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By Voice staff
Catholic Relief Services is among the social justice
organizations encouraging the purchase of Fair Trade chocolate eggs and
other gifts for Easter. Fair Trade products support the dignity and right
to self-determination by ensuring that artisans, farmers and workers around
the world earn a fair and stable price for their goods and labor.
Some Fair Trade products such as coffee and tea are available in the East
Bay, but many other products can be purchased on the web.
Goods labeled as Fair Trade often come from cooperatives. For example,
the cocoa beans from the Kuapa Kokoo co-op in Ghana (West Africa) are
used to make Fair Trade chocolate eggs sold under the Divine Chocolate
brand. Kuapa cocoa growers receive above-market Fair Trade premiums for
their cocoa beans and some of these profits are used to fund community
development projects such as wells for clean-water systems and schools.
The co-op was established in 1993 and today represents some 45,000 cocoa
farmers.
Soapstone rabbits produced by the Nyabigna Carvers Cooperative in western
Kenya are another Fair Trade product available for Easter. The papier-mâché
rabbit boxes are made in India by artisans of the ASHA Handicraft Association.
ASHA, which means “hope” in Sanskrit, was started in 1975
by a group of Christian businessmen.
Fair Trade product and sale information is available at: http://www.crsfairtrade.org
and http://www.agreatergift.org/Gifts/Easter.aspx
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