Your cart is currently empty!
[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][fusion_text][/fusion_text][/fusion_builder_column][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ last=”yes” spacing=”yes” center_content=”no” hide_on_mobile=”no” background_color=”” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_position=”left top” border_position=”all” border_size=”0px” border_color=”” border_style=”” padding=”” margin_top=”” margin_bottom=”” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”” animation_speed=”0.1″ class=”” id=””][fusion_text]
Looking Backward, Moving forward
16 months have passed since Ganesh Himal Trading and The Conscious Connections Foundation were plunged headlong into humanitarian aid relief due to the devastating earthquakes that rocked Nepal and our producer partners lives. We have been engaged in a crash course in humanitarian aid this past year which has given us a chance to see both direct aid and Fair Trade in action. The lessons learned have been phenomenal. For those of you who are Fair Trade retailers or are Fair Trade consumers, we cannot tell you how much our resolve to promote fair trade was strengthened through this entire experience. We deeply believe in the validity of this work because of how we have seen our Fair Trade partners rebound. Our son, Cameron, who volunteered thousands of hours in Nepal doing earthquake relief said it best…
“Over the past year, I have spent months distributing immediate aid to the victims of the 2015 Nepal earthquake, rebuilding homes, schools, and healthcare facilities that had been destroyed, and working in refugee camps throughout Northern Greece for the thousands of people fleeing violence in the Middle East. When all said and done, we were able to accomplish amazing work, under stressful conditions, often with limited funding. Yet despite our success, this work brought home to me once again just how drastically different fair trade is from humanitarian aid, and how much more influential the former has the potential to be. My return home was filled with such a deep appreciation for the Fair Trade work done by my parents and Ganesh Himal Trading because it so perfectly demonstrates how simple fair business practices produce the end results that all aid is meant to attain, often much better than aid organizations themselves. This is what I believe the result of Fair Trade to be: a community of equals given access to a way of developing their own lives, that of their families, and in turn their communities so that those affected can live secure in the knowledge that they and their children poses fundamental human rights & economic security through the hard times. Rights which so often are not afforded to those without a voice.Development aid is a very fragile idea; how can a community develop if there is no way for ideas to be melded, relationships made, ownership cultivated, and respect enforced? All too often aid is poured into a country by governments and multinational aid organizations only to create a dependency in beneficiaries, because as soon as the emergency food is distributed and the programs begun, the next crisis must be attended to, leaving those behind to cope with their new found projects alone, and with no partners to grow alongside. My new found appreciation for fair trade revolves around its outcome of empowerment, where those involved are not beneficiaries of a program, but business partners invested in their future. Not someone in need but someone with power.”
Never have we at GHT and CCF had to rely on others so much and in all humility each community stepped fully up to the plate: our community in Nepal were some of the first to deliver aid and persevered under unbelievable adversity, our staff at GHT stepped up their commitment to their jobs and to volunteer, CCF board members spent months of volunteer time in Nepal and our community of fair trade friends and stores stood steadfast by our side. Together we have accomplished so much through this unbelievably trying time and because of you many people’s lives have been relieved of much suffering and are slowly coming back to normal. We have an amazing community and together an amazing way of helping to transform the world. Fair Trade. Never doubt that it makes a difference. We have stood together through the worst of times and come out stronger on the other side. Thank you for supporting Fair Trade from Nepal.
[/fusion_text][/fusion_builder_column][fusion_builder_column type=”1_2″ last=”no” spacing=”yes” center_content=”no” hide_on_mobile=”no” background_color=”” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_position=”left top” border_position=”all” border_size=”0px” border_color=”” border_style=”” padding=”” margin_top=”” margin_bottom=”” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”” animation_speed=”0.1″ class=”” id=””][fusion_imageframe lightbox=”no” lightbox_image=”” style_type=”none” hover_type=”none” bordercolor=”” bordersize=”0px” borderradius=”0″ stylecolor=”” align=”none” link=”” linktarget=”_self” animation_type=”0″ animation_direction=”down” animation_speed=”0.1″ hide_on_mobile=”no” class=”” id=””] 
[/fusion_imageframe][/fusion_builder_column][fusion_builder_column type=”2_5″ last=”yes” spacing=”yes” center_content=”no” hide_on_mobile=”no” background_color=”” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_position=”left top” border_position=”all” border_size=”0px” border_color=”” border_style=”” padding=”” margin_top=”” margin_bottom=”” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”” animation_speed=”0.1″ class=”” id=””][fusion_text][vfb id=’10’][/fusion_text][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]