Karuna Village

Nice to see a good news story for a change - this one if from the Fair Trade Resource Network’s newsletter -

The demand for Fair Trade Certified products has grown rapidly nationwide, according to TransFair USA’s recently released 2008 Almanac. Annual imports of coffee grew by over 30% in weight, tea by over 20%, cocoa by over 95%, and bananas by over 250%.  Additional income to farmers and producers grew 74%, to $32.6 million.

Check out further statistics of producer organizations, licensees, countries, and other products in the free 2008 Almanac (PDF) from TransFair USA.

Come and join all your friends at the café for a day of live music, giveaways, discounted drinks, roasting demonstrations, and more. The fun starts at 10am this Saturday April 25th. See you there!

“Demand for sustainably made, socially responsible products seems to be growing even as the global economy staggers”, according to an article by Jeff Chu on fastcomapany.com this week.  Even companies you would never associate with fair trade products, like Wal-Mart and Starbucks, are getting in on the act.  Cadbury, Britain’s premier chocolate maker, is doing so in a big way - “all of its flagship Dairy Milk bars in Britain and Ireland will be made exclusively from fair-trade cocoa grown by Ghanaian farmers”, the article states.

Please click on the link above to read the whole article.  This is certainly a very pleasing and encouraging sign in a time where encouraging signs are few and far between.  Let us hope that people take more interest in the art and crafts they buy as well, rather than choosing the awful, generic ‘decor’ art you see everywhere!  Here, at Karuna Village, you get a story with every piece you buy.  Come down to the Fair Trade Cafe in Downtown Phoenix and check a few out for yourselves. Every piece is unique.

Here is another range of fair trade craft products you can buy at the Fair Trade Cafe in Downtown Phoenix -
Introduced several thousand years ago from China, handmade paper is a source of extra income to many families in Eastern Nepal (Mt. Everest region).  The Daphne Cabana (Lokta) bush grows at high altitudes and its renewable bark is boiled to make a mush from which paper is made. Native flower petals, grasses, leaves and wool are often added for different textures and color.

Though the craft is simple, getting the right texture and thickness is not. This requires patience and skill.  Cooperatives teach the skills to villagers or the tradition is handed down in the family.

After transport to Kathmandu, the paper is graded, cut, pasted and even sewn into a wide variety of products.  There are no acids used, only vegetable or biodegradable dyes.  Silkscreen and wood block printing add extra beauty to a wonderful product. By purchasing these handmade paper items you are helping industrious, artistic and talented families at all stages of production.  Made in Nepal, these paper products can be found at  www.fareasthandicrafts.com , a Fair Trade Federation Member.

The newsletter from one of our art suppliers - Felipe Gonzales of Moonflower Enterprises, was so heart warming I thought I’d share it with you.  Many of us could learn something from Felipe’s renewed sense of hope and energy in these hard  times.

As we move forward with our work, rest, and play in 2009 -  the world as we know it - is changing dramatically. Despite all the financial problems, social unrest, misguided political decisions, and on-going environmental degradation, there are many good people, doing many good things around the world. These good works include supporting social justice, practicing fair trade, respecting basic human rights, promoting economic justice, equitable sharing of resources, practicing random acts of kindness, showing respect for one other, being humble and instilling goodwill. I believe that the more we do these good things, the faster the crisis will end because it was created by doing the opposite of all the actions above, and most importantly, all us of will be better off.

On another note, I just came back from Guatemala and had the opportunity to meet with Mam coffee farmers, visit some Ixil friends that I haven’t seen in more than 20 years and share time with my humble Kakchiquel family.   After experiencing the warmth of making new friends, the appreciation of re-uniting with old friends and the preciousness of sharing life with family, I returned to the USA with a renewed sense of hope and energy.  Waking up to live each day fully is truly a blessing! We’re happy to have the opportunity to share the blessings we receive from Guatemala with you.

We still have 3 or 4 of these small enigmatic Guatemalan oil paintings left at the Fair Trade Cafe - and we can give you a 15% off voucher for framing at out friends at The Art of Framing to go with it!  

Guatemala is a wonderful place - both the country and its people - every purchase makes a difference.

Founded by social workers concerned with improving the livelihood of isolated women and their children in the Chennai slum areas, Bala Darshan has formed a network of social organizations across Southern India involving disadvantaged women in craft production.  They are also members of the Fair Trade Federation.

Bala Darshan works in partnership with other organizations to help women work from home earning fair living wages instead of having to look for daily casual jobs. One such organization is the Community Welfare Trust which has helped to set up the weaving unit in this village (pictured above), which employs dozens of women.

Bala Darshan artisans produce a range of high quality craft items from candles and incense, batiks and other woven goods, as well as a variety of items made in ceramic, stone and wood, from toys to jewelry. Fair Trade Cafe stocks a range of these items and is proud to provide a further outlet in the United States in support of Bala Darshan and other organizations like it. If you re looking for that special gift then come down to the Fair Trade Cafe and make a purchase that makes a difference!

This unique patchwork purse, complete with beautiful stitching and tiny mirrors, measures just over 14″ X 10″ and is one of the many interesting items supplied by the artisans working for a diverse range of Christian projects supported by the Bright Hope International organization.

The organization has been going for 15 years and “partners with indigenous local Christian and church leaders who understand their communities and support them in their work to change lives in a holistic manner - spiritual, practical, physical, educational and financial. These are some of the poorest people on earth, from places as far flung as India, Pakistan, Chile, Kenya, Haiti, Palestine, Indonesia, Nepal, China, Thailand and Guatamala. Everytime someone buys an item from the Fair Trade Cafe, that purchase has helped sustain one of those communities. If you can’t make it to the cafe there is also a Bright Hope online store.

If you want to find out more about their work and the people they are helping I thoroughly recommend that you visit their blog - Hope Out Loud.
We shall be showing off more Bright Hope items that we have at the Fair Trade Cafe in future posts.

There is no doubt that being next to one of the new light rail stations is a bonus.  The Fair Trade Cafe has certainly seen the benefits.  It has also made for subtle changes in the patterns of busy and slower times.  For example, Sundays were always busy for breakfast time and then things quietened down in the afternoon. But with the light rail travelers, Sundays are busy all day - we’ve even had to change our art-swap days back to a Saturday because of it!

It is good to see that the light rail activity is helping to promote the restaurants, cafes and entertainment along its route.  One of the definitive sites for finding out what is available and happening along the light rail routes is the ‘official’ light rail website and blog.  There is everything you could want to know about entertainment, shopping, apartments, restaurants and cafes, and scheduling information, complete with an interactive light rail map. Nicely done RailLife.

In lieu of any art news at the moment - unfortunately, the economy seems to be putting people off from buying very much art - hopefully things will improve once the new stimulus package is implemented.

I would like to commend a recent article “Fair Trade Not Aid is the Way Forward“, written by Gen Sander who currently lives in Ramallah, West Bank and works in the Fair Trade Department of Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees (PARC). There has obviously been considerable disruption to all trade in Gaza over the last few weeks, but the important point that Gen highlights in the article, providing aid to relieve the people of Gaza is ultimately unsustainable. It is the fostering of the “humanity of fair trade” by the international community that will really bring relief to the people of Gaza.

And you can apply this idea to more than just the people of Gaza. “If we understand fair trade to be about dignity, empowerment, sustainability, justice and social responsibility”, as Gen describes it, then surely this must form the basis for helping any developing country to progress. Great article - great idea.

After much too-ing and fro-ing the first of the limited edition prints have arrived and will be available at the Fair Trade Cafe from this week onwards. We hadn’t appreciated quite how long or how expensive it was to ship a few prints to Nicaragua and back. Ultimately, they arrived back in the USA, having been signed by artist Luis Varela, via a relative living in Miami! All’s well that ends well and they did arrive safely on Friday.

These, we hope, will be the first of many sets of limited edition prints by a variety of artists from around the world. It is a great way for collectors to acquire some very fine works of art at a price far below that of the originals. The first in our series, as I said, is by a Nicaraguan artist, Luis Varela Aguirre and is entitled ‘Cascada’. I have to say that Luis’ work is among some of my favorite - the detail and the vibrancy of his works are truly remarkable. There is a great ‘vibe’ to his paintings.

Luis, originally from Grenada, has exhibited both in Europe, Israel and the USA, as well as Nicaragua. We hope soon to have our limited edition prints available online through this blog. The blog is currently being redesigned, so watch this space. The print run is limited to 500 copies; each 28″ X 20″ in size, are all signed and numbered by the artist, and cost $250 unframed.

If anyone is interested in obtaining one of these limited edition prints and can’t get to Phoenix, we can mail them to you - just contact us through the Fair Trade Cafe.