Come back in the new year and check us out. In the meantime, please go to our eBay/WorldofGood.com site and get Free Shipping and 25% off EVERYTHING!

We wish you a blessed Holiday with whomever you choose to share it with and an absolutely wonderful New Year!

Thank you all for being there this year!

Warmest regards,

Lisa

So, instead of buying the same old stuff for your loved ones for the Holidays, buy a handmade gift that will make a difference to someone who is struggling in a developing country. And maybe they will be able to have a better Holiday this year because of you!

Happy Shopping!

I have some exciting news! Blue People Fair Trade is going to be making some changes in the way we do things…starting January, 2010. I’m not going to tell you exactly what’s going to be happening…I want you to share in the excitement and anticipation with me. But sufffice it to say, I think everyone will be pleased.

Looking forward to sharing it with you…

Thanks to its supporters, the Fairtrade movement in the UK has grown by leaps and bounds and today shoppers can choose from more than 4,500 Fairtrade certified products including cotton clothing, bananas, wines, ice-cream and cosmetics.

Harriet Lamb, Executive Director of the Fairtrade Foundation says: ‘Fifteen years ago our dedicated campaigners told us of the excitement they felt when the first Fairtrade products appeared in their local shops. Now we are calling on people to help us re-create that early excitement by encouraging everyone to fill their whole shopping basket with products from the Fairtrade ranges.’

Prime minister’s wife, Sarah Brown, and International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander offer their support to the Fairtrade Foundation. Read it here.  And, click here, to see how the Fairtrade Foundation is celebrating!!

October is Fair Trade Month and, to celebrate, we’re having a 25% Off Everything Sale!

Buy now for the Holidays! Everything in the store is 25% off. Quantities are very limited and once something is gone…it’s gone!

Choose from silky colorful scarves from Africa. Warm and woolly hand knitted scarves, hats and gloves from Nepal. Hand-crafted sterling silver jewelry from Bali. Recycled, sturdy totes and retro, classic handbags from Cambodia. We also have unique, recycled mosquito net handbags and colorful, sustainable tagua jewelry from Colombia!

Buy now! Don’t wait! Your favorite could slip away!

This year has brought many ups and downs for Blue People Fair Trade…some good and some not so good. As some of you know, for the past couple of months I have been blogging for the UK based, 100% fair trade co-op lender and I like it! So, through this whole process, it has become apparent to me that Blue People will benefit the Big Picture and the fair trade movement more by becoming a news, opinion and reviewer of all things fair trade! We hope to have the new site up and opining by the end of November…first of December. We will keep you posted!

Quantities are limited…really limited…so, don’t miss out on this great sale!

Thank you for your interest in Blue People Fair Trade and for continuing to ask for and buy fair trade!

Sincerely,
–Lisa

While riding in my car doing the usual boring errands, I came across a radio show featuring a young, outspoken Kenyan named Binyavanga Wainaina speaking about his views on the “Ethics of Aid”. My ears perked up. What could this young Kenyan have to say about donor aid and where his country was headed?

I just finished a blog post on the  Shared Interest blog  and thought you might want to go have a look-see….go read it now!

PS For those of you who don’t know what Shared Interest is, you can read about it here.

The move will quadruple the amount of fair trade cocoa bought from Ghana under sustainable farming schemes and help end child labor and trafficking. Approximately 40,000 Ghanian farmers will benefit immediately. The Cadbury partnership with the  Fairtrade Foundation has already resulted in 50o,000 GBP being transferred to Ghana, the first installment of the Fairtrade Social Premium. This is part of Cadbury’s overall investment into cocoa sustainability through the Cadbury Cocoa Partnership.

Mr. P. K. Tekper, the Vice-President of Kuapa Kokoo, a cocoa farmers’ co-operative, concluded:

“We are very happy that Cadbury’s have made this further commitment. The premium that we have already received from Cadbury has made a real difference to our lives. Our plans for the future are to build fourteen community projects next year, invest in the health care of our farmers and to put in place a ‘Kuapa Kokoo Extension Services’ to farmers to ensure sustainability of cocoa in the world market.”

Cadbury Dairy Milk Fairtrade is part of Cadbury’s broader commitment to develop a sustainable business strategy to empower farmers to invest in their land and their communities. Through the Cadbury Cocoa Partnership (CCP), Cadbury is investing 45 million GBP over the next ten years to secure sustainable cocoa farming in Ghana, India, Indonesia and the Caribbean where the cocoa farming industry is facing increasing challenges. So far, the Cadbury Cocoa Partnership model with charities and NGOs on the ground in Ghana has achieved the following:

• A Ghana board has been set up with power to make CCP decisions there and includes partners at grass roots level who know and understand their communities’ needs
• Through grass roots partnerships with Care, VSO and World Vision, the Cadbury Cocoa Partnership is now active in 100 Ghanaian communities

Francis Sampson Kwesi, a 48 year old cocoa farmer from the Ghanaian village of Kromameng, one of those involved in the Cocoa Partnership and now hoping to gain Fairtrade certification, added:

“One of the main benefits is that I can invest the proceeds out of the cocoa in things such as the upkeep of the children’s school fees, as well as in developments for the whole community, such as building roads. It helps us to have a higher standard of living, as although the land here [in Ghana] is good for cocoa growing, when we are not in the season of cocoa, we need everything else to help make the environment more conducive for cocoa growing.”

Cadbury estimates that by 2018, through today’s announcements and the Cadbury Cocoa Partnership, it will have made a demonstrable difference to the lives of around half a million farmers in Cadbury’s cocoa markets.

To read more, go here.

Fair: First Fairtrade Vodka

Jean-Francois Daniel gave up his glamorous job and lifestyle in New York City as a manager for Cognac (and working with Hip Hop Royalty) to pursue a life that was more fulfilling. He decided to travel to Russia, China and South America, and what he found was “farmers in Bolivia who work 12 hours a day harvesting quinoa and getting nothing”. Jean-Francois had an epiphany. And, since he knew spirits and had worked in the spirits industry, he decided to create a fair trade quinoa spirit. Working with the Fairtrade Foundation, he founded Fair.

Fair vodka won a gong for BEST UNFLAVORED VODKA 2009 NEW YORK, NY (June 2009) in a blind tasting that included 250 brands from all over the world. The niche product will be limited for the 1,200 farmers involved, as enormous orders wouldn’t be viable to keep the product Fairtrade.

To read more about Fair and fair trade vodka, go here.

Latex for French Letter condoms is monitored and sourced through Fair Deal Trading using natural latex harvested under sustainable and fair trade conditions, meaning that the rubber producers and tappers on the Forestry Stewardship Council-certified plantations in South Asia are paid royalties that help improve their lives and help them commit to practices that are good for the environment. French Letter‘s website states:

The sad fact is that much rubber production around the world is far from fair. Many thousands of people working in plantations in countries like Cambodia, Thailand, and Liberia face appalling exploitation. Slave wages, no social protection, and child labour are common features of the most unscrupulous management practices.

Although French Letter condoms are based in the UK, those of you that want to insert fair trade into your sex life can order them online via safe and secure online shopping 24 hours a day via Worldpay & Paypal. And, for non UK destinations, they will be sent using Royal Mail. What could be finer??

For an ‘intimate’ review of French Letter condoms, go here! And add a little fair trade to your sex life!

The southern West Bank is known for it’s grapes, which Palestinian farmers grow with little or no water on small plots. The Beit Ommar Cooperative Agricultural Products and Services Society is a non-profit NGO, which assists in economic development in the community, and they are hoping to sell these grapes as fair trade raisins to Germany. This is just one of several cooperatives in the region using fair trade, and sometimes organic, practices for economic development. The Israeli label SAHA Fair Trade, which means “health” or “well being”  in Arabic and is an acronym for “fair trade” in Hebrew, imports Palestinian olive oil, grape honey and za’atar to health food stores in Tel Aviv. Other Palestinian groups promoting fair trade, mainly in the West Bank, are the Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committee (PARC), which aims to to improve the social and economic situation for small farmers and women by selling fair trade olive oil, olive oil soap, thyme, couscous, almonds, sun-dried tomatoes and medjoul dates.

The most delicious (and good for you) Palestinian fair trade export is olive oil. Started in 2004, Zaytoun, a UK based company, is trying to create and develop a UK market for artisan Palestinian produce, especially olive oil.  In additional to selling Palestinian artisanal produce, every year, Zaytoun organizes two trips to the West Bank for it’s supporters and customers. Both of these trips are timed to coincide with the annual olive harvest, which is usually around the end of October and the beginning of November. To find out more about these trips, go here. And don’t forget to look for Palestinian fair trade items where you shop!