One of the things people have long admired about Portland is they way we do things – as well as what we do. It’s collaborative.
Well, maybe it’s too collaborative sometimes. Yep, it can take forever on occasion.
But compared to most cities, we make decisions with lots of information from the people who are most affected.
By Denise Attwood, co-owner, Ganesh Himal Trading
In 1986, Ganesh Himal Trading started working with the Association for Craft Producers (ACP) in Kathmandu, Nepal. This project, started by Meera Bhatterai, has the goal of helping raise marginalized women’s self-esteem and income generating skills.
Laxmi Maharjan was a woman who had woven all of her life but never seen the money from any of the work she had done. The money she earned had always gone to the male in her life, her father or her husband.
By Diane Bender
When I was a young girl growing up in Kansas I loved going to Pennsylvania in the summer to visit my grandparents.
Their basement had two sections: one with Grandpa’s tools, which was interesting but untouchable, and one with Grandma’s beautiful handmade items from around the world that begged to be touched.
My sister and I helped pack the boxes that were to be shipped to various places in the United States.
I’d been volunteering with Ten Thousand Villages for several years before I really caught the fair trade bug.
Of course, I loved Villages (what’s not to love?) for its mission, the products, the other volunteers and the staff.
But it wasn’t until I read a Nicholas Kristof column that I felt an urgency around fair trade.
Growing up in a family of seven, sisters Beth Kapsch and Kristi Jo (KJ) Lewis know what it’s like to relate to others for the good of the community. Each grew up and dedicated their lives working with women and family policy issues and equitable international development. Beth worked at the Oregon Commission on Children and Families [...]
Fair Trade Day Coffee May 9th Oregon podcast welcome Ten Thousand Villages Portland Add new tag Fair Trade