”Fair trade” has international feel
The world converged within the walls of Spokane’s Community Building Saturday – salsa music resounded from a second-floor stage, vibrant handicrafts from Africa, Latin America and Asia covered the room, and the enticing smell of spices, fried egg rolls and other delicacies wafted in the air.
It was Spokane’s way of honoring World Fair Trade Day, an annual, international event that celebrates “fair trade” – a growing trade movement that seeks to alleviate poverty by improving the conditions of marginalized producers and workers, particularly in developing nations.
The multicultural celebration was a way to help people understand that what they buy and consume has ripple effects around the world, organizers said. It also highlighted the numerous connections that already exist between Inland Northwest and other parts of the globe. Besides food, dance and music, the event focused on business owners with ties to Guatemala, Chile, Thailand, Nepal and other countries.
“Fair trade is a practical way to help people,” said Stacy Ott, manager of Global Folk Art, a nonprofit store located in the Community Building that sells only fair trade foods and products. “It’s about creating a relationship. Through fair trade, families are able to live with dignity and hope.”
Ott knows the history of every item sold at Global Folk Art – from the green and purple pillowcases and doilies sewed by a Sudanese refugee in Kenya to the table runners created by the Nepalese women who cried with joy the first time they touched the money from the sale of their work. Since they started that project several years ago, those mothers have used the earnings to send their daughters to school, Ott said.
Other goods at the store are made locally, including the gift baskets of bean soup and other foods packaged at Christ Kitchen, a program in Spokane’s West Central neighborhood that provides jobs and training to homeless women.
Ott compared the purchase of fair trade goods to shopping at the local farmers’ market. “Each product has a story,” she said, and you’re familiar with the maker. By purchasing fair trade products – which ensures that the people who harvested the food or crafted the item are fairly compensated – “we honor the person who made it.”
Sarah Calvin, owner of Indra Trading and one of the merchants at the World Fair Trade Day celebration, spoke about the women in the Laotian province of Samnua who hand-dyed and wove the colorful silk scarves she displayed on a table.
After frequent trips to Southeast Asia over the last decade, Calvin recently met Ting Tong, a 45-year-old mother of two who organized a co-op in her village, located in northern Laos near the border with Vietnam. The bus ride from the Laotian capital of Vientiane to Samnua took 20 hours, but Calvin wanted to personally meet the women who made the scarves using their own looms at home. She wanted something more than just a business agreement; she desired a friendship, a relationship of equality and respect.
“I fell in love with the culture and people,” said Calvin, describing her many trips to Vietnam and Laos. She wanted to share their handicrafts with people in the United States, but she also wanted to make sure they received a fair price for their hard work.
Those who attended the World Fair Trade Day event also shared her goal. Tish Depner of Spokane came so her two daughters, ages 2 and 5, could celebrate different cultures. But she also wanted to support the artists and craftspeople, she said.