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Vol. 38, No. 18 |
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3-4-2008 Giving fair trade more than just a fair shake
She has a full-time job as the Arts Scholars program coordinator at Ohio State, which keeps her busy administering interdisciplinary classes and workshops. She is only months away from completing a doctoral program in art history. And she is the driving force behind Global Gallery, a cluster of four unique little bazaars (located at Easton, the Short North, German Village and Yellow Springs) that are dedicated to the promotion of fair trade and cultural enrichment for the greater Columbus community. Her efforts were recently recognized by Ohio Magazine, which named the Short North location the “Best Business with a Cause.” Even though fair trade is one of De Jong’s great passions, she is keenly aware that she’s among a very small minority.  “At this point, only 1 percent of the American population even knows what fair trade is,” she said as she waited for a group of undergraduate students from OSU who were coming to touch, see and taste for themselves what the fuss is about. According to Outreach International, fair trade is simply a way of doing business that promotes equal, sustainable relationships between consumers and producers. It includes paying fair wages in local communities, engaging in environmentally sustainable practices and promoting healthy working conditions. “Fair trade, for me, is all about providing markets for people in poverty and trying to do business in the most ethical way we can,” De Jong said. “It’s not just about how much the artisan is paid for his or her work, though of course that’s very important, but it’s about the holistic situation in which they live and how we, as people who live in privilege, can improve that.” Typically the emphasis is on goods — primarily handicrafts and specialty food items like coffee or wine — produced in developing nations that are then shipped to developed nations. “There are people living in poverty all over the world, but there are certainly people in our neighborhoods living in poverty as well and people who for one reason or another don’t have access to a market,” De Jong said. As examples, two home-grown companies Global Gallery supports are Higher Grounds and Grounds for Change, both small independent coffee roasters who use fair trade coffee and actively participate in non-profit and/or community service programs. In addition to prominent displays of fair trade coffee, the German Village location of Global Gallery has an eclectic assortment of items for sale, from glass-beaded Guatemalan jewelry to downy Bolivian alpaca gloves and neem soap from India — an estimated 2,000 products from 40 countries. At many displays, placards provide information about the country of origin and the process of creation. Volunteers are trained to do more than sell, but also to educate would-be customers about fair trade and the story behind each product. De Jong knows those stories better than anyone. She challenged the visiting students to find an object in the store that intrigued them and then to hold it up for her and the class to admire. There was not one she did not recognize. “A Bolivian doll, how fabulous,” she said to one young man who held up a squatty, jovial doll in brightly colored clothes. “It’s the representation of a country woman, and her skirt is made from a very traditional Bolivian weaving process.” Another student held up a darkly carved block that could have been a monkey or a gorilla. “Gorilla,” De Jong said. “From Rwanda. They’re as much about peace building as they are about craft development because we use them as a fun, innovative way to draw people’s attention to what’s going on in that country.” In many ways, the story behind the items is more important than the items themselves. Of course the store needs to make money to cover expenses, but an equally important mission for the non-profit enterprise is to help every customer explore the concept of free trade and why it’s important; to learn about the artisans, their process and the cultural tradition surrounding it, De Jong said. “I can talk about fair trade all day long,” De Jong said. “If people knew the difference it makes in other peoples’ lives, they would purchase more of it and we would be able to support more artisans and do more community development projects.”
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