Beautiful fair trade gifts for me! yay! :)
One of my very good friends recently got back from her yearly visit to her mother back home in Kenya and like each time she got me another cool gift. She handed me this little paper bag saying "i thought you'd appreciate this" :) . I read the tag and knew before looking at the contents what it was and i said - i do! i love it! They were all fair trade products :)
The bag itself is hand made from recycled paper by street youth and women of Nairobi. Kawangware vision center was started as a project to create and open up positive life opportunities for orphans, vulnerable children and for youths at risk in the community. They initially started by making handmade paper bags out of recycled paper which they sold to tourists and to safari companies. The income earned was used to improve their lives as well as maintain their business. Today Kawangware Street Children and Youth Project is a registered NGO. It's main activity is a micro business in which young children, both boys and girls, hand make and design, silk screened eco-friendly gift bags, greeting cards, gift wraps and T-shirts. The income generated in turn is used in several constructive activities for the youth and women of the community.
And the contents of the bag, also fair trade - were a beautiful pair of earrings and a matching clip made out of handmade beads made by the women of an organization called Kazuri. This organization excels in hand making and hand painting amazing ceramic beads, jewelry, pottery and bags. Their jewelry is enticing and all their products are top notch in quality - i can vouch for it as i own a pair myself now! The Kazuri workshop in Karen employs over 340 women, mostly single mothers. They produce over 5 million beads a year and export to over 30 countries world wide.
As a company dealing in fair trade products we'd like to tell all our readers one thing - One does not need to fill up their wardrobes with fair trade products in order to support these communities but each small random purchase like this, might make a huge difference to their lifestyle. As for most of us, it probably would be just another piece of shopping right? Why not make it count?
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