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I Love Fair Trade Now, More than Ever

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By Denise Attwood
September 17, 2021

I love Fair Trade now more than ever. I feel so wrapped in care, in community and in visions of the possibility of how we can all live together in the world. Strange since we are also surrounded by massive uncertainty with Covid, huge political divisions, and huge income inequalities. Still, there is something about Fair Trade that helps me navigate, helps me stay on course through it all and I see it now with greater depth. It involves standing beside one another, extending our arms, helping each other up and living into a future where we can all be there for one another and thrive.

I have watched

• as Fair Trade retail businesses plummeted with Covid and their communities gathered to support them, showing them they are a treasured part of their community,
• as makers in Nepal and other countries had stability due to their long term fair trade partnerships allowing them reach out to others who were suffering and provide them with life giving support,
• as store owners supported wholesalers with understanding and increased purchases despite the uncertainties,
• as retailers, wholesalers and makers got creative and collaborative rather than small and competitive.

It hasn’t been easy, not one bit of it, but it has shown me the power of community and relationship. When we have others to stand beside us we know we can make it through and when we have a common thread to hold onto it is like a life rope and it can pull us through, the toughest of times, together.

Thank you for sharing the thread, for being a part of such a vibrant and caring community and for being part of a bigger vision for the world. Never let go of the thread.

Love to all, Denise

The Way It is
There’s a thread you follow. It goes among
things that change. But it doesn’t change.
People wonder about what you are pursuing.
You have to explain about the thread.
But it is hard for others to see.
While you hold it you can’t get lost.
Tragedies happen; people get hurt
or die; and you suffer and get old.
Nothing you do can stop time’s unfolding.
You don’t ever let go of the thread.

~ William Stafford ~”

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