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Artisan Earthquake Relief Fund Update: Kirtipur Weaving Group Workshop is Complete!
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Artisan Earthquake Relief Fund Update: Kirtipur Weaving Group Workshop is Complete!
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CCF is pleased to share the news that thanks to our generous donors like you, the Kirtipur Weaving Group’s earthquake resilient workshop has been built and is soon to be filled with looms, weavers and activity. The weavers of Kirtipur, near Kathmandu, had their looms in their homes before the April and May 2015 earthquakes but most of their homes were destroyed making it impossible to produce any weavings or earn needed income. CCF initially assisted them in rebuilding their homes then waited as they decided how they wanted to proceed in the future. After securing their homes and recovering a bit from the trauma of the earthquake the group determined that they wanted to have a weaving workshop where they could come together to weave.Sudha Maharjan(photo), with a masters in social work, now leads the group. Her mother Laxmi was the initial founder. Sudha remembers her mother saying to her daughters, “Wake up early and help me to weave if you want to get delicious lunch and pay your school fees”. So Sudha and her sister used to wake up at 4 am to weave before heading to school. Gradually, they started to try new techniques and affiliated themselves with a Fair Trade buyer. “We had nothing, but now we have our own homes, live a decent life by fulfilling all our wishes and provide employment opportunities to other weavers to uplift their living standard is a dream come true” adds Sudha.In the Kirtipur Weaving Group, there are 10 weavers and 10 women who warp the looms. They are very excited about their new workshop which is more spacious and has better lighting and airflow. The nearby toilet and store room are added benefits. The weavers look forward beginning to weave together in their new space after the October Dashain festival and in the future they hope to train new, younger weavers and hold workshops in this community space.[/fusion_text][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]
Rebel with a Cause
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Rebel WITH a Cause
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“I believe you are all rebels in your own way, creating and dreaming into reality places where the conversation of how our consumption affects others lives is welcomed.”
Ever thought of your self as a rebel, your business as rebellious? If you’re working with Ganesh Himal Save or in Fair Trade you should be thinking of yourself that way! We aren’t the unconstructive troublemakers so often associated with the term rebel, but instead, as Harvard Business Professor Francesca Gino says we are “the people who break the rules that should be broken,” “[the people] that break the rules that hold us and others back”. We’re engaged in rule breaking that creates positive change, we’re the ones looking to change the paradigm? So glad you’re along for the ride!
For 35 years we at Ganesh Himal have had one guiding question, “who says”; Who says business has to be a certain way? Who says you can’t build a business based on relationships and on trust? Who says women can’t be capable, competent business owners? Who says you can’t treat everyone fairly? Who says business has to be based on competition verses cooperation. Who says we can’t have each other as allies? Who says you have to grow to be viable? Who says you can’t sell things that last for 20 years? Who says trade is merely for profit? Who says fast fashion is the only way to keep businesses thriving? The questions we ask ourselves every day are what drive us forward into the world we want to live in.
I believe you are all rebels in your own way, creating and dreaming into reality places where the conversation of how our consumption affects others lives is welcomed. I think you are broadening how people think, educating them about our lifestyle impacts and offering alternatives that bring about positive change. I think you are working together to collaborate and help each other, the producers and the planet thrive and I think you are asking the tough questions about what is enough, how businesses can support each other and how we can find solutions that are win-win.
So, thanks for being rebels, for being rule breakers and for asking the questions that others won’t and being willing to ask more. The more we realize that we are in this to create a different model, a different reality, a bigger perspective, the more we will be inclined to break the rules. Let’s be the rule breakers we are meant to be and think bigger than the past tiny mindset of business we’ve been handed as a model. Let’s look for different ways to be in the world and see if those based on the true rules of compassion, collaboration, trust and kindness might actually work. At Ganesh Himal we’ve found, hands down, they do and we have 35 years of experience demonstrating just that. We have a lot of street cred to say this kind of business is possible.
Join with us in asking the questions and perhaps together we can find the big beautiful world of trade we know can happen, where everyone is a winner and no one is left behind. We think it’s possible, do you?
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Interview: Chris Solt
Chris Solt is the Executive Director of The Fair Trade Federation and he took some time to talk with us!
How did you get involved in Fair Trade?After I finished my Social Science degree at Cleveland State, and while I was looking for research positions, I took a part time job at a Ten Thousand Villages store which was located near downtown Cleveland. I had worked for Borders in the 1990’s, and knew retail well, but swore I’d never do it again. Once I learned about fair trade, I was shown a path that utilized my experience, skills and for a mission that aligned with my values as a human on the planet Earth. Essentially, I drank the kool aid and never looked back. Ten months later, I was recruited by the Ten Thousand Villages home office as the Regional Sales Manager for the Northeast of the US.What do you like best about your job as the Director of the Fair Trade Federation?
I really feel blessed to not only meet and learn from, but to establish relationships with the most amazing people, doing extraordinarily valuable and complex work, against seemingly insurmountable odds. Changing the world may sound like a cliché to some, but in the FTF community it is real. Changing the world is a vocation with real outcomes and impact that connects us all, no matter where on the Earth we are.What do retailers like most about being members of the Fair Trade Federation?
Being part of community with like-minded retailers, and having a formal connection to the fair trade movement. Both of these help develop one’s business, and provide legitimacy in a marketplace full of false claims and misleading marking jargon. To be an FTF retailer is a deep commitment, not only to fair trade principles and values, but a commitment to your customers that ensures that everything sold does not come at the cost of someone else’s dignity, health, or environment.“As a fair trade retailer I would not have the confidence to tell my customers that the artisans that make the products we sell are paid a fair wage if not for the Fair Trade Federation’s arduous screening process.”~ Martha Ehlman, Tenfold Fair Trade Collection“It is a wonderful community of people and when I consider the collective impact we have it is inspiring.”~ Sam Carpenter, Global GiftsIn what other ways to retailers benefit with a FTF membership?
There are many, and some are valued more by others, depending on their level of experience, skills, and business development. Some benefits include our mentor programs (both individual and small group) where best practices, tips & tricks, vendor/product recommendations, are shared, as well as real store/business problems and challenges are crowd sourced and solved. We also facilitate in-person retailer education events at our conference and trade shows, and even held a three-day-long retailer retreat last fall. We also publish a Stores and Cafés Guide, which drives traffic to our member stores and cafés. But more importantly, I’ll let a few of our members answer this question:“I would encourage members to attend FTF events whenever possible. Our store has benefited greatly from the sharing of ideas and best practices at FTF events.”~ Robert Hazen, One World Goods“I started my business a little over two years ago with no retail experience, and no resources other than a passion for doing something good. I became a member of FTF six months after my store opened, and the changes I have seen in my business and myself have been night and day. Not only do I manage my business with much more strategic and sound practices thanks to what I have learned from FTF, I also see where I fit within the Fair Trade movement as a whole.”~ Lindsey Woodruff, Pachamama Market“Becoming a member of the Fair Trade Federation was the single best decision we made for our business last year. We’ve found so much value in having a supportive community of ethical business owners, access to thought-leaders in the field, and our customer base has easily tripled. We haven’t been to the conference yet, but we’re sure it will exceed all expectations, too!”~ Joy McBrien, Fair AnitaWhy is it important to have an organized Fair Trade movement?
Because no one owns the term “fair trade” it is incredibly important for those who express their values in the marketplace, whether as a retailer, wholesaler, customer, or advocate, that they take responsibility for being a fair trader (in particular) by being formally part of an organization that connects transparency, authenticity, and legitimacy to the words used to describe their values. Otherwise the term “fair trade” is just that. Words.“Ganesh Himal Trading has always considered itself to be a business that plants seeds and nurtures them, as they need, to grow in the manner that makes them strong and independent. We are not focused on “growth” per se, instead we are focused on being keenly aware of how together we and our partners are thriving. The FTF allows us to connect with both our producer partners and our retail partners to strengthen this awareness and the relationships that have been nurtured through all of our time with FTF have truly allowed us to thrive together. Thanks for what you do!”~ Denise Attwood, Ganesh Himal Trading LLCJoin Chris Solt, Executive Director of The Fair Trade Federation, for a live Q & A
about Fair Trade retailers & the larger Fair Trade movement in our Retail Support Group on Facebook @ 2 pm – 3 pm EST. Join the event here.[/fusion_text][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]
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Together, We Are Stronger: The Fair Trade Federation Conference, 2018
34 years ago, my husband and I embarked on a vision that trade could really fundamentally change people’s lives if it was done with integrity, partnership and fairness. At that time there was no Fair Trade movement and we travelled selling our goods and talking to people about creating a different trading model. We called it Alternative Trade. People looked at us as if we were from Mars and to be honest it was pretty lonely out there!
Fast-forward to March 2018, Denver Colorado, and the 360 degree Fair Trade Conference! What a difference 34 years makes. In March, Ganesh Himal Trading joined with 250 like-minded individuals and businesses at the FTF conference and re-dedicated ourselves to deepening our understanding of Fair Trade, to networking and supporting each other and to looking at the future of this amazing movement. The energy and inspiration was magical.
Now, in 2018, because people have joined together to create a common voice, we have a Fair Trade movement and a growing interest worldwide in Fair Trade. We are no longer the small single voices trying to change an unjust system of trade but a powerful group of combined voices and we are being heard!
As of 2018, according to FTF Executive Director, Chris Solt, FTF has:
- 249 members (235 in 40 states and 14 in 4 provinces in Canada),
- 50% who are wholesalers and 42% who are retailers and cafes.
The goal ahead is to continue to grow, educate and inspire others about a just economy so that we can make our collective Fair Trade voice more widely heard.
Today, unlike in 1984, I stand with the other 249 members of the Fair Trade Federation and know that I am not alone, that I am not a single voice in the wilderness. I feel empowered and part of a community bent on raising the bar and creating a just world. I see those around me who support & understand the value of transforming trade and I feel more confident that the small vision that we had so long ago can and is becoming our reality.
This month’s column is my plea to those of you who have not officially joined the FTF movement. We need you more than ever now. Together we are stronger and our voice will be louder. For that reason Ganesh Himal Trading is hosting a Q & A answer session with FTF ED Chris Solt. (see article below) If you have questions or concerns, now is your time to ask him directly.
For those of you who are not members of FTF, I urge you to take the plunge. I know it takes time and resources but the community, the dialogue, being a part of the movement is worth it one thousand times over. Ganesh Himal has been a member of FTF since its founding in 1994 and honestly if people had not banded together to form FTF Ric and I would still be just a single voice in eastern Washington looking into the confused eyes of those trying to understand our vision. Luckily that is not the case and now we have a movement to hold us up and an amazing organization in FTF to help us transform the world. Join us!
Namaste,
Denise
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Namaste!
The last shipment of the year has arrived and we are fully stocked and ready for your orders.
The season is upon us, and we have been thinking about how we can best support you and all of our retailers, to help make this holiday season a success. We understand the next few months will be busy and fast paced, and so we came up with a few time savers and support systems for you that we hope will lighten your load.
Best of luck this season!
Denise, Ric, Michele, Austin, Eileen & Sarah
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“SWEET SPOT” BEST SELLER CATALOG.
We conducted an informal survey of our customers to find out that “sweet-spot” price point that sells best for them. We then combined our results with our best selling holiday gift items, and came up with the 2017 Best Sellers $15 WS and Under Catalog. Keep this at your fingertips this season for those quick fill in orders![/fusion_text][/fusion_builder_column][fusion_builder_column type=”1_6″ layout=”1_4″ spacing=”” center_content=”no” hover_type=”none” link=”” min_height=”” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” class=”” id=”” background_color=”” background_image=”” background_position=”left top” background_repeat=”no-repeat” border_size=”0″ border_color=”” border_style=”solid” border_position=”all” padding=”” dimension_margin=”” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”left” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_offset=”” last=”no” element_content=””][/fusion_builder_column][fusion_builder_column type=”2_5″ layout=”1_2″ spacing=”” center_content=”no” hover_type=”none” link=”” min_height=”” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” class=”” id=”” background_color=”” background_image=”” background_position=”left top” background_repeat=”no-repeat” border_size=”0″ border_color=”” border_style=”solid” border_position=”all” padding=”” dimension_margin=”” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”left” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_offset=”” last=”no”][fusion_text]
ONE STOP BUNDLE SHOPPING.
People love shopping by Bundles because it saves time. Instead of plowing through our over 1,000 products, let us choose a selection of our best selling products for you, according to category and price. This is a great way to try new and different styles, and makes it easy to order during this busy season. You choose the quantity and we will provide a beautiful assortment of styles, sizes and colors.[/fusion_text][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container][fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”no” equal_height_columns=”no” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” background_position=”center center” background_repeat=”no-repeat” fade=”no” background_parallax=”none” enable_mobile=”no” parallax_speed=”0.3″ video_aspect_ratio=”16:9″ video_loop=”yes” video_mute=”yes” overlay_opacity=”0.5″ border_style=”solid” padding_top=”20px” padding_bottom=”20px”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”2_5″ layout=”1_2″ spacing=”” center_content=”no” hover_type=”none” link=”” min_height=”” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” class=”” id=”” background_color=”” background_image=”” background_position=”left top” background_repeat=”no-repeat” border_size=”0″ border_color=”” border_style=”solid” border_position=”all” padding=”” dimension_margin=”” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”left” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_offset=”” last=”no”][fusion_text]
UPDATED CATALOG SHOWING AVAILABILITY.
During the busy season, you want to know what’s not in stock so that you can buy the items that *are* in stock. This year we are committed to keeping our Knits and Best Sellers up to date as best as we can. Ganesh Himal Trading will not be receiving any more shipments from Nepal this year. Items “available for backorder” will be arriving in January of 2018.[/fusion_text][/fusion_builder_column][fusion_builder_column type=”1_6″ layout=”1_4″ spacing=”” center_content=”no” hover_type=”none” link=”” min_height=”” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” class=”” id=”” background_color=”” background_image=”” background_position=”left top” background_repeat=”no-repeat” border_size=”0″ border_color=”” border_style=”solid” border_position=”all” padding=”” dimension_margin=”” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”left” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_offset=”” last=”no” element_content=””][/fusion_builder_column][fusion_builder_column type=”2_5″ layout=”1_2″ spacing=”” center_content=”no” hover_type=”none” link=”” min_height=”” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” class=”” id=”” background_color=”” background_image=”” background_position=”left top” background_repeat=”no-repeat” border_size=”0″ border_color=”” border_style=”solid” border_position=”all” padding=”” dimension_margin=”” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”left” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_offset=”” last=”no”][fusion_text]
LOVE.
Let’s get real: it’s easy to be irritable and grumpy this time of the year. We get it. So we hope that you know that you can pick up the phone anytime between 9 and 5 pm PST (M-F) @ 509.448.6561 and we will be on the other end ready to answer your questions and offer to you our love and support. Also, if you need some peer support, find solace with other Ganesh Himal Trading Fair Trade Retailers and join our Facebook Support Group. This is your Tribe & this group is the key to your sanity, as well as having some great tips for your business from people who understand it the best. (Ganesh co-owner Denise Attwood with New Traditions co-owner, Jodi Mackey)[/fusion_text][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container][fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”no” equal_height_columns=”no” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” background_position=”center center” background_repeat=”no-repeat” fade=”no” background_parallax=”none” enable_mobile=”no” parallax_speed=”0.3″ video_aspect_ratio=”16:9″ video_loop=”yes” video_mute=”yes” overlay_opacity=”0.5″ border_style=”solid” padding_top=”20px” padding_bottom=”20px”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ layout=”1_1″ spacing=”” center_content=”no” hover_type=”none” link=”” min_height=”” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” class=”” id=”” background_color=”” background_image=”” background_position=”left top” background_repeat=”no-repeat” border_size=”0″ border_color=”” border_style=”solid” border_position=”all” padding=”” dimension_margin=”” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”left” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_offset=”” last=”no”][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]
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HOT SELLER CATALOG 2017
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See our other Best Sellers that are well stocked here>
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In the News
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Law school grad stays connected to the people of Nepal from her Spokane home
BY ELI FRANCOVICHfrom The University of Washington Alum School MagazineJUNE 2017It was 3:30 in the morning on April 25, 2015 when Denise Attwood’s phone rang. She was sound asleep in her Spokane home. Jarred awake, she learned that Nepal, one of the world’s poorest and least developed countries, had been devastated by a 7.8 magnitude earthquake.
More than 8,000 people were killed and another 20,000 injured. A medical clinic that Attwood, ’88, had helped build was leveled by an avalanche of mud and boulders loosened from the world’s steepest mountain range. The quake was so powerful it lifted Kathmandu, the country’s capital city, three feet. Sitting in her darkened bedroom 7,000 miles away, Attwood was stunned. Then she got busy. After all, it was her desire to help the world’s most vulnerable people that led her to apply to the UW School of Law in the first place three decades ago.Attwood, who filled out her law school application while on a boat between Hong Kong and Shanghai, had altruistic intentions. But she had no idea what she was in for after graduation. She recalls an incident when she worked for the Legal Action Center in Seattle. One of her clients, recently released from a mental institution, had run up enormous credit card debt. The woman was “totally delusional” and shouldn’t have been living alone, Attwood recalls. “People would come in with these gaping wounds, and I didn’t even have a full-size Band-Aid,” she says. “I just had a little tiny one.”
At the same time, other forces began pushing Attwood toward Nepal.
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Throwing their Hearts into Business
BY FRANCES BADGETTfrom Western Washington University Magazine
JULY 2017
Denise Attwood (’83) and Ric Conner (’85) were on a trek in Nepal 30 years ago when they bought two sweaters that changed their lives: The family who made them, Tibetan refugees, asked Attwood and Conner to help them sell sweaters in the U.S.“Ric is a great entrepreneur and I’m a social justice nut,” says Attwood, who met Conner at a Huxley College potluck. Those two sweaters opened up a whole world of talented, hard-working craftspeople in one of the poorest regions in the world.
A few thousand sweaters later, they started Ganesh Himal Trading, LLC, to sell goods from Nepal in stores across the U.S. and Canada. Ganesh Himal Trading has since expanded into paper goods, baskets and other products.
Respect for people and the planet
When Attwood and Conner started, very few people were versed in the practice of fair trade, which encompasses respect for the environment, long-term relationships and livable wages for the producers, and financial support of the region. Today, Ganesh Himal Trading employs hundreds of Nepali and Tibetan craft producers.
“It’s only been 30 years and look at how conscious consumers are today,” Attwood says. “And it makes a huge difference. We see the change in the producers’ lives. We’ve seen families send their daughters to get masters degrees.”
Building Ganesh Himal offered another opportunity to Attwood and Conner to make a difference—the Baseri Health Clinic. On their first trek to Nepal, Attwood and Conner had met a 14-year-old girl, Sita Gurung. Eight years later in the Bangkok airport, the couple reunited with Gurung in a chance encounter.
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[/fusion_text][fusion_text]Moisturizing Fair Trade “Silk Soap”
Sericulture (the production of silk and the rearing of silkworms) was introduced into Nepal in the 1990’s by development aid groups to try to create income generating opportunities for rural Nepali women. Unfortunately, the women were taught how to grow the mulberry bushes and the silkworms but little was done to develop products from the silk produced, so the income generation was minimal.
Ganesh Himal’s trading partner, Nepal Silk, was started by Mohinee Maharjan in order to create sellable products that would provide income and employment for ruralwomen from the silk they produced. Working alongside the silk farmers in Nuwakot, Mohinee trained women in silk weaving, crocheting & soap making. Now women are engaged in the entire economic process from growing the mulberry, to raising the silkworms to creating the final products.
Ganesh Himal Trading has partnered with Nepal silk to create a wonderful handcrafted silk soap made using the traditional cold process method. The cold process does not use external heat so the goodness of the natural ingredients is preserved. Our soaps combine moisturizing coconut oil, natural antioxidant sunflower oil, soybean oil, rich nutrient conditioning olive oil and cold pressed castor seed oil to produce a luxurious lather that cleans your skin naturally. We do not use palm oil. Silk protein, a natural moisturizer, is extracted from the silk cocoon and along with the other natural herbal ingredients helps to keep skin soft, smooth and bright while providing a valuable income-producing product for rural Nepalese women. To compliment the soaps we also sell beautiful crocheted and woven silk scrubbers that help to exfoliate and keep skin healthy.
Ganesh Himal Trading will continue to work with Nepal Silk to create other income producing products for the silk producers in years to come.
For customers, read more stories about our artisans and handcrafts here!
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[/fusion_text][/fusion_builder_column][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]Today I need to write to our Fair Trade community. To express my belief that we have much to share in this time and we are well poised to do so. In fact, in our fair trade work we have been practicing for these times and learning how to love and care for those around us in the world.
I have never believed that Fair Trade is just another way to do business and to make money. I have always believed it is a way to actively participate in bringing into form a new way of being in the world. A way to experiment and practice, if you will, a different kind of economy. A way to experience, in a community, what it is like to trust one another again, to believe in one another, to work on behalf of each other and to promote a vision where we are all are treated as equals, regardless of gender, education, location, color or religion. All of us have been hard at work trying to re-member these things as we bring them into the re-creation of the marketplace. We have been practicing.
Fair Trade brings people of difference together, helping to build community and understanding. It is a re-creation of how we engage with one another in the most ancient of iterations, that of trade. That is our vision and it is coalescing. But at this moment in the story we are asked to take that vision more boldly into the world. To expand it, test it further, make it available to all. To walk together, support each other and create the world we all know is possible. The divisions are there, much work is yet to be done but we have been practicing
and we are not alone…
As Clarissa Pinkola Estes so eloquently put it in a recent writing,
“I grew up on the Great Lakes and recognize a seaworthy vessel when I see one. Regarding awakened souls, there have never been more able vessels in the waters than there are right now across the world. And they are fully provisioned and able to signal one another as never before in the history of humankind.
Look out over the prow; there are millions of boats of righteous souls on the waters with you. Even though your veneers may shiver from every wave in this stormy roil, I assure you that the long timbers composing your prow and rudder come from a greater forest. That long-grained lumber is known to withstand storms, to hold together, to hold its own, and to advance, regardless.”
We must now ask the questions that for so long have lain hidden.
Can we firmly hold to our intentions in developing the Fair Trade model of justice and equality for those who have been denied access to the table for too long?
Who is our community and how broadly can our arms reach to include others?
How can we truly celebrate the sacredness of difference? How can we trust each other more?
How can we support each other in times of uncertainty?
How can we address each other’s fears without making our world small?
How can we walk in bigger shoes?
We have been practicing….
I would suggest we are ready for this task as a Fair Trade community and ready to step forward into a new world. We can look back at the old and be grateful for the gifts that it has given but we are now tasked to venture forward to embrace and live a new way of being. No one knows what this world will look like but we do know what our present world looks like and where we must not go. We have been practicing, we are ready, there is no other way and we must walk boldly beside each other on this path, holding each other up when we fall, trusting that we will be there for each other, knowing we will make mistakes, expanding the conversation and believing in what we all know is possible.
Namaste,
Denise & all at Ganesh Himal Trading
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