The Dharma Door

What is Fair Trade?

2010-02-25T08:32:00.009+10:00

We've noticed that there's a great deal of confusion surrounding the facts of Fair Trade. Interestingly, as awareness grows, so does misinformation. Over the coming weeks, we'll be posting some basic facts about Fair Trade:

1) The Fairtrade (one word) label, and the thorough certification process involved, currently only applies to the following Fairtrade products in Australia:

Tea
Coffee
Cocoa/chocolate
Sportsballs
Nuts
Cotton

2) Fair Trade handcrafted products including:

homewares
accessories
toys
jewellery and more

like those that you will find at The Dharma Door can not have the Fairtrade label applied to them. Currently, there is no label for handcrafted products. To give you peace of mind, some Fair Trade producer organisations are members of the World Fair Trade Organisation, which involves a stringent endorsement process to ensure they are adhering to Fair Trade standards. Other products are sourced from small organisations or individual producers and it is currently up to the importer to ensure they are upholding Fair Trade standards. As per my previous post, in Australia at the moment we are in the trial process of developing an endorsement process for Fair Trade businesses who trade in handcrafted goods. Very exciting!

More info coming next week....

Fair Traders of Australia

2010-02-02T06:55:00.007+10:00

For the past week or so, I've been studiously working away on paperwork, clearing office clutter & designing new products.

In Australia, there are currently 5 businesses undergoing trials for a new Fair Trade endorsement system called Fair Traders of Australia. The Dharma Door is one of the trial businesses and I chose to be involved because this is something very close to my heart. I am so keen to see genuine Fair Trade businesses given due recognition for their efforts in ensuring they meet Fair Trade criteria (similar to the WFTO standards). We hope that the system will be available later in 2010 for all Fair Trade businesses to apply. There was plenty of paperwork to complete however it's an exciting time for Fair Trade in Australia!

We're eagerly awaiting more stock from Tarango in Bangladesh who produce our jute baskets and bags. The jute baskets are incredibly labour and time intensive, so patience is most definately required on my behalf. It's tricky when they're in such demand from our fabulous customers.

More great news...we've just officially become a 'Development Partner' with Tarango. This means The Dharma Door will be the sole importer from Tarango in return for a guarantee of increased sales and contributing to community projects in the producer villages such as medical and educational facilities. Until next time.......X

New Year, New Beginnings

2010-01-26T14:44:00.006+10:00

Happy Australia Day & Happy New Year!

Ok, so I wasn't so good at blogging in 2009. In 2010 I vow to blog at least once a week about all things Fair Trade and fabulous. Personally, I've started the year on a positive note, having taken a 10 day holiday to New Zealand (see image). This was our first holiday in over 2 years! And I followed that with a major detox, a new exercise regime, yoga tuition and a new attitude to work. That's right - no more 15 hour days!

On Saturday, a photographer friend, Marina of Marina Ridgway Photography shot images of over 50 of our products. She did a brilliant job! We're slowly making improvements to our website and I'm sure you'll love the results.

At The Dharma Door headquarters we're busy working on new products to bring to you throughout the year. If you have any special requests, please don't hesitate to get in touch - we would love to hear your ideas. We're looking forward to our next trip to Vietnam and Cambodia in March/April and the inspirational Kohinoor (CEO @ Tarango) will be visiting from Bangladesh during Fair Trade Fortnight in May. So many things to look forward to this year!

Painting, Paper & Perspective.....

2009-04-17T23:17:00.004+10:00

Today we spent the day with Jewel (who helps his parents run the guest house where we're staying). He has established a project called 'Children Art 4 Food' to help children who live on the street and in slums just outside of Dhaka. Every Friday and Saturday he takes canvasses and paints and find an open area where he can gather the children to paint. There would have been over 100 kids! Jewel selects the children who are keen to paint and then sets them up with their canvas, paintbrush and paints. These children have never been to school and have never painted - I can't describe the joy for them as they create their vibrant masterpieces! Jewel's aim is to hold exhibitions of the artworks to raise money to build a school on land that he has leased in the slum area. I am thinking of organising an exhibition in Australia for him.

Yesterday we visited a hand-made paper project on the eastern border of Bangladesh. The process is incredibly labourious and time-consuming. They mainly use jute scraps but also cotton scraps and silk. The raw materials are chopped up with a machete or scissors, then put though a grinder, boiled for 8 hours and washed and rinsed (colour might be added here) until it forms a soft pulp. The pulp is put in a deep vat of water and collected on a screen to form the sheet of pulp. The process has several more steps of pressing out the water, sun-drying, heat-drying, finishing, cutting and printing. These women work extememely hard - thank goodness it's a Fair Trade oganisation!

Happy Bengali New Year!

2009-04-14T14:58:00.005+10:00

Today is Bengali New Year and there is much excitement among the family members of the guest house where we are staying. They are busy cooking special dishes and getting dressed into their red and white outfits. They've invited us to spend the day with them, so we're feeling very lucky - it's kind of like having Christmas in April.
We were invited to the local university for a market day with stalls and bands. Great fun to hear Bengali pop-rock fusion! Check out the picture of Mum having her hand painted with henna.

Adventures in the south.....

2009-04-14T14:34:00.005+10:00

I was on such a high after our fabulous time in the north and our experience in the south was equally rewarding! We met with the people from Tarango in their office last Thursday where I discovered many new products. I don't think I've ever met an organisation more passionate about human rights and women's empowerment. This organisation was started by a German priest in the 1970's and Kohinoor (female CEO - a rarity in Bangladesh!) and all the staff have continued his legacy with unwavering commitment. Our two days in the villages where our jute baskets are produced gave us a genuine insight into the challenges that these communities face and the benefits of Fair Trade.

Situated alongside a river and among rice paddies almost all the women in several villages produce baskets for Tarango. Some have to walk for 2 hours to collect their raw materials and to bring their finished products to the Tarango office, but they don't mind because they are earning more than they could ever dreamed of. They are earning more than their husbands, they are earning enough to educate all of their children (including girls!), they are earning enough to build new homes that withstand the annual floods better and enough to buy new clothes without permission from their husbands. These women are truly happy and it was wonderful to know that we are contributing to improving their lives! This experience was a real highlight!

Adventures in the north.....

2009-04-14T13:39:00.004+10:00

We've been so busy that I haven't had a chance to write in my blog since arriving in Bangladesh. So far our time here has been fantastic and very productive. The people who we've met have all been warm, welcoming and very caring.

After a rest day we travelled north with Sayeed, a designer from Prokritee. The train ride was lovely (and 2 hours late!) as we passed through green rural fields of rice paddies, bamboo groves and banana plantations. Each station stop was a hive of activity, with men selling whole peeled carrots and cucumber in large metal bowls on their heads. Others were selling kids toys, popcorn and nuts. We were happy that the windows of our cabin were tinted so we could people-watch without being noticed - a nice change from being "the watched" all the time.

When we arrived in the small town, we were met by Ahmed who operates two Fair Trade projects, supporting over 300 women in the region. After checking into our hotel (?) he took us to his family home fo dinner. The next morning day we drove out of town to visit Ahmed's Kaisa Grass Weaving Project. During the drive we were forced to drive over large mounds of dried rice on the road. Initially, we thought a truck had lost it's load however soon learned that we were helping the locals to crush their harvest. The bitumen road is only 1 year old, so it's proven to be blessing for them as it was a very dusty exercise previously.

When we arrived at the Kaisa Grass Weaving Project we were met by all the women sitting in the courtyard working on their latest order for Ten Thousand Villages (in the US). The women who are the trainers greeted us with beautiful flowers and enormous smiles. We learned about Kaisa Grass and the basket weaving process and spent some time with the women. Ahmed then explained the history of the project and the benefits for the women including fair wages, medical allowances, skills training (previously none of these women could weave!) and a provident (or retirement) fund.

Driving to the Crochet Project we came across a snake charmer with 4 snakes, which I filmed so I'll upload it onto You Tube soon. The Crochet Project is less than 3 years old and Ahmed has replicated the organisational structure of the weaving project to ensure the women receive the same benefits. I had several product ideas for this group so we submitted a sample request - watch this space for some very cute eco baby toys coming soon!

The next day we visited another Fair Trade organisation which specialises in sceenpinting and sewing. I was armed with some new book bag designs and they immediately kicked into action. Before we knew it, they had poduced samples of a couple of our designs on a lovely jute/cotton blend fabric. Exciting news - new book bags are the on the way. They are quite different from the original style - much more contemporary and eco-friendly. I can't wait to share them with you!

I'm off to Bangladesh this Friday!

2009-03-28T15:52:00.004+10:00

This Friday 6th April I'm off to Bangladesh to visit our producer partners and develop new products with them. This will be my first trip to Bangladesh and I can't wait to meet all of the talented artisans who handcraft our products. My last overseas trip was to India in 2007, so this is long overdue. I'll be taking my mum with me as I did the last trip - she's a great moral support and helps a lot with working on the products and communicating with artisans. Unfortunately my husband Mick will be staying at home in Brisbane with our four-legged, furry daughter Maya. He will be taking care of The Dharma Door in my absence. I look forward to sharing my experiences in Bangladesh with you over the coming weeks. X Shannon