Comercio Justo. Fair Trade. It has potentially been my saving grace in Peru.
That is not to say, of course, that I haven’t had many saving graces in Peru. There are undoubtedly too many to count, and most of them have faces and stories (with the exception of the saving grace of finding The Office on DVD – believe me, it’s a lifesaver!). But today I want to talk about my work with Bridge of Hope, the fair trade program of the Red Uniendo Manos.
I started my work with fair trade in January, when I was looking for a break in my home and work life from the more theologically conservative Peruvian church. I began to spend one day a week day working in our small store in Miraflores and helping with odds and ends around the office. However small my work was, it was really rewarding because it was serving a cause I really believed in and giving me experience working directly with an NGO, which I’ve never done before. In March, when Debbie and I decided to make a few changes with my placement, I added another day to my fair trade schedule, officially making it one of my two part-time placements. And from there, things have gone uphill in a truly exponential way.
Let me first explain a little bit about what fair trade is and what it means in my current context in Peru. Fair trade is surprisingly hard to define, but as I have come to understand it, it is a movement in both consuming countries (Northern Hemisphere) and producing countries (Southern Hemisphere) that aims to assure that producers receive not only a fair price for their work but also are able to live and work in a dignified manner. Fair trade aims to achieve social and environmental justice, both on the side of the producer and of the consumer. It’s about challenging our current efficiency-based and more often than not exploitative market system and creating a space in which the value of the products comes second to the value of the lives of the human beings behind them.
Before coming to Peru, I had always thought of Fair trade in regards to coffee, chocolate, and sometimes clothing. With the exception of the latter, these objects have nothing to do with my work this year in fair trade. While the Fair trade coffee and chocolate markets are wonderful, important, and have recently become very popular, “the cool thing to do,” in the US, I am working this year with the Fair trade market of artisan handcrafts. Artisan products are all over the place in Peru – this is a country of brightly-colored fabrics, exotic-looking patterns, and hats, scarves, and gloves made from delightfully soft alpaca wool. And in the midst of the thousands upon thousands of artisan groups, my program, Bridge of Hope, works with 14 artisan groups from Lima, Huancayo, Huancavelica, and La Oroya. We strive to help them develop products not only for the souvenir market but also for the competitive export market to the US and Europe while still preserving the integrity of their handmade products. We facilitate the formation of groups and exportation of their products to Northern countries and search for ways to help meet their needs both in and out of work. It’s a beautiful, sacred process to be a part of.
And what is my role in this whole operation? Some days it’s more glamorous than others. Sometimes I translate documents and communication between our Spanish-speaking staff and our English-speaking clients. Sometimes I help sell products at fairs. Sometimes I brainstorm with artisan groups about ideas for new products that would find their place in the international market. Sometimes I clean and reorganize the store. Sometimes I put price tags on hundreds of hats, socks, and stuffed llamas when a big order comes in. Sometimes I sit in meetings. Sometimes I march in parades. During the month of April, I had the incredible opportunity to serve as a translator for a seamstress and designer from the US who came to work with three different artisan groups on new techniques. It’s a job that feeds me and gives me a real sense of purpose for why I am here in Peru.
Visiting groups and meeting with artisans as they come into the office, I’ve begun to hear stories that show me what it means for fair trade to be about dignity in the lives of the artisans. Yes, as a fair trade organization, we help our artisans set prices that are based on the cost of their materials and the amount of hours spent working, a fair price, in contrast to simply trying to beat out the competition by offering the lowest prices. (Just for the record, the prices still remain incredibly reasonable. A winter beanie or skiing hat costs between $5 and $10.) But this technically “professional” relationship does so much more. A lady from one group told us the story of how Bridge of Hope helped her buy herself a home, where the 5 women in the group have now set up their workshop. Another lady shared how she had met a member of the Bridge of Hope team through a Compassion International program in which her daughter participated. Knowing that she desperately needed work, the member of the Bridge of Hope team helped her assemble a group, purchase the necessary equipment, and found a friend who could teach these women how to sew, something they’d never done before but that would soon become their profession. When the rains this year flooded Huancavelica and several of our artisans lost their homes and possessions to uncontrollable mudslides, other artisan groups in Lima organized a clothing drive so that these women and their families would have something to wear and keep them warm as the rain and cold continued.
Bridge of Hope is so much more than just a business, a marketing program, an operation based on competition and sales. It gives me hope and reminds me that commerce does not have to be an exploitative and dehumanizing process. We can buy and sell and participate in the international market with love and respect for the real people behind the products we consume. It’s not always easy and it’s not always cheap, but it is, I think, the only not to mistakenly give to Caesar what belongs to God.
To find out more about our artisan groups and products, visit www.fairtradeperu.com. However, know that this website is old and has a great update coming very soon. I will notify you all when the site is updated!
