A Journey of Faith: Fair Trade

Last weekend, my church hosted an event called Fair Trade Fair. The fair trade concept is new to me, but so exciting! Basically, the goal of fair trade is to develop viable employment for people in poverty; paying workers a fair, living wage that enables them to provide for their families. Come Together Trading describes it as:

"...a way of doing business that strives to help people living in poverty & other unfair conditions in our world today. From young women rescued from sex trafficking who need choices, training, and employment, to people living with handicaps and disabilities that are unjustly labeled as unemployable, there are countless stories and examples of people benefiting from the growing social movement known as Fair Trade. Fair Trade creates long term sustainable opportunities for socially and economically marginalized people, ensures fair wages & safe working conditions, protects the rights of children, empowers women & minorities, and promotes eco-friendly practices."

According to one statistical study, if every Christian in the US bought one fair trade item for Christmas, it would lift one million families out of poverty for one year. Wow. That blows my mind, y'all.

This event at my church was organized by our women's ministry team and it featured approximately 15 vendors. Most of the booths were manned by our own women volunteering to represent ministries from all over the world. The ministries that were represented are not only committed to fair trade practices, and lifting people out of poverty, human trafficking, etc., but they are also committed to getting the gospel to the local people. There were beautiful pieces of jewelry with handmade beads from Uganda that had been crushed from recycled material, molded, and dyed. There was metal jewelry from war-torn Ethiopia that was made from pieces of artillery that is strewn all over the land.

I decided to do my Christmas shopping there, and I was able to buy for almost everyone on my list! It feels really good to have most of your Christmas shopping done at the beginning of November. ;) I wish I could tell you about some of the things that I bought, but it's a secret until after the holidays.

The results of the Fair Trade Fair at my church? $7,700 sold - supporting 565 families for one month. Praise God! It is so exciting to be a part of world change. Now I will tell you how you can get involved (plenty of time to shop for Christmas gifts!).

Here are a few of the vendors that were represented at our Fair:

Come Together Trading

Noonday Collection (Ambassador: Ashlee Yost)