October 2007: Fair Trade for Halloween!

It's Halloween time, and there are lots of ways to get involved in making sure that the cocoa industry is less scary and more fair for cocoa farmers worldwide. Here are two good ways to get involved:

Fair Trade Trick or Treat Action Kits:

Find everything you need for Halloween this year, all in one place. Give more than candy this year...give knowledge about the importance of Fair Trade! First launched in 2005, the Fair Trade Trick or Treat Action Kit in 2007 includes chocolate candy to hand out to Trick or Treaters, a large stack of festive Halloween postcards for you to hand out, traditional Papel Picado Mexican party streamer, and a Trick or Treat Bag.

Reverse Trick or Treating:

This Halloween, it is kids who will be giving treats to adults! On Halloween night, 2007, schoolchildren, high school and college students across the US and Canada will unite to end poverty among cocoa farmers and forced/abusive child labor in the cocoa industry, and promote Fair Trade, by distributing information about these social justic issues in the cocoa industry, while Trick-or-Treating door-to-door in their communities. For information, please visit the Global Exchange Fair Trade Campaign page.

September 2007: Visit with Palestinian Artisans

The Online Store's Abby Edelman recently visited the Idna Ladies’ Association in the remote town of Idna, in the Palestinian Territory. The association uses the traditional Palestinian cross-stitch technique to embroider a wide range of products. The association provides vital income to its’ 45 women members, very often they are the only source of income for the household. The construction of the Separation Wall between Israel and the West Bank, in 2005, has lead to devastating unemployment throughout the region. The Wall’s trajectory runs through Idna, isolating the most fertile parts of the village’s agricultural area and underground water. More than 50 families have lost their olive groves and grazing land for livestock due to the wall. The visit to Idna is an example of the Global Exchange Online Store’s continued commitment to representing marginalized artisan groups throughout the world.