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Rebecca & Glenn Fadner

We don't know about where YOU are, but it seems that Spring hasn't "found" Upstate New York yet! But while it's been cool and rainy, we have not had the devastating weather that other parts of the US have experienced. If you are in one of the hard-hit areas in the Mid-West and South, our hearts and prayers are with you! 

The portion of the second "installment" of our Nicaragua report is below, with the remainder being on the site. Unfortunately, we had to delay the shipment of baskets by a week to ensure that they didn't arrive at the Buffalo airport while we were in Milwaukee at the Fair Trade Federation conference. They SHOULD be here by the 10th and we'll post them on the site as soon as possible.

In celebration of both Mother's Day and World Fair Trade Day, we have a month-long, VERY good special on fabric bags! And if you couple this with our "Free @ 40" shipping, you've got an unbeatable deal!

Have a great month!

Our second day traversing the terrain, we trekked (or is that "trucked") to Las Minitas to invite the women from THIS community to ride with us in our standing-room-only pick-up on our way to the second community of Cerro Colorado on yet another mountain! We experienced more of the breathtaking scenery as we periodically stopped along the way to gather women from the second mountain to come along to our destination - the "town square" of the community! Although our intent was to meet in the (elementary) school building, school was still in session when we arrrived. We were graciously granted permission to meet in the nearby church.

 
The first item on the agenda was teaching Rebecca HOW to begin to construct a pine needle basket. That is a story in itself that evokes oodles of giggles from the women seeing me struggle with not enough hands and too many thumbs for this project! The leaders worked through the language barrier t0 deliver excellent instruction, good examples, and lots of encouragement. This work is FAR more challenging than you might think!

Through the marvelous translation skills of Kellan and Yacarely, we shared thumbnail sketches about ourselves, our city, our business, and our other suppliers, for not everyone had met us. Fortunately, we had brought photos and postcards of these topics and distributing those assisted in bringing a bit of understanding to the women, many of whom had only ever traveled as far as down the mountain and into El Sauce.
 

It was time to "do business" businesswoman-to-businesswoman"! No doubt this was a brand-new concept for many of them! As the importer of their products, I commended them on their excellent and consistently-detailed work in constructing their individual baskets. It thrilled me to be able to share the comments of craftspersons from the US who remark to us of their appreciation of the high-quality workmanship. We also did some collaborative problem-solving on some packaging and shipping issues. And I challenged them to create some samples of new work for us to review in anticipation of placing future orders. We concluded the business meeting by handing them our next order. It was interesting to observe the leaders in lively discussion about availability of the colored thread, as well as the assignment of different styles to the best craftsperson for that style!

The surprise for us was the heartfelt response of the leaders toward us! It was as if they had prepared speeches for the occasion. Several of these women had been part of an earlier basket "project" that failed because there was no way to market the baskets. These leaders not only recognized that the opportunity that the co-op had for them, but that KVI (as their largest customer) was an integral part of their success.

            

"When people become economically empowered, they gain political and social power. Many of the groups that we work with do more than just produce crafts; they're involved in community development, health and education. For the women we work with, the effect is even greater. As they gain employment, they become able to leave abusive situations, to seek legal assistance, to acquire education, to become independent. Their work allows them to be economically significant in the family and gives them leverage to be considered an equal."

~ Bob Chase ~ Executive Director, SERRV International