Friends of the Third World, Inc.

A nonprofit human development organization

611 West Wayne Street

Fort Wayne, Indiana  46802-2167

260-422-6821 fotw@igc.org  260-422-1650 Fax

 

 

Dear Friends:

 

Why “fair trade”?  What is “free trade”?  I’d like to share a story, a story of hope in a world of insecurity, of war and violence, of threats of pandemic, of unemployment and uncertain supply.    And then, briefly, share how you, your family, your friends, your co-workers, your neighbors; can plant that hope and help it blossom…

 

The story starts in 1972, in the town of La Palma in El Salvador. (It could be a story told of thousands of other small towns/villages, across the globe…from Bobo, Burkina Faso to Bali, Indonesia to Fort Wayne, Indiana…)  Juana and her husband, Reynaldo, are inconsolable.  Recently their son, Juan, was captured by rebels fighting a hit-and-run battle with government agents. Juan disappeared.  Like others in their village, his parents are afraid to work in the nearby fields out of fear for their lives.   They complained, and shared their pain.  They prayed and worried.  Fortunately, in this village, one of the Brothers serving the Parish was Fernando Llort, a caring and a talented artist. Fernando suggested they try to tell their story in art, and perhaps they could earn a supplemental income if they all worked together. 

 

Using plain wood gathered near the village, Fernando taught villagers to decorate the pieces in bright colors, depicting the birds, flowers, animals, adobe houses - scenes of the village. They added spiritual images gleaned from their struggles, expressing a spirit that allowed them to endure  the gunfire and fighting heard nightly for 20 years.  These images, fixed onto wood decorations, have become popular folk art in homes in North America, Europe and even Asia.

 

Today, the outright violence and shooting has stopped and families have returned to work the land. Yet the production of folk art continues to bring the community together in new ways.  Shacks have been replaced with solid brick and metal houses in La Palma, and women such as Juana are able to work near home rather than seek work in the capital city of San Salvador (in low-wage factories).  Juana’s family lives a simple life, but they now are well-fed and clothed adequately, and all the children are able to attend school each morning and return home to waiting parents each night.

 

The co-op, Cooperative La Semilla de Dios de R.L. (Seed of God Co-op), shares a portion of income for community projects.  For example, traditionally women were required to carry water for their household in jugs balanced on their heads from the nearest source, nearly two miles away.  Using money earned from their handicrafts, PVC pipe and concrete were purchased.  After locating a secure source of clean water in a nearby mountain, each family contributed labor to the effort (digging two and a half miles of trench and running pipe first to a large holding area in the village, and then to each home.)  Now each family enjoys the convenience and improved healthfulness of clean water inside the house.

 

This story of hope has been multiplied the world over.  In India alone there are more than 500,000 community-based projects. This extensive movement can be traced to Ghandi’s  independence efforts.  Many native peoples across the globe cooperate out of necessity.  In Denver, women dropped from welfare and food stamps have turned an old firehouse  into a catering service and a mail order business:  The Women’s Bean Project.  North of Chicago, in Evanston, low-income women formed the “Enterprising Kitchen” to produce and market handmade soaps. In Fort Wayne, Indiana ex-offenders and folks with differing abilities roast, grind and package gourmet coffees.  This movement, becoming well-known only in the last several years, has been dubbed “Fair Trade”, which means doing business in ways which provide a dignified income and opportunity to low-income artisans and food producers.  In effect, democracy flourishes in these small-scale projects, something the principles of the free market have promised but have not delivered.  (Multinational corporate trade today generally produces cheaply made goods, providing unreasonably low wages to millions of hard working people who struggle in difficult and unsafe conditions while huge financial surpluses benefit a few who provide little or nothing of value to the larger community.) 

 

Fair trade, on a small scale compared to the world economy, has provided real benefits to thousands of the working poor all over the world, by providing a fair share of the selling price. When the average consumer becomes aware of the human benefits fair trade principles provide, they prefer it.  It is an idea whose time seems right.  However, another war now threatens La Palma’s artisans (along with all the other small producers who have benefited from fair trade.)  Many large corporations seeing both the marketing opportunity and threat to their way of doing business are set to undermine fair trade principles while using the concept to attract customers who want to support the small producer.  For example coffee farmers in Brazil have been offered somewhat higher prices if they will give one of America largest retailers exclusive right to their coffees. (In true fair trade the producer sets the price by having a variety of customers.)  A large seed company has developed “genetically modified” coffee beans which will allow them to own the rights to all plants containing this laboratory created gene, effectively gaining control over the production of all coffees as this gene spreads worldwide. To us, who have worked as partners with the small producers for over 30 years, this is a struggle for the “soul of fair trade”, a struggle is insure that the benefits of this movement are kept within the communities and families.  We have named this extra effort “FAIR TRADE PLUS”.  We’ve developed a plan to expand, which includes public education as well as increased marketing efforts.  Above all, every step of the way involves people. It includes folks of various abilities, of various traditions, colors, genders and ages.  Our focus is on youth, the leaders of tomorrow.

 

 But this effort needs resources and commitments.  We’ve enclosed a list of needs.  We invite you to join as you are able.  (We apologize for the more frequent requests and reminders, but the need is urgent, so we try harder.)  Thank you for your consideration.

 

Yours in concern for the hungry,

FRIENDS OF THE THIRD WORLD

JIM GOETSCH

 

 

Digging at the roots of poverty since 1972