"I'm not offended by all the dumb blonde jokes because I know I'm not dumb... and I also know that I'm not blonde."Dolly Parton
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(ARA) - Gift giving can be a challenge -- you're torn between wanting to give friends and family a gift to show how much you love and appreciate them, yet stumped by what that should be? If you feel like your only safe bet is yet another tie or another pair of socks, read on.
How about gifts that will not only delight the people who receive them, but which will also help support struggling farmers and artisans in developing countries by promoting fair trade? The fair trade movement strives to end unfair practices in international trade that keep entire communities in poverty. By creating equitable business relationships between producers, retailers and consumers, fair trade enables small farmers in the developing world to actually make a living from their land and empowers them to make improvements in their communities.
Lutheran World Relief (LWR) offers three projects that exemplify the holiday spirit of helping those less fortunate. By purchasing fair trade coffee, chocolate and hand-made gifts, you affirm your commitment to human dignity and help people lift themselves out of poverty. And you can do it all while buying items you probably use anyway, from the comfort of home.
The LWR Coffee Project was the group’s first fair trade venture, launched in 1997. Linking the power of faith with the potential of fair trade, Lutheran World Relief teamed up with Equal Exchange, a worker-owned cooperative and the first coffee importer in the United States to adopt international fair-trade standards. “We focused on coffee first because holding a cup of coffee is like holding the world in your hand every day. Coffee is one of the world’s very richest commodities, yet it’s grown by some of the very smallest players in the global economy, small-scale farmers in poor countries,” says Kathryn Wolford, LWR president. “Fairly traded coffee is an opportunity to ‘taste’ justice.”
About 25 million people along the equator depend on coffee for much of their income, and the world price of coffee affects the economic wellbeing of entire countries. Wolford points out that when farmers sell their coffee on the conventional market, as little as 1 percent of the retail price of a cup of coffee makes its way back to the farmer. Through fair trade, farmers who do 90 percent of the work of producing coffee earn enough to cover their production expenses and make a modest living, as well as gaining access to much needed preharvest financing.
The LWR Chocolate
Project follows fair trade principles similar to those in the coffee project. It features Divine Chocolate from the world’s first and only farmer-owned chocolate company. Forty thousand farmers in a cooperative in Ghana grow the cocoa used in Divine Chocolate bars and are part owners of the company that makes Divine. Most cocoa farmers get just a few pennies when a chocolate bar is purchased in the United States and have difficulty covering their costs of production -- alone meeting their families’ basic needs -- from what the conventional cocoa market pays them.
But fair trade provides a different model. In addition to having a say in how the company is run and sharing in its profits, the farmers also must adhere to strict fair-trade standards, many based on protecting human rights. These standards have been instrumental in promoting women’s rights and in reducing the forced child labor that is prevalent in many cocoa-farming operations. With guaranteed prices for their crops, families have the income to pay for school fees and to better provide for their families.
The third gift idea in this fair trade trio includes unique jewelry and colorful home décor items. The LWR Handcraft Project offers exotic, quality crafts from artisans in Asia, Africa and Latin America and even parts of the United States. SERRV International, a nonprofit, faith-based fair trade organization, is LWR's partner in this venture and in the LWR Chocolate Project.
The fair trade practices that guide all of these projects enable low-income farmers and artisans to build a better future for themselves, their families and their communities. Nothing speaks louder for us in the global economy than our buying habits, and by purchasing fair trade products, we help create a new and fairer marketplace that supports lasting environmental, social, cultural and even offers spiritual benefits.
Back to your gift-giving quandary. LWR offers many gift ideas through its partner SERRV International. Their Fair Trade Friends gift baskets feature ready-to-give combinations of fair trade chocolate, coffee, hot cocoa mix, handcrafts and more. Or, build your own gift basket with exactly the fair trade products you want to give. Visit www.lwr.org/ft to see all the ways your gifts can be more meaningful. To order, call (888) 294-9660.
Courtesy of ARA Content
About the author:
Courtesy of ARA Content
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