Contents Introduction 6 chapter one TIME TO TRADE Message in a Bottle Will That Be Cash or Cow Crocodiles Ahead A Camel at the Door Full Steam Ahead Danger Feeding the Factories All Aboard Making Change 8 10 11 12 13 14 16 16 17 chapter TWO ALL PEOPLE COUNT That’s Not Fair 18 Lace in the Trunk 19 How Does It Work 20 Getting Started 22 Flush with Money 23 United We Stand 23 Ready for School 24 Don’t Throw That Away 24 Living Landscapes 25 Let’s Play 26 Making It Fair 27
chapter THREE WHAT FAIR LOOKS LIKE How Does It All Work Sometimes It’s Big Worms for Sale Sometimes It Takes a Village Mebelo’s Family Sometimes It’s Little Making Dreams Come True Getting It Out There 28 29 29 32 32 33 35 35 chapter FOUR MAKING CHANGE Changing the World Pssst Pass It On Finding Fairness Cupcakes for Sale Holidays and Summer Fun It’s a Challenge Fair Trade Schools Hear Ye Hear Ye Be Demanding Soccer Mania Buy Fair Buy Less 36 37 38 38 39 40 40 43 43 43 44 Acknowledgments Resources Glossary Index 45 46 46 47
Introduction Do Do you ever wonder who makes your T-shirts Or where the melons in your fruit salad are grown Or how soccer balls get those little stitches in them I was always curious about where things came from but I never thought too much about it until I was in my early twen ties and I visited my parents who were living in Tanzania My mother and I visited a cooperative a small group of people who all own a business together where artisans made beautiful wooden toys and hand-sewn clothes The artisans explained that they used to sell their goods on street corners until they joined the cooperative but since then they’d had a steady income and were able to sell their goods to people around the world Speaking to those craftspeople made me realize that Mum and me wearing dresses made by women in a Tanzanian cooperative MICH A EL PA RDY 6
A group of Rwandan artisan women work on a cloth decorated with embroidered patterns SARINE ARSLANIAN SHUT TER S TOCK COM when we buy things we are connecting ourselves to a whole web of people across the globe The idea was exciting and when I came home to Canada I joined a group called the Gaia Project which works with people just like those workers in Tanzania Through the Gaia Project I learned more about how trade works and the effect it has on people’s lives I learned about sweat shops and child labor and environmental problems It turns out that a lot of people work hard to make sure that the folks who grow and make the things we buy get a fair deal Read on to find out about all these amazing people This Zambian girl is collecting palms to make woven baskets for a fair trade project VIDEA 77
