Weaving opportunities #FairTradeStories

It was 2014, and there I was, sitting at my desk in Tandil, in front of my computer with Google search open and my mate ready to be poured. I had just returned from my first year working in India. I knew my stay in Tandil was temporary, but I still wasn't sure what my next step would be. The only thing I had decided was that I wanted to learn everything I could about Social Enterprises. There was something about the concept that really caught my attention, and this time I wanted to immerse myself in the world.

I love studying, so I started looking for training programs, postgraduate degrees, and courses on Social Enterprises around the world. From everything I found, I selected two to start with: an intensive summer program on Inclusive Business and Social Enterprises from HEC Paris, the Yunus Centre, and Danone (to which I applied for a scholarship, which is a whole other chapter in itself), and a free online course on Social Enterprises from the University of Copenhagen on Coursera.

I started the online course and joined an optional initiative to create a group project with other classmates. Those of us who were taking the course simultaneously connected and formed groups. My group included people from Brazil, the United States, Peru, Argentina, Chile, Portugal, Australia, and Colombia, most of them working on incredibly interesting projects. But of all of them, one really caught my attention: Collective Talent , a project by Paula Restrepo, a Colombian social entrepreneur who sought to enhance the talent of Wayuu women in La Guajira, Colombia, highlighting their work, producing and selling according to Fair Trade principles.

A few months after that virtual work experience, I had the opportunity to travel to Colombia and meet Paula. She was the first person to speak to me about Fair Trade. A determined, strong, and loving woman, she welcomed me into her home in the midst of moving from Bogotá to La Guajira to work side by side with the communities. When she spoke about her work, a deep passion emanated from her eyes. Her conviction and commitment to the weavers had made her a leader willing to break conventions and raise the voices of those who are sometimes ignored. In Colombia, as in Argentina and many other countries rooted in Indigenous communities, there are thousands of people living in rural areas whose rights have been violated, their territories are in conflict, and access to basic services is almost nonexistent.

The idiosyncrasies of rural communities are different from those of urban communities. Each region has its own customs, culture, dialect, and social norms, and in many cases, the transmission of knowledge is passed down from generation to generation. Weaving is an ancient practice shared by many indigenous communities in different countries around the world. In many places, weaving is a group activity, connecting women in groups, allowing them to develop their creativity and tell their stories.

There are textiles that take two or three months to make and end up being sold on a towel on the floor, at a rock-bottom price, on some tourist street in the nearest town. At best, they're at the price the artisans set, but they're exposed to being bargained down to by tourists who don't dare negotiate the price of their all-inclusive hotel room, but who will bargain down to the last cent at an informal fair, while on vacation.

The big difference between swiping your card in the hotel lobby and buying a craft at a fair is that everyone behind that hotel probably has a decent place to live, clean water, food every day, and a good education for their families. The artisan at the fair is perhaps the representative of 10 or 20 weavers who often don't have access to education for their families, clean water, electricity, or a home in which to thrive. They make a living selling their products, which often earn them pennies, but which are often worth much more. What these artisans may not know is that if their products were displayed with a "brand-name" label in a luxurious window, their prospects would change drastically.

Fair Trade is a concrete tool for saying, "This is what it's worth." It defends the work of artisans, offers quality products, and teaches us to appreciate the true value of what we pay for, so we can be more conscious consumers. But it's not all about money; "paying a fair price" is just one of the principles promoted by this tool, or one could say, its philosophy of life.

Paula showed me the tip of the Fair Trade iceberg, and for me, those two words became a one-way street.

What else do you think Fair Trade achieves?