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Rebecca & Glenn Fadner

As I write this update, one of the biggest winter storms in my lifetime is winding down. We had been scheduled to fly across the US today, but were fortunate enough to be able to move up our travel plans by 36 hours and avoid getting caught in Chicago (or St. Louis, or Dallas...). Needless to say the shift in travel plans meant putting off some activities until later (like getting this newsletter pubished).

We trust that there is a little something for everyone this month. Rebecca is starting a new series exploring what it means to be a "social entrepreneur". Carrying on with our theme on Human Trafficking, we have an announcement about Freedom Sunday. Glenn's challenges with a shipment from Kenya reminds us all that we need to "think globally". And of course we've highlighted some products.

Obviously February is the month for lovers. When you buy gifts for your "special someone", we encourage you to shop for Fair Trade gifts. Obviously we'd love to have you purchase OUR products <grin> but if you need chocolate (who doesn't) and cannot find it at your local organic or health food store, we'd encourage you to visit our friends at Equal Exchange for some of the greatest chocolate you'll ever find!

Have a great month!

 Global Events...

Sometimes we can forget that events on the global stage can have a very real impact at the local level. Such is the case for Simon and Alice of Alisim Glass Studio, located in Uthiru, Kenya, a community on the outskirts of Nairobi.

We placed our most recent order with Alisim in mid-November. By Christmas, Simon was ready to ship the completed order. As he has done many times in the past, he delivered it to the Kenyan Post Office and sent it off to us. Typically the package shows up in the USPS tracking system within about two weeks. However, after three weeks had passed, we all started getting concerned. Simon had been faithfully investigating where WAS this shipment. When over FOUR weeks had passed, Simon finally discovered that (apparently) all shipments of mail from East Africa to the US have been "held" because of concerns over potential package bombs sent by terrorist organizations.

We're TOLD that mail shipments have "started to move again". However, as of this writing in the beginning of Week 6, Simon's shipment to us has STILL has not shown up in the USPS tracking system. This fact in turn translates into the reality that Simon's package STILL has not "landed" in the US.

While this is an inconvenience to us at KVI (it "simply" means that we can neither fill orders for his product, nor display his new pieces at our trade shows), there is a much more critical ramification to this shipping dilemma for Simon. The amount of money involved is SIGNIFICANT to Simon, who needs to pay his workers as well as support his own family. We're trusting this matter gets resolved VERY soon!