The Power of Tea

Happy Chinese New Year! This last week China celebrated the beginning of the year of the Dragon. In honor of this cultural event The Welcome Mat would like to talk about a product both important to Chinese culture and to fair trade; tea! Tea has been a major part of the Chinese diet for thousands of years and for many of the people of China's Yunnan province it is their life.

In the South West corner of Yunnan lies the Jingmai Mangjing Ancient Tea Forrest. It is home to many varieties of tea found no where else in the world, and to some of the world's oldest tea trees, ranging from 600 to 1300 years old. The rich biodiversity of this forest also harbors excellent conditions for organic conditions. Jingmai is a gathering of villages of the Dai people, and Mangjing to the Bulang peoples. Both are descended from the Pu people, known to be the earliest tea

planters (1066-221 BC.) This ancient Bulong proverb explains the people's dedication and deep cultural connection to the tea trees:

If you leave the gold you will spend it,
If you leave the ox it may die,

We must leave the tea trees,

So they can grow and provide.

You should not let others take the tea trees.

You should protect the tea trees like you do your life
And never let them out of your control.

The only fair trade tea available from this unique part of the planet is distributed by Rishi Tea from the Ancient Tea Tree Association. The money the farmers get helps support community development, education, as well as environmental stewardship. Social premiums have helped the locals start a library, cultural center, agricultural training program, and make improvements such as road and water quality. In addition to this, the first two students from Mangjing Village were able to attend university! To some these things may not seem like a lot, but for Yunnan they are some very large steps towards a better life. Despite their natural resources and rich biodiversity Yunnan has one of the lowest income levels per capita in all of China. Thanks to the fair trade initiatives of Rishi more and more Jingmai Mangjing children are able to afford education, because more and more local schools are being funded.

So when we buy fair trade, we are not just getting a good product, and the producers are not just getting a fair price. We are providing people with education, better living conditions, and brighter futures. For Americans tea is a warm drink for a cold day, or a cold drink for a hot day. We use it to relax when we're on our own, and drink it with friends and social engagements. But thanks to companies like Rishi Tea our every day routine can be someone else' future.

Let Us Serrv One Another

The Welcome Mat has many products from artisans around the world, distributed by many fair trade companies. One company in particular does not just provide products from artisans in localized places such as India or Kenya, but actually empowers an entire network of artisans on a global scale. This company is called Serrv, and while the name may be humble, their impact is mighty.

Believe it or not Serrv is over sixty years old (making it older than the fair trade movement itself). It began with church relief workers after World War II and has since grown into a $9.5 million fair trade network. In addition to their primary goal of eradicating poverty and improving quality of life for their artisans, Serrv also works to employ women as well as supports development and education. The name originally stood for "Sales Exchange for Refugee Rehabilitation and Vocation," but since their outlook and purposes have expanded since WWII, they embrace the name for what it stands for in itself; service to one another.
Serrv supports and empowers artisans in Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe, and the Americas in at least 35 different countries, and in addition to buying and marketing products Serrv also helps with things like product design, and technical training to help their artisans gain economic self-sufficiency.

Each artisan has a beautiful story, and it would take more than our little blog could handle to tell them all! But here are just a few of the companies making a difference in people's lives thanks to Serrv.

• In Swaziland, Africa. Tintsaba is making a difference in the lives of women and their families by providing them with more than just an income. Tintsaba provides training in literacy, business, and health education, as well as a mobile homeopathic clinic treating rural groups suffering from HIV/AIDs.
• VillageWorks of Cambodia was started by the Girls' Brigade of Singapore, a Christian, non-profit organization working to improve the lives of women in South East Asia. The name itself is meant to express the companies focus on work done by small village artisans using their own indigenous techniques and materials. They even make special use of recycled materials for their handbags and wallets.
• Sarajevo Phoenix of Bosnia-Herzegovina is an exceptionally inspiring group. Bosnia-Herzegovina, formerly Yugoslavia, was ravaged by the Balkan war in the 1990's. Sarajevo Phoenix employs Bosnian women-Serbs, Muslims, and Croats to help them rebuild the lives they lost in the war. What makes this so significant is not just that they are being helped in this way, but that the company is supporting the development of a multi-ethnic society built on healing the wounds of war. The Serbs, Muslims, and Croats can work side by side, and live side by side.

Serrv is a company certified by the Fair Trade Federation, Green America, and the World Fair Trade Organization. They are good for the planet, and good for people, empowering, and serving artisans across the globe.

When Fair Trade Meets Fashion

Being an ethical consumer can affect your entire life. It affects what you eat, what you drink, the gifts you give, and especially what you wear. Sadly the truth for Americans is that most of the clothing that we buy and wear is made in a sweatshop, from the hats on our heads to the shoes on our feet.
There are multiple causes to this blatant infraction of human rights. One issue is that many of the countries that harbor these sweatshops do not have the infrastructure to enforce international labor laws. However, sweatshops can be found anywhere, including the United States. Another issue is that many large corporations will pressure manufacturing facilities for cheaper goods. This gives them incentives to pay their workers less and make them work for longer hours.
However, one major cause that consumers have control over is ignorance. When we do not take the time to research all that why buy, we are kept in the dark about where our clothes and other products come from. In fact many corporations do not intentionally use sweatshops, but simply do not look into their own factories, keeping the conditions of their workers out of sight and out of mind. If we took the time to look and enlighten ourselves on the matter we would find the thousands of women and children forced to work over 10 hours a day and 7 days a week for pennies an hour.
So what is it that we can do? Most of us are not in a position to change corporate policy, but as consumers there are ways that we can influence the market towards change.

• Shop Fair Trade: As we've said before, by shopping at stores like The Welcome Mat we support ethical companies that pay their workers fair wages. This can be done with clothing too! Buying fair trade clothing is supporting ethical manufacturing and not sweatshop labor.

• Shop Second Hand: Second hand stores, and thrift shops sell lightly used clothing that has already been bought from other stores, so this time the money we spend on these items goes towards the seller and not the manufacturer.

• Stay Informed: The market is always changing, and there are always new ethical companies starting, and always new information regarding other companies. By doing our research and staying informed we are aware of which companies are ethical and which are not. Using this information to our advantage and spreading the word keeps consumers out of ignorance to the problems of the world such as sweatshop labor.

As consumer's we have a voice, and that is what fair trade is all about! Every dollar we spend is a vote, and when we vote for ethical products we show companies that we care about where our clothes come from, and we actually make a difference with our dollars.

Here are a few companies that sell fair trade clothing:

• www.tompkinspoint.com
• www.maggiesorganics.com
• www.haenow.com
• www.goodandfairclothing.com

A Look At Asha

This week as we all dive head first into the new years resolutions and making a difference in our lives The Welcome Mat would like to highlight Asha Handicrafts, a fair trade company making a difference in the lives of many artisans in India. By investing in products made with a wide variety of materials, Asha Handicrafts is able to harness a broad spectrum of giftedness in India, and in particular has supported work opportunities for women and education.
Since 1975, this innovative company has been giving marketing support to different groups of small producers and craftsman cooperatives in order to aid small scale producers. It houses two separate divisions, one overseeing trade, and the other overseeing welfare programs including training activities and producer development. Asha pays for products in advance, and orders from the artisans directly so as to minimize debt accumulation on behalf of the artisans. And by providing training and teaching facilities, Asha is able to empower more and more artisans, continuing the positive effect in the community, as well as the diversity of their products.

Asha artisans work in wood, metal, cloth, bone, stone, ceramics, and paper mache and produces products of other kinds such as incense and chutney. Jewelry, musical instruments, food products; Asha helps develop and sell such a wide variety of things that it is hard to imagine there not being something for everyone. By developing in different parts of India, Asha is able to support pieces that have been produced by those local people for centuries. Such as the leather work of Rajasthan or Beads from the Indus Valley Civilization or as we've spoken of before in this blog, the block printing of Jaipur.
On their website, Asha Handicrafts introduces you to a few of the artisans whose handiwork they employ. While each group employs many artisans and workers who create the beautiful pieces unique to their local cultures, one group in particular embodies the fair trade spirit through its equal opportunity endeavors. The Women's India Trust (WIT) is a non-governmental self-help organization for the women of India. WIT helps to educate and train women so they can gain employment in several fields such as nursing, screen printing, and even catering and food processing. They can also receive training as teachers for Balwadi, an education program for children providing them with a good foundation for further education when they get older. At any time there is at least 100 students in Balwadi schooling.

Asha Handicrafts does more than just buy products at fair prices. They empower small scale artisans of India to compete in the mainstream global economy, and continue to make further progress in the developing the equality of and equal opportunity for women, as well as the development of education. It is companies like this that is continuing to make fair trade a beneficial movement for global society.