in-store-only sale.

Unique, beautiful, and innovative fair trade items plus deep discounts... seize the day and shop fair with us!

Hurray!

2009-06-20T12:49:00.005-04:00

Good news coming out of Peru. Remember last week, when I blogged about protests by indigenous Peruvians who were frustrated by the government's plan to sell native land to energy companies and other businesses? Looks as though things are finally looking up for the indigenous peoples of Peru.
According to the New York Times, on Thursday Peru's Congress voted to overturn two measures that would have opened native land to development by outside companies. Indigenous Peruvians claim the land as their own, although they have no formal property titles to prove their assertions.

Here's an excerpt from Simon Romero's NY Times article:
After the vote on Thursday, however, some indigenous leaders said they would lift the scattered blockades and halt the protests.
“Today is a historic day for all indigenous people and for the nation of Peru,” said Daysi Zapata, a leader of the Peruvian Jungle Inter-Ethnic Development Association, a group representing more than 300,000 people from Peru’s indigenous groups.
The apparent end to the impasse came after at least 24 police officers and 10 civilians were killed in clashes and acts of retaliation in northern Bagua Province, some of Peru’s bloodiest political violence since a two-decade war ended in 2000.

Frustrated by the government's refusal to bend on the issue, indigenous groups had taken to the streets, protesting and blocking roads in some parts of the country. The standoff turned ugly at the beginning of June, when police reportedly attacked a northwest Peru roadblock. Police say that more than 30 people died during the showdown, while indigenous groups estimate the number at 100+.

I had an interesting chat with Nathan a few days ago about the situation in Peru. He shared with me how many believe that lack of property rights is a contributing factor to poverty across the globe. I did a bit of Google research and found this article which details how those without formal property rights have been jipped, again and again, all over the world. Interesting (and thought-provoking!) reading.
As I mentioned last week, we have relationships with several cooperatives in Peru, many of whom are comprised of mostly indigenous people. This latest news can only be a positive for them, although Romero reported that "other disputed decrees...remain in effect, raising the prospect of new protests."
For more information on the situation in Peru, check out this blog post by Elizabeth with the Washington DC Fair Trade Network (note: it appears she was writing before news of the overturned measures had spread). She was in Peru preparing to hike to Macchu Pichu as the situation unfolded. Elizabeth writes about how the Peruvian government's pursuit of free trade policies (as opposed to fair trade) have contributed to the problems.
A final note: my younger sister, Mary Emily, has been in Peru for most of this month working at a Lima orphanage during her summer break. She is fine and has not been affected by the violence, although news of the protests has been everywhere. I think that mostly she has just been grateful for the opportunity to meet and work with precious children who are just in need of someone to love (and hug) them!

Make the White House a Fair House

2009-06-18T12:42:00.008-04:00

Want to see fair trade get more (rightfully deserved) recognition? Want to make fair trade a top priority across the nation? Well, your problems are solved--we've foudn a way. (Don't you wish everything in life was this easy?)

Join us and the "Fair Trade the White House" movement as we petition to make America's first home a fair one. This "grassroots, nonpartisan coalition" is inviting First Lady Michelle Obama to make the White House a fair trade home. Here's what the folks making it happen say: "By declaring the White House a “Fair Trade Home,” Mrs. Obama can encourage households throughout America to continue refining their buying habits toward ethical consumption so that poverty, both in America and around the world, is reduced."

Below is a copy of the online petition to Mrs. Obama. Check it out and sign for yourself!

Dear First Lady Michelle Obama,
As a nonpartisan coalition of fair trade organizations, vendors, and consumers, we cordially invite you to help extend the fair trade movement by declaring the White House a “Fair Trade Home.”
For more than sixty years, the Fair Trade movement has strived to create social and economic opportunities for the world’s poorest communities. As you know well, it is the poor who most acutely feel the effects of economic turbulence, climate change, and isolation. Fair Trade combats these issues.
As you may be aware, the movement toward ethical and sustainable consumption has grown to include faith-based centers, college campuses, businesses and individuals. The United States is also home to eleven “Fair Trade Towns/Cities” including Media, PA, Brattleboro, VT, Milwaukee, WI, Amherst, MA, Taos, NM, Northampton, MA, San Francisco, CA, Montclair, NJ, Ballston Spa, NY, Chico, CA, and Bluffton, OH.
Knowing that you and the President share these values, we invite you to extend the Fair Trade movement by making the White House a “Fair Trade Home” and increasing the number of items used by the White House which have been sourced according to Fair Trade principles. By requesting that your staff purchase items like food, body-care, and clothing made or sourced under Fair Trade Principles, your family’s example would show Americans how their purchasing habits can alleviate poverty, reduce inequality, and create opportunities for people to help themselves.
As a coalition of organizations, vendors, and consumers supporting Fair Trade, we represent 44 organizations, account for over $3.8 billion in annual sales and work with approximately 55,000 artisans, farmers, and producers around the world.
We look forward to your RSVP.

By the way...we found news of the "Fair Trade the White House" movement through Global Fayre's blog. Check them out here!

Election Controversy

2009-06-17T11:17:00.007-04:00

I've spent the last day or so devouring Internet reports out of Iran, where the streets are boiling with unsettled protestors and heavyhanded police in the wake of last week's controversial presidential elections. In case you've been hiding under a rock somewhere, here's the wrap-up.

Last week, Iranian officials announced that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had been re-elected by a landslide. The result was surprising, to say the least, to opponent Mir Hussein Moussavi, who had enjoyed strong backing throughout Iran. Also raising eyebrows was the fact that election results were announced hours after the polls closed, although the ballots were handwritten.
Moussavi's supporters have not taken the news lying down, but instead have taken to the streets to voice their protests of an election where their votes seemed not to matter. Much of the pro-democracy organization seems to be taking place online. Twitter has risen as a particularly powerful tool for protestors, with organizers using the medium to spread word about plans as well as sharing photos and video taken at the scene of the events.

In recent days officials have announced that they will recount some votes in order to further verify the validity of the election. Opposition protesters are not satisfied with this offer, fearing that the recount is merely a ploy to legitimize a suspect result. Instead, they are demanding a revote.

No one knows what will happen next, although Parag Khanna, in an analysis of the situation for CNN, said "the most likely scenario" is that the recount will merely validate Ahmadinejad;s reelection. In the meantime, foreign journalists have been confined to their hotel rooms and banned from going out on the street. The Iranian soccer team showed up for a match today in South Korea wearing the green armbands of Moussavi's supporters, only to return after halftime, minus the green.

This Youtube video is a chilling look at what is happening on the ground in Tehran. Warning: it is violent. This compilation of photos from CNN correspondent Christiane Amanpour, tells the story better than words. This photo collection on http://www.boston.com/ is the best I've seen.
Here are a couple of pictures, obtained via Twitter (where else?) from the events of the last several days.

Dads Like It Fair

2009-06-16T15:07:00.009-04:00

Father's Day is just around the corner, and for those of you with dads who prefer gifts-with-a-conscience over the no-thought-required-tie (umm, isn't that all of us?), you've come to the right place. We've got some great ways to promote fair trade and make Dad happy, too.

Does your dad have a taste for the exotic? Are the kitchen and grill his domain? Fan the flame by giving him The World of Street Food, a collection of recipes for delicious, quick, and easy street food around the world. From Mango fritters originating in Tanzania to Tunisian Mechouia (grilled veggie salad), will have your mouth watering in no time. Others, like Seekh kebabs from Pakistan, could inspire your dad to run out and fire up his trusty grill. Who knows--he may even volunteer to give you another meal on him!

If your dad is the corporate type with a funky flair, these laptop cases are both practical and fun. Talk about a win-win!

And--just for kicks (ok, bad pun, I couldn't help it)--this Futbol player, made in Chile, is too fun to resist. What dad wouldn't love a hand-sized sculpture made of manly scraps like nuts, bolts, and screws? If dad is not into soccer, don't worry, we have you covered there, too--these Nuts 'n Bolts figures come as a sax player, a guitarist, a basketball player, and more!

Honoring Dad + shopping fair = a perfect combination. Get all these gifts and more here, at our online store!

Back to the Basics

2009-06-14T15:27:00.005-04:00

It's back to the beginning today for a reminder of what fair trade is, how it works, and why it's needed. I can always use a reminder of why we're doing what we do--I figured that the rest of you probably feel the same way!
Fair trade is an international system of trade. It gives the farmers and artisans who produce the goods we all use every day (for example, coffee, chocolate, and handicrafts) a way to lift themselves out of poverty by guaranteeing fair prices and sustainability. In short, the people who do the work are paid fairly for their labor.
Why bother with fair trade? Here's a start. Did you know that:

-Nearly half the world lives on less than $2 a day and the poorest 40% of the world's population earns only 5% of the global income.
-An estimated 218 million children are engaged in child labor (UNICEF).
-At least 70% of child laborers work in agriculture (UNICEF).
-Almost three-quarters (126 million) of children engaged in child labor work in hazardous situations or conditions, such as working in mines, working with chemicals and pesticides in agriculture or working with dangerous machinery (UNICEF).
-When farmers are not guaranteed a minimum price for their crops, they often fall victim to the global economy if demand decreases. When farmers rely on few, specific crops they are left particularly vulnerable to changes in the market. Fair trade guarantees a minimum price, so that farmers won’t fall deeper into poverty if the global economy influences profits.

(The above facts are taken from Plan and Transfair. Check out their websites for more information!)

More Books, Please

2009-06-10T14:31:00.007-04:00

Books, books, books. Remember last week when I wrote about the mobile library a local 8-year-old is helping to build? Well, her father (Dr. Allen Coffman, a local pediatrician) dropped by our store today to kickstart the book donation campaign, and he brought that most precious of all commodities: information.
Here is an excerpt from an informational pamphlet written by his daughter, Mary Grace, who is the driving force behind the book drive.

"I would like you to please donate books for a library at a school in Nigeria!!!" Mary Grace writes. "I got interested in doing this because I couldn't believe that a school didn't have a library. I told my daddy, 'It isn't a school without a library.'"

So, she decided that something must be done. Mary Grace, along with friends and family, are planning to ship a 40-foot cargo container to a 300-student Nigerian school, where the shipping container will be used as a mobile library. Pre-school through 10th grade students attend Right Steps School in Abia State, Nigeria, which has some outdated text books, but no books for kids who would like to study or read outside of class. Right Steps is run by Nigerian native Chi Ekwenye, who earned her PhD at the University of Georgia before returning to her home land to open a school, a clinic, and an orphanage known as Susana Homes (accompanying photo is from a Susana Homes event).

Officially, the book donation campaign begins tomorrow, although we already have a few donations here in our store. Dr. Coffman hopes that the mobile library will be ready to ship overseas by September of this year.

Peruvian Problems

2009-06-09T16:54:00.004-04:00

Bracelets, coffee, hand-carved gourd boxes, delicate silver earrings, finger puppets. Here at World Next Door, we import a lot of things from Peru, and we love it all. One thing we could do without is violence.
But, unfortunately, it seems that this is exactly what the people of Peru are facing right now as clashes between indigenous Peruvians and national police have been ongoing since Friday.
(I'll admit, I didn't stumble upon this news completely at random--my younger sister, Mary Emily, is spending most of this month in Peru as she volunteers in a Lima orphanage during her summer break from college.)
Here's a summary of the situation from CNN:
The violence started Friday when national police attacked a roadblock near the city of Bagua in the Amazonian part of northwestern Peru. About 2,500 indigenous people had blocked the main road to protest measures the government has taken to sell land to energy companies and other businesses. Indians native to the area say that it is their land even though they don't have formal property titles.
When it was over, many lay dead and wounded.
...
Analysts agree this is the worst violence in Peru since the brutal Marxist Shining Path guerrilla insurgency died down in the 1990s.

Estimates of the dead range between 33 (Peruvian police) and 100+ (Indian rights groups). News of this uprising is particularly poignant as many of our store's Peruvian fair trade items are made by native Peruvians.
For instance, our finger puppets (an eye-grabbing collection of knitted, finger-sized animals and people) are made by the Aymara women who live near Lake Titicaca on the Andean mountain plateau. Click here to read more about the artists who make a living from their textile knitting.

Word is that the current uprisings are taking place in the northwest part of the country, while a quick Google search of the Aymara showed they mostly live in the southern part of the country. Still, although they may not be the primary group affected by this week's violence, they, like other indigenous peoples throughout the country, will surely bear the ramifications of the recent violence.
CNN reporter Arthur Brice summed up international worries over the uprisings at the end of his article, saying:
The crux of the issue concerns Peru's economy and how the indigenous population fit in a 21st-century world.
This is an issue all of us, wherever we live, share.

And Throw Away the Key

2009-06-08T10:59:00.013-04:00

A dozen may be a good thing when you're talking doughnuts or roses, but 12 is a big number when referring to years. And according to the latest reports out of North Korea, that is the number of years that U.S. journalists Laura Ling (bottom picture) and Euna Lee (top picture) will be spending doing backbreaking work in a North Korean labor camp.

The two women were sentenced today, after they were arrested by North Korean authorities for allegedly crossing the Chinese border into Korean territory approximately three months ago. At the time of their arrest, the journalists were based in China and were reporting on the trafficking of North Korean women for a California-based TV station owned by Al Gore. Family members have said that the reporters did not intend to cross the border into North Korea.
Word of the women's sentencing has sparked speculation that the reporters are being used as bargaining chips by the North Korean government, which has recently faced global ire as the reclusive country allegedly continues its testing of nuclear weapons.
NPR has done an excellent wrap-up of the situation; click here to read their story about the journalists' dilemma.
The Los Angeles Times offers a chilling perspective on what life inside those camps would be like for the two women. Here is an excerpt from their article:

"The first thing that passed through my mind when I heard about the verdict was that, from an American perspective, this is tantamount to a death sentence," said Scott Snyder, director of the Center for U.S.-Korea Policy for the Asia Foundation, a Washington-based think tank.
"There aren't a lot of guarantees in that type of environment. It's different from any prison that exists in the modern-day United States. This is a very sobering challenge for a new administration."

North Korean defector Kim Hyuck, who spent a total of seven months between 1998 and 2000 in a "kyo-hwa-so," said that the percentage of prisoners who die from the harsh conditions would be unimaginable in the west.

"It is not an easy place," he said of the camps. "Centers for men and women are separate. But even [the] women's place is not comfortable at all. . . . When I was in the center, roughly 600-700 out of a total 1,500 died."

Hawk said many of the re-education camps are affiliated with mines or textile factories where inmates labor for long hours, shifts that are often followed by work criticism sessions and the forced memorization of dry North Korean policy doctrine.

The literal meaning of a "kyo-hwa-so" in Korean is "a place to make a good person through education," said Hawk, who interviewed a dozen gulag survivors for his study for a group known as the U.S. Committee for Humans Rights in North Korea.

Kim, 28, who now studies math at a South Korean university, said that escape from the camps is nearly impossible.

...

As I keep up to date on this situation, my heart is saddened for the women at the center of this political maelstrom. But they, at least, have the benefit of an entire nation that is up in arms over their imprisonment, and officials remain hopeful that their situation will be resovled diplomatically. Because news from within North Korea is sporadic at best, it is all too easy to forget the worries of the 28 million who call the nation home.

A 2006 report from Amnesty International details the woes Koreans face, including starvation (an estimated 12 percent of the population suffers from "severe hunger," and 37 percent of children and one-third of North Korean mothers are malnourished). Freedom of expression is non-existent; Reporters Sans Frontiers has reported that dozens of North Korean journalists have been "re-educated" for mistakes as simple as misspelling the name of an official. Tens of thousands of North Koreans have fled across the Amnok River to China seeking a better life.
It has been said that a picture is worth a thousand words. This 2003 photo (which you may have seen before) aptly proves the point: while the lights of South Korea gleam brightly on the southern part of the peninsula, North Korea is dark, stark evidence of the country's isolation from the rest of the world.

Click here to read a MSNBC story on what life is like inside the secretive nation.

Fair trade is not an option for the people of North Korea, at least not for the foreseeable future. But my hope is that one day they will be free, like their brothers in the south, to support themselves and craft a life of their own choosing. And until that day, our hearts and our prayers are with Ling, Lee, and their waiting families.

Jency featured in Blush magazine

2009-06-05T15:55:00.003-04:00

There she is, in the "BioBites" section of the June issue of Blush Magazine. She's not one to toot her own horn, so I'm tooting it for her.

Who's Hungry Now?

2009-06-04T11:18:00.005-04:00

This thought-provoking photo essay examines the eating habits of families around the world. Photographer Peter Menzel makes the point using, not words, but photos of families surrounded by their food for one week. Food for a six-person Sudanese family fleeing Darfur and now living at a refugee camp in Chad costs about $1.23 a week; on the other end of the spectrum, a German family spends more than $500 to feed their family of four each week.

Check out the entire essay here.

Don't Boycott--Shop!

2009-06-03T18:16:00.008-04:00

If you believe Time, boycotts are out. This is the era of rewards, and the newest trend for consumers with a conscience is "Carrotmobbing."

With Carrotmobbing, consumers don't have to consistently avoid stores/companies that are supporting causes they disagree with. Instead, this "reverse boycott" works as shoppers use carrots, not sticks, choosing to buy the things they already need at stores that are working hand in hand with them to meet the same goals. Carrotmobbing focuses on environmental issues, and the movement has been around for just over a year.

Here's are some excerpts from Time reporter Jeremy Caplan's piece, or, you can click here to read the full article.

"Traditional activism revolves around conflict," says [Carrotmob founder Brent] Schulkin, 28, a San Francisco–based activist turned entrepreneur. "Boycotting, protesting, lawsuits — it's about going into attack mode," says the former Googler and onetime game developer. "What's unique about a Carrotmob is that there are no enemies." The focus is on positive cooperation, using the power of the casual consumer to help save the planet.

...

Instead of steering clear of environmentally backward stores, why not reward businesses with mass purchases if they promise to use some of the money to get greener?

...

The reverse boycott is perfect for the growing cadre of slactivists — slackers who care just enough about causes to sign online petitions and join Facebook protest pages but lack the time, money or drive to do much else.

Carrotmobs also carry extra appeal during tough economic times. Participants don't have to donate anything. They just shop for products they were planning to buy anyway, adjusting the time and place of purchase. By doing so, they help green a local business.

Do you think we could invite these guys to Carrotmob for fair trade?

This year's World Fair Trade Day = biggest ever

2009-06-03T17:43:00.003-04:00

To all of you who came out and participated in this year's World Fair Trade Day back in May: thank you! The Fair Trade Resource Network is reporting that this year's World Fair Trade Day, held May 9, was the largest ever. While they are still counting, the FTRN says that nearly 65,000 people participated in the World's Largest Fair Trade Coffee Break.
In all, FTRN believes that more than 100 media articles were published about the event. Here at World Next Door, our owner, Will Honeycutt, was able to speak with local NPR affiliate WUTC about our store's mission and promote the event. As Nathan mentioned in an earlier post, we've continued to see lots of feedback from that interview and from other advertisements on the station. It is such an encouragement to know that people are listening and paying attention to our message.
Thanks for your help in making this year's World Fair Trade Day the biggest (and dare I say best) ever!