Trade As One

Joanna Johnson is a Christian who met us at The Freedom Summit about a month ago. She is a skilled writer who wants to share her experiences via our blog. If you’re interested in guest posting on our blog, email us at (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

The weekend of the Freedom Summit Conference in Mountain View, CA was the weekend I decided to commit to eating and drinking fair-trade chocolate only.
It was also the weekend I began to understand following Jesus in a completely new way.
Let me explain. I’m becoming increasingly aware of human trafficking, and its horrid grip on today’s society. When I attended ‘Abolitionist’ workshops that emphasized the importance of considering what I buy, I resisted a bit. I live on a tight budget, and much of the fair-trade products are on the pricier side.
But then I attended the Freedom Summit, where I heard Nathan George speak to guests about how Trade as One works with Hagar International in Cambodia, which employees 600 workers who have been rescued from slavery and abuse. I heard about the children both in fisheries and cocoa fields of Africa, forced to work for hours without breaks, and under brutal and sometimes violent conditions. I heard of the effort to make fair-trade a household name, and that this is already happening in the UK.

That’s when I thought, “Yeah, I could change my spending habits. Even if…

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Yesterday morning Secretary of State Hilary Clinton released the annual Trafficking in Persons Report (read analysis and summary here, or the full remarks here.)

“A striking global demand for labor and a growing supply of workers willing to take ever greater risks for economic opportunities seem a recipe for increased forced labor cases of migrant workers and women in prostitution,”

It’s a grim reminder for all us here at Trade as One that so many people in our world are facing this crisis with no safety net, forced to make decisions that we can’t even comprehend. We couldn’t help but notice so many of our producer countries on the watch list or blacklist, like Cambodia, India, Pakistan, and The Philippines.

News like this strengthens our resolve to work as hard as we can to make sure that you have every opportunity to fight poverty with your purchases. Let’s not forget that this recession is global, and that its consequences multiply in the developing world.

This will not be news to many of you who read this blog and purchase on our site, but Divine Chocolate is really good. It’s some tasty chocolate. But as is the case with all of the products we carry, the story is even sweeter. You can read the whole story here, but the gist is that the farmers own the company, and are directly impacted by every purchase. They have banded together to bring transparency, democracy, gender equality, and fairness into an industry and region that desperately needs it.

You will notice that are prices on Divine are going up a bit. This is just a temporary measure, because in order to ship chocolate in the hot summer months we need to package it with some insulation. The prices will come back down when the weather gets cooler, we promise.

We’re proud to work with them. Here’s a video that encapsulates (in about 30 seconds, impressive, no?) what they do.

I have never been one to get ahead with my holiday shopping any earlier than absolutely necessary- but right now I’m actually up to my eyes in what I’m hoping just might be YOUR Christmas shopping!  So, if there’s anything you want to add to the list…
One of my roles at Trade as One is to liaise with our talented producer groups and select and order the products that we sell.  At this time I’m deep in decisions about which products to order for the rest of the year- the products that you will be seeing and buying on the website and at events in the autumn.  So many choices to be made!  Which colors, which styles, how many?!  We are excited to be in a position to place larger orders than ever before to be ready for the autumn’s events and online sales.
If you have ideas for products, and comments about styles then please do always feel free to let us know here.  If you particularly like any products you’ve bought then I’d love to see reviews appearing on our new website.  What makes it all worthwhile is the huge difference these purchases are making to our producers- and to their ability to provide steady, secure, dignified and creative jobs for those who need them most of all.

Last year, Manchester Christian Church in New Hampshire decided that they were sick of the wanton consumerism that has come to define the Christmas season. With the help of Advent Conspiracy, they decided to do things a bit differently. So they opened up their church early on Black Friday, and invited their community to purchase fair trade holiday gifts, and use their spending to bring restoration to some of the world’s most desperate people. We think it was a pretty cool way to subvert consumerism and promote equity (and get some cool gifts). We thought it was a cool idea, so we asked them to put together a little video describing the process. Check it out below and let us know what you think.

Trade as One from Peter Marshall on Vimeo.