ten thousand villages
by jennifer elliott

I am in Southern India. It is 97 degrees on March 5th, the day before International Women’s Day. I am walking hand in hand with a young Indian woman; holding hands with same sex friends is common in public for both men and women in India. I do not speak Tamil, her language, nor does she speak English, but we are celebrating International Women’s Day early. We are also celebrating that we are part of a Fair Trade community that brought us together. We are walking to meet with Rani Mani, the President (Mayor) of this village of 10,000 people. Rani Mani is one of the best success stories of what Fair Trade means to an individual and her community. Today, my friends and I are honored to be her guests.

Rani Mani is remarkable for many reasons. She is a woman in a position of political and social importance in a country where women are rarely given this respect unless it is a status inherited from their family. Rani has earned her role as President through creative leadership, hard work, and intelligence. Her young male secretary tells us how proud he is to work for her, and that she has accomplished more in 18 months than the last President accomplished in five years. The young woman next to me and all the women there absolutely light up when Rani comes out to greet us. Rani is wearing a bright yellow saree and smiles gently at everyone. I have never experienced such a powerful expression of joy in the faces of a group of women. There are smiling eyes, laughter, clasping hands, straight postures, direct eye contact and full attention on this woman, their President and friend.

Fifteen years ago, Rani and her family lived in a mud hut about four feet high with a hole cut in the grass roof for smoke from the cooking fire to escape. She was a part of the startup of a women’s economic development project called SHARE. Rani developed a garland-like streamer made from palm leaves, which became the best-selling item for Fair Trade stores in the United States and Canada for several years. It is still a good seller today.

Within a few years, Rani and her family had not only earned, but also saved enough income from her work at SHARE to build a concrete home. She also became the chairperson of SHARE. Through her dedication, hard work and vision, Rani has now earned the respect of the whole village and was elected President. She even has an office in a concrete building in addition to her home.

In her 18 months as President, she has brought money into the village for better housing, wells for safe drinking water, and roads. In India, this is not something she makes happen on paper at her desk. Once the funds and materials are available, she organizes the people in the village to build the roads. She passes buckets of dirt and digs along with everyone else. Rani says her vision for her village is that someday they will be totally self-sustaining.

Where would the women of SHARE be without Fair Trade? It’s hard to say. Many of them tell us that they spent all their time at home and were afraid to go out before they joined SHARE. Their families did not have an education or a way to bring sufficient income into their home for food, better housing, safe drinking water, and education for their children. Many of them also mention that they thought they were alone, and didn’t know how many other women felt the same way. SHARE encourages the women to come to central locations to learn crafts and other skills. They discover how much they have in common and how they can help each other. Fair Trade has changed the everyday life of their community. SHARE started with maybe fifty families and now works with over 500 families. Crossing barriers in the village is one part of Fair Trade; another part is crossing barriers between their country and ours.

The Learning Tour

I am here in India with a group of 12 men and women from North America on a Fair Trade “learning tour” sponsored by Ten Thousand Villages. Ten Thousand Villages is one of over 100 Fair Trade companies in North America. The company works with a network of stores both for-profit and not-for-profit that have committed to buying merchandise from Fair Trade vendors.

This learning tour takes us to visit artisan groups throughout India and Nepal for three weeks with the purpose of offering Ten Thousand Villages store employees, board members, and volunteers an opportunity to learn first hand about the artisans’ lives, communities and business practices, and how handicrafts are made. Advocates of Fair Trade and the producers have an opportunity to meet, talk, ask questions and gain a better understanding of each other.

One of my favorite moments is when my friend Karen asked Rani if it was difficult for her to balance a job with raising her children. Rani and Karen shared their difficulties and joys with this balancing act, and how much they enjoy their children’s admiration for their work. One woman from SHARE asked the women in our group if the women in the U.S. and Canada receive the same pay as the men for the same job. We all laughed at finding we have common joys and struggles no matter where we live.

SHARE is the first of a long list of artisan groups we will visit in an exhausting whirlwind tour in the next three weeks. I learn as much about Fair Trade as I do about the artisans. Fair Trade organizations specifically seek out artisans who would otherwise be unemployed or underemployed. They are widows in Bangladesh, they are Indian women who are not traditionally income earners in a male-dominated society. They are Guarani men and women indigenous to Bolivia who spent the last 20 years working their way out of debt servitude as bonded laborers. They are Vietnamese teenagers who might otherwise end up on the streets, or Nepalese girls who were rescued from “girl trafficking,” and they are drum-makers from Burkina Faso in West Africa who have few opportunities for sustainable income. They are olive wood carvers from the West Bank who are desperate for stability. They are people from all over the world who do not have resources and access to markets and business relationships. It is a way of helping people not through charity or handouts, but by giving them a chance to work hard in dignified conditions and also to improve those conditions.

What is Fair Trade?

All communities define themselves with boundaries of some kind… it is how a group says; “this is who we are.” The Fair Trade community draws lines of inclusion and belonging that say, “this is how we do it.” Fair Trade, or Alternative Trade, is doing business based on principles of economic and social justice. The key goals of Fair Trade are to empower low-income, disadvantaged artisans around the globe, and to promote understanding between them and people of developed communities. Rose Benz Ericson says in her booklet The Conscious Consumer: Promoting Economic Justice Through Fair Trade that the mission of many Fair Trade supporters “includes penetrating mainstream markets to appeal to shoppers who are as concerned with the quality of production as they are with the quality of the products themselves.”

Fair traders commit to these principles among others:

Pay a fair wage in the local context, pay promptly, and often pay a 50% advance.

Engage in environmentally sustainable practices.

Buy from artisans who provide healthy and safe working conditions for workers.

Build long-term and sustainable relationships.

Choose handicrafts that reflect and reinforce rich cultural traditions and which appeal to the North American consumer.

Provide financial and technical assistance to workers whenever possible.

These principles of operation address some of the roots of poverty and the hate and violence that often result when groups of people are abused and disenfranchised. Chris O’Brien, an associate director of Fair Trade Federation comments, “The events of September 11th helped to place new emphasis on the responsiblitiy we all share to build peace and security in the world. For decades, the work of Fair Traders has helped to overcome cultural, religious, economic and geographic barriers. By bridging these divides, FTF members lay the groundwork necessary to create a just, sustainable society in which all living things—human beings as well as the enviornment – are treated with care and respect.”

Fair trade does not imply that other “non-Fair Trade” import businesses are doing business unfairly – although, if you watch the news, read, ask questions, and do a bit of observing, this is sometimes the case. “Conscious consumers” have made the decision to ask questions and do a bit of research about all businesses and decide for themselves. It is, after all, individuals who make up a community.

Building a Fair Trade Community in WNC

Ten Thousand Villages has two not-for-profit Fair Trade stores in WNC, one in downtown Asheville and one in Montreat. Our community is made up of artisans, customers, volunteers and staff. They are the Bangladeshi artisans who visited stores this summer to demonstrate their papermaking skills, they are the volunteers and staff who range in age from 18-75, they are customers who visit our store while vacationing because they love the store in their city and just want to stop in and say hello to us, they are customers who ask to hear stories of the artisans, how the craft is made, or the cultural tradition behind the object.

Fair Trade companies operate throughout the world. There are more than 100 in North America alone and many belong to Fair Trade Federation. There is also an international organization called International Federation of Alternative Trade. Consumers have powerful influence with their buying habits. We can serve Fair Trade coffee in our offices, homes, and places of worship. We can ask our coffeeshops and grocery stores to do the same. Students can insist that their campus bookstores carry “no-sweat” sweatshirts and keepsakes. We can ask questions of all businesses about their business practices.

The women of SHARE I’ve met are beaming in their confidence. They are proud of their accomplishments, and eager to celebrate International Women’s Day. When I asked another woman from SHARE how she liked being part of the group, she said, laughing, ”I used to feel responsible only for my house. Now I feel responsible for the whole village!” I certainly feel a responsibility to tell her story, and the story of Fair Trade.

Jennifer Elliott has been with the store in downtown Asheville for two years as volunteer and now manager. She went on the learning tour in March of this year. Please feel free to contact her/the store for more information. (828) 254-8374 Mon-Thurs 10-5:30 and Fri and Sat 10-7.
[ villagesasheville.com ]

For information about the store in Montreat, call (828) 669-1406.

See also:
[www.fairtradefederation.com]