Help not only the Artisan, but the Community!

We’ve had SO much fun in the store today!

One of our favorite people, Stacey Ferguson of Jinja Fair Trade, stopped in and refilled the store with her beautiful products!

Stacey works with artisans in Uganda, India, and Kenya. One of staff person April’s personal favorites can be seen above and below:

Necklaces made from recycled paper! We LOVE all the juicy colors in the paper beads, and they really make an outfit pop! Plus, they not only support the women, but truly the entire community.

Stacey tells us more:

Working out of their homes in Jinja and Kampala, the Ugandan artisans are able to take care of their children and home while they roll colorful paper strips, cut from magazines and poster paper, into beads. Eventually the beads are creatively strung into necklaces, bracelets, earrings, ornaments, and more.  Many of the women lovingly care for AIDS orphans along with their own children. Some of the women are sick with the HIV virus. All are striving to better their lives. By working their craft, they are able to make a living wage, which helps pay for medicine, food, transportation and school fees.

Truly a great product to support!

Stacey also restocked our dwindling headband supply, and brought more recycled cards from Kenya.

We also got in our shipment from Nepal today and we are FINALLY restocked on Felted Potholders!

These make a great gift, and we sold out in early December. We are so excited to have these in again. Just like the paper bead necklaces, these potholders come in so many fun colors! AND yes, they really do work!

Not only do these potholders support the women artisans in Nepal who make them, but they also help send young girls in Nepal to school.

Our vendor for this product, Ganesh Himal, tells us more about their school program:

Even public schools cost money in Nepal and producers often have to pull their children out of school because they can’t afford the fees. Usually it is the girl children who are pulled out first because families will look to their long term care by their boy children. In an effort to encourage producers to keep their girls in school Ganesh Himal has given an annual contribution since 1990 to the Association for Craft Producers “Girl Child Education Fund”.  This producer benefit program was set up by ACP to provide a monthly scholarship allowance to producers who keep their daughters in school for at least four consecutive years. As the program has grown ACP has been able to give the same allowance to some of the producers boys as well.

This year ACP was able give scholarships to 85 children from ages 6-17 years old.  In April they invited the students to come and see the workshop at ACP and participate in some of the craft activities that their mother’s do such as blockprinting.  The purpose of the program was to familiarize the children with ACP, its work and help them learn about Fair Trade.  The children were given a tour of ACP and an explanation of the work they do.  The three outstanding scholarship students also received a prize and special recognition from Meera Bhattarai, the Executive Director of ACP.

Ganesh Himal Trading has been proud to help this girl child education fund prosper and be successful.

Imagine that! You’re not only supporting the craftswoman, but you’re giving the opportunity of an education to a young girl who may not have that otherwise.

Yes! We love FAIR TRADE!!