Fair Trade Part I

This past Sunday I had the pleasure of meeting and talking with Paul Culler of Fair Trade Winds out of Fairfax. It all started with a wooden circle maze that had five metal beads in it.  The idea was to get all of them into the center circle - at the same time.  Then I moved onto the bracelets from Darfur, then the fuzzy bird houses that were made out of felt, and then on to the decorative butterflies hand cut out of oil barrells by Haitians, and then and then and then....the items were practically endless.

 Fair Trade Part II - Connections

Well I was able to get all the beads into the center of the wooden maze and then I proceeded to post a picture of it
immediately on Facebook I was so proud of myself. 

And my bracelet, the one that was made by some woman in Darfur, I’ve been wearing it so much that I’ve had to tie an extra two knots in the band to tighten it up.  I think I shall have to go back and get another one.  

The emotional connection to some unknown child is so profound with this bracelet.  Wearing the bracelet forces me to visualize a gaunt and haggard looking child in a refugee camp someplace   I’m glad to know that my 12$ brought .50cents to this woman and that .50cents will go very far for a kid.

The beauty of sustainability is that it touches so many facets of our lives and other facets that may never come to light up in front of me.  We could digress into so many different tangents from these two objects themselves, the bracelet and wooden circular maze; - the people themselves, their lives and the materials available to them, the object itself, the money that the craftsperson earns, the self esteem that’s generated in all who participate, low impact on the environment, the list could go on and on.   

But the beautiful connection for me is the vision in my head of a woman, or a child in a third world country getting food and with food they have the physical capacity to learn.  It’s a great example of sustainability – the bracelet connects me emotionally to a child in a third world country through the good feeling of helping her to eat, financially because I have provided a small amount of income for her, and to our earth because we both share the same planet.

Next article delves into the Fair Trade Business and Organization itself, stay tuned!!

NOTE:  Bracelets are made through an organization called Relief Beads Darfur (www.reliefbeads.org).  One relief bead provides two months of education for one child. Five relief beads saves the life of a malnourished child.  Relief Beads directly supports malnourished children and the only women's center in Darfur.