Beauty on the Backroads

Stories of grace for life's unexpected turns

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What's this fair trade stuff all about?

I can’t tell you how long ago it was that I first started hearing the words “fair trade” nor can I tell you how long since I’ve begun heeding the call. What I can tell you is that “fair trade” is a way to change the world, right from your home, even if you don’t like coffee or chocolate.

See, coffee, tea, and chocolate are the first things in our house to undergo a change to fair trade. These are luxuries, to be honest. We would survive without them (okay, maybe not the coffee), but they are not necessities like water, bread, milk, eggs, etc. We can find them cheap because they often come from places where their natural environments are exploited and lands rich in resources the rest of the world demands are not given their fair share of profits. Or maybe I should say that the people who grow the food are not given their fair share.

Fair trade became personal for me when I realized that my luxuries, my indulgences, could be causing serious harm to someone else. Could I really enjoy my chocolate bar if I knew there was slavery in its supply chain? How does that coffee taste when I learn of how little the farmer who grows the beans actually makes?

I know there are lots of arguments on both sides and I’m sure fair trade isn’t as simple as it sounds.

The good news, though, is there are organizations who are partnering with people around the world to provide jobs which lead to education and hope and a feeling of being worthy of life.

One of those organizations is Fair Trade Friday, an arm of Mercy House Kenya, founded by Kristen Welch. (You might know her as the blogger from We are THAT Family or as the author of Rhinestone Jesus.)

The founding of Mercy House Kenya, a birthing center for women unexpectedly pregnant, is one story, and she tells it in Rhinestone Jesus. Fair Trade Friday, a monthly subscription service that delivers fair trade items to your door, is another story. Here’s where it began:

“I heard it clear, these words in the middle of the night, ‘Provide jobs for women.’ It was years ago and I didn’t know what it meant. We were a couple of years into our hard work in Kenya, rescuing pregnant teens and I didn’t think I could do much more. But I also couldn’t shake those whispered words. Fair Trade Friday is the response to providing jobs for women. Sometimes God asks us to do something we don’t know how to do. But He does and He leads.” — Kristen Welch

You can learn a lot about the Fair Trade Friday Club and see what they’re all about on their website. As part of the Fair Trade Friday blogging team, I received some products to review in exchange for my help in telling you about the organization.

Here’s what I received. (Hydrangeas not included.)

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Tea. A change purse/pouch. And a gorgeous picture frame. I put the purse to use right away in my carry-all bag, and I’ve had the tea, which I love. The frame is beautiful–an unexpected fair trade item. Maybe you’re like me and you have a certain idea about the kinds of things that are “fair trade.” This monthly box contains surprises each time. And there’s a club just for earrings, if you’re into jewelry. You can check out all the fair trade products available in The Mercy Shop.

The great thing is that not only are the items fair trade, but they support organizations all over the world, not just in Kenya, where Mercy House is  based.

Do you ever wonder if fair trade really makes a difference? It’s a nice story, right? Well-off Americans buy handmade goods from artists around the world and everyone lives happily ever after. But is it true?

This is why I love global communication and becoming involved with organizations where the link between the person making the item and the person buying it is intentionally short.

Welch says this of the difference fair trade makes in the lives of actual women: Tell the women

Probably one of the most profound moments for was in a mud home in Kenya talking with a woman we were buying paper bead bracelets from for a Fair Trade Friday box. She grabbed my hands and squeezed them tight. She looked me straight in the eyes and said, ‘Tell the women in America that we need them to keep buying what we make. Tell them it is feeding my son and two daughters. Tell them not to forget us.’ I will spend the rest of my life reminding these marginalized women they are not forgotten.

And it’s not just about the money. It’s about so much more.

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This quote is from one of the partner organizations of the Fair Trade Friday Club

You can help women not just earn a living and provide for their families but see themselves as worthy and purposeful contributors to society.

Check out what the Fair Trade Friday Club has to offer. And if there aren’t any current openings for the recurring boxes, add your name to the waiting list so you can be notified when it is open.

Images, excluding the one of the products I received, are courtesy of Fair Trade Friday.

How to change the story

My kids went through a phase where they loved the PBS cartoon Super Why!. We still will watch the occasional episode on Netflix. Wyatt, the main character, and his friends, turn into super readers to solve problems and change the ending to familiar stories–for good reasons.

I’ve long been inspired by this aspect of the cartoon–that they change the story by changing one word.

And while real-life change doesn’t seem that simple, it really isn’t as complicated as we make it.

Sometimes, we can change the story with just one word. Or action. Or decision. For ourselves, and others.

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I loved Choose Your Own Adventure books as a kid. I loved being able to go back through the book and pick a different outcome through a series of choices. Brilliant book concept. I would constantly try to find the best ending.

Our lives are a little bit like those books. Each choice we make leads to another page, another chapter, another outcome. But unlike those stories, ours are more fluid. Nothing is finished until the final day of our lives. No one’s story has its ending in the midst of living it.

I forget that some days. Especially when life seems especially hard.

It won’t always be this way.  The story isn’t over.

Here’s how I know: I see people who are living as if the story is still being written.

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I have some things to tell you about fair trade products in the weeks to come. Here’s a teaser for that:

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I’ll be telling you a lot more about an organization that is changing the story for women around the world. What I love about this image, though, is that it reminds me that I’m a participant in changing the story. When I choose to learn more about what I wear, drink, eat and so on, I can help change the story for someone. My friends at Imagine Goods put symbols on their products that will tell you all about the person who sewed your item. I love that connection across continents.

These great organizations remind me that just because things have been done a particular way for a long time does not mean they have to continue. We can change the story.

I see it in my friends who have adopted children, both domestically and internationally. I see these kids in their families and I wonder how their stories might be different if those families had decided not to adopt. (It is no simple action to say “yes” to a child you didn’t birth.) I see it in families who make room for children who might never become part of their families. They are all changing stories by adding love and grace and faith to the plot.

And in the darkest corners of the world, covert operatives for The Exodus Road are helping to change the story of women and children sold into sex slavery. We can become part of the change in their stories when we declare publicly, “Rescue is coming.” This is not the end of the story.

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Whatever actions we take, whether it is swapping out our cheaper products for ones that are ethically made from workers given fair compensation or opening our homes to those without families or funding investigations into trafficking in Southeast Asia, we can change the story.

This is nothing new for humankind.

Jesus changed the story more than 2,000 years ago when he rescued us from death with his life. He has changed my story from one of hopelessness, despair and insecurity to one of hope, joy and acceptance of who I am. He is always on the lookout for a spot in the story to change the plot for the better.

Let’s not believe that no one can change, that the world is a hopeless mess, or that we are destined for destruction.

Let’s find ways to change the story. For ourselves. For others.