Fair Trade ~ Making a difference.

My mom bought a handcrafted photo album for me. She explained that there is a great story and interesting people behind it ~ Fair Trade.

What is Fair Trade? It is about producing, selling and buying things that are all about fairness to everyone and everything involved. Fair Trade creates a better world through respect and responsibility, it helps to get rid of global poverty and issues such as child labor, pollution and harm to the environment and dangerous working conditions. There is a buisness that is using Fair Trade and is helping the world right now – where my mom got that photo album – Hamro Village. Hamro Village works with people in Nepal, where people make beautiful things like purses, bags, shoes, handbags, jewlery and a lot of other products. Hamro Village has changed many people’s lives by encouraging artisans to chase their dreams and letting them have a better life. They use the money they get paid to provide their children with the chance to go to school and to have food and clean water.

I read about a lot of the artisans that they work with who have great stories. One story stood out to me about a woman named Chandra Shova. When she was 22 years old she was kidnapped and sold to a man in Kathmandu. He said she was his wife. She did not know where her village was and she couldn’t escape. One year later, Chandra had her first son. A year after that, she met a women who told her about fair trade. She joined and started making cotton fabric from her home. Then she had her second son. Today, she still works from home making fringes for scarves, soles for felt slippers, ornaments, knitting mufflers and other things. From the money she has earned she has paid for her son’s education.

I did an email interview with the founder of Harmro Village, Ash Upadhyay, about his awesome company:

You and your wife, Kinza, left your ‘big’ jobs and careers to start Hamro Village, can you tell me your personal story?

We have always been interested in doing something that is more meaningful than just work 9-5 , Working for [big companies] there was a void in our lives we wanted to fill. In 2005 we went on a trip to Bhutan and Nepal, during the trekking trips we came across many marginalized producers who were creating beautiful handicraft products using their indigenous techniques and selling in local bazaars  In spite of their skills and hard work they were still very poor. What they sell in local market was not enough to feed their families and send children to school. There and then we decided to use our skills and help these artisans.

Kinza graduated from Fashion Institute of Technology, New York with a degree in design and I graduated from University of Main with business degree. We wanted to use our skills to help these artisans. Our leap of faith came when we sold our house and used the money we made from the sale of our home from it towards creating Hamro Village. We have created a meaningful lifestyle for ourselves more than a business. We are very happy that our work is making a difference in so many peoples lives who desperately need help. The real reward is our daughter who is three years old is growing up as a global citizen and learning the value of social justice.

I recently participated in WE Day where the message is “be the change” and “inspire the change”. You are living that. Can you describe how it makes you feel or how your life has changed by “being the change”.

When we graduated from college and started our corporate careers we thought leading a life with high profile job is the way to go but now we are living a very simple lives with ordinary things. We only buy what we need. We are happy this way. We have passion for travelling to remote villages, and experience the cultural diversity. By doing this we have learned how little it takes to keep us happy. Every time we visit our grass root artisans we realize how little they have, and how simple their lives are. They are very happy with a box full of books for their children and calls it a library or a hut with few benches and a blackboard to call a school. Parents want a simple two time meals and basic clothing for their children. These are just few simple example of how our artisans lead their lives.

 

The environment is really important to me and I know that it is to you, too. Can you tell me about how you and your artisans reduce the environmental footprint that you make?

Our producers are situated in remote Himalayan villages where they leave some of the smallest of environmental footprints in the world. Surrounded by nature and untouched by the conveniences of modern city life, they eat locally grown foods, walk to their destination, use simple hand tools and survive on what nature has to offer. They know the importance preserving their natural habitat for their own good. This not something they learned in school but has been their way of life for generations.

 

Merchandise found at Hamro Village has been created by these producers, allowing us to state, with confidence, that we add no pollution to the environment in the production of our products. We make every effort at protecting and preserving the natural environment that we work in as nature lovers. Hamro Village believes in reducing waste, respecting nature and recycling end-use products and thus, our focus is in promoting the sale of natural goods. At Hamro Village our goal is to always follow the “green path”.

Who or what inspires you?

The warmth we feel on every visit to our artisans is priceless. This is what motivates us and inspires us to work even harder. Through our products which are handcrafted by our artisans, we are being able to share our artisans story to Canadian consumers. All our products comes with the story of Social Justice and Fair Trade. This opportunity to create awareness to general public is also our major motivating factor for us.

 

To learn more about Hamro Village, the work that they do, the products that the create together with the artisans in Nepal, please visit their website. You can also find them on Facebook.

You can purchase their products and many other Fair Trade products at Ethicial Ocean.