Growing With Fair Trade

Time sure flies when you're having fun, they say! Hello again and welcome back. At this point in my journey I am excited about January 2007. There is so much happening and so much to learn about our world. Fair Trade is moving and growing on Long Island and today I was able to connect with another fair trade company not far from us. The Groovy Mind is the name of their company and they are an online store. They are very excited about their organic coffees and teas and most likely in the coming year I will be selling some of them on our shelves in our fair trade store in Hampton Bays. We shared about our business experiences and how lonely, at times, we feel. I shared with her that a strong fair trade coalition will help us all and she agreed. So I look forward to meeting them in January for a "greeting meeting!" Also, I am being blessed by a man who is at the center of many resources for our work. He works at Stony Brook University and is full of contact people that could help generate much good here on Long Island. I have already contacted some of these people that he referred to me.


The documentary, "Black Gold" about the coffee farmers in Ethiopia is being shown in January near us and I have already reserved four tickets for us to go and see and learn about that issue in fair trade. Also, there is another documentary to be shown in early February called "Lives For Sale" done by the Maryknoll Missionaries about human trafficking which also fits well into our work. So I am excited that good things are being done for people all around the world. Another thing I learned was that in NYC there is a fair trade cafe called "Paradise Cafe" down on 8th Avenue and 17th Street. Our little band of fair trading volunteers will go into NYC in January to the International Gift Show and guess where we'll have lunch? You're right, Paradise Cafe! So with all that is going on in fair trade in the coming month, who wouldn't be excited? Go to www.oxfamamerica.org and click on the Ethiopia article on the lower right hand corner and watch the video about the Starbucks campaign which occurred on December 16th. It was very good and many people learned about the needs of the Ethiopian coffee farmers and why they only receive three cents for each cup of coffee that is sold. Who gets the other $2.90 or more per cup at Starbucks? It is a good time to learn about fair trade. Check out some of my web links here on the blog and keep your eyes open for all that is happening!

Hope Is Born!

It's been a while since I sent a blog! Life just gets so busy at times. Right now I am in the middle of getting some fundraising prepared for November for our orphans in Kenya and Zambia. Since I last wrote, I visited a friend in Rochester, New York, who was sick. He has been instrumental in helping us get our work started in Kenya and I am very grateful to him. Tonight I wanted to speak about how hard it can be at times to keep a community of love going, focused and healthy. People in our world today are not too interested in creating communities like they did in the 60's and 70's. Back then they gathered for music, drugging, revolution and just anything they felt was interesting to them. Today people seem to be isolated from others - neighbors don't come out of their homes as often and families are all split up across our country due to economic or weather-related conditions. It is sad. Community can be a great way of "feeling human" and learning about life. Seeing things through other peoples' eyes is a gift. Our community meets about twice a month for a soup and bread dinner at 7 p.m. on a Friday night, followed by silence together in a chapel (or wherever) and then back for coffee/tea afterwards. It ends about 9:30 p.m. We have been gathering like this since 1998 and we intend on continuing. It gives us a chance to see one another, talk about what's new in our lives, our hopes our failures, etc. All of us are not necessarily what you would call "best friends" as we are all so different, but we all have one thing in common: love for one another and respect for each other's lives. When we are together we are very comfortable just being together. No one in our group seems to want to "control" the group - everyone is happy just to allow whoever feels like leading it to lead it. Someone always prepares something unique for the prayer time. This month I did something a little out of the ordinary. I gathered all kinds of things on our property that looked interesting in the Fall season and asked each person to take one and reflect on it. Each person had a beautiful thing to share about their particular item and it showed us how people see things so differently. Communities don't always love one another - some do, but some are just groups to do things like go to Atlantic City and gamble, visit museums, bake, quilt, etc. There are so many reasons to gather. We gather to deepen our relationship with God and with each other. It just happens. Life is moving so fast that these times are very special for us - it gives us a chance to breathe, look at things more reflectively, listen to the silence of our own hearts beating, and enjoy the quiet of life. I hope you find some time to sit and look at life happening ... it doesn't take any real brain work ... just an open heart. So many things change when we do this for ourself. Life slows down a bit ... we enjoy it more fully ... and we look forward to things. Hope is born!

A Community Of Love

Today was spent visiting with all the Sobornost For The World Foundation members. It was great to hear all about our one member's recent visit to Kenya in August and to see the video footage. Most of us may never see Africa in person, so this was a very special event. The people of Kenya look so happy despite their meager resources and the children we sponsor in schools and feed are all looking healthy, happy and safe. Much of this is due to the support of many people on Long Island and the kind donations of Catholic parishioners who have heard of our work. What I noticed today is the level of loving commitment the people of our Foundation have to, not only care for the poor of the world, but one another as well. We are all so joyful when we are together ... it is a great "sobrania" as the Russians would say. All of us share the common goal of living the gospel with our lives, to the extent that each person can in his or her life. Some are married, some are single, one is a priest, some are widows, but at the end of the day we are all one in Christ. What I think I am learning by being with this group of people is that God is so loving to us, committed to helping us in our lives, and patient with our growth on the journey. No one person has it all - but together we are all a strong body of people who witness with perserverance, love and faith. We are never sure where the next dollar will come from to help more orphans, but it always arrives just in time. Last year one of our members returned from Africa with the comment that if we were to build a secondary school in Kenya and God wanted it to be built, then the money would come. We asked her how much it would cost and she said around $30,000 US dollars. Most of us just gasped in shock! Where would our little organization find that kind of money, we wondered. But, as usual, God does His mightiest work for the poor and in just two donations to our organization, exactly $30,000 was given to us through our friend, the priest in our group! Can you imagine that? It wasn't $10,000 or $15,000, it was $30,000! I am sure that it is what He wants for them. I am learning that it is not important to worry about the details when helping the poor. You just step out there and do something for them and then the doors fling wide open! Without that first step, and sometimes even with a little seed money from our own pockets, amazing things can happen for others. It is an exciting life living with these wonderful people. Each of them gives much of themselves and walks the journey of faith. If one of us is a little weaker in faith, another one gives a boost of faith.

Rocks and Swimming Pools

Welcome back. Again I bring up the topic of child labor because it is so prevalent in our times. All across the world we are hearing of more and more children caught up in hard labor, long hours, lack of food, medicine and sleep and no one to fight for them. I just can't let it rest. This weekend our organization had the opportunity to share our work and to raise, not only awareness of the needs of other countries, but much-needed funds. Forgive me for being so negative, but I was somewhat shocked by the lack of compassion, charity and interest in our work in Africa with the orphans we sponsor. Of course, there were many who spoke to us about how much good we do, but was there any tangible evidence that people really cared about these children or any other countries' children? It would be safe to say that a few really cared, but many were glazed over as we spoke. How can we reach them and ignite a fire within them of love for the world's children? This is my desire. Jesus Christ was very forthright in His approach. He called a spade a spade. A lot of missionaries we have read about gave their lives as they spoke out fearlessly for the injustices they witnessed - i.e. Sister Dorothy Stang in the Brazilian rainforest, Archbishop Oscar Romero in El Salvador and so many countless others. Does it always have to come to death? Whether it is for hatred or love, death seems to always win out in the end. As a Christian I do believe there is life beyond death, but you know what I mean, don't you? Someone is always having to die for their beliefs while on earth. Recently in the New York Times, a friend of mine brought to my attention that on the front page, front and center, was an article written about children in Zambia who break rocks for 7-10 hours a day or possibly more for a few dollars. Grandmothers and little children, working alongside one another, trying to eake out a living by breaking rocks in the hot sun with little or no food, with the broken rocks now create a smooth swimming pool surface. These children sit there in a rock pile, breaking the rocks into a fine grain in order to be used for cement blocks for swimming pools! How can anyone swim in a pool filled, not with water, but with the tears and runny noses of children aged 4 to 15? It is incomprehensible to me. Yet, we, in America, are guilty of some of this activity halfway around the world. "How?" you wonder? Poverty is the whole human race's problem. It is created by humanity and allowed to persist because those who have much either don't want to share it or those who live in it are unable to get any help to be free of it. What else is there, really? Do we really expect a 5-year-old child with no parents, no food, no school, who is forced to work in order to feed his/her belly, to find a way out of this cycle of poverty by themselves? Only love, compassion and charity can lift that child up into its arms and nurture him/her. Love is a person - a hug - a caring shoulder to cry on. People must help people. Anyway, I am sad to see apathy in the face of such suffering. It is a haunting melody playing out in my mind while I work, play and sleep. It won't go away.

All To Jesus I Surrender

It was a very full day today. Lots of people were in my heart, mind and presence. As the day progressed, I visited people, called people, prayed for people and just took pleasure in being able to have such wonderful people in my life. As I traveled through the day I realized how blest I was and how many terrific people are in my life today. There are people who pray with me, people who talk with me, people who visit with me and share their lives, people who work alongside me in our mission, and people who enjoy life by sightseeing, growing and learning. As I blog about my life and the things that happen to me, I reflect on the idea that nothing is more important than this day. I think Goethe said something like that once. It is important for me to remain "in the day" because it is where everything is REAL. Yesterday is gone, tomorrow isn't here yet, but today is HERE and it invites me to enter into it with my full self - fully human, fully alive. It is true that some days are not great days - there is still pain and suffering that goes with my life, but not every day is like that. I just watched a movie about Dorothy Day's life called "Entertaining Angels." I've seen it several times, but each time I watch it I learn something more from her. She just didn't settle for what life handed her - she looked at it, reflected on it, criticized it, and did something about it. This is why she was so inclined to be a Communist in her day because the Communists were doing something constructive about the poverty and unemployment. As the movie went on it became clearer to her that being a Catholic was not only active, but it was loving and caring towards those who were poor. Being Catholic to her wasn't just giving food, clothing, or shelter to people, but it was giving love along with all those things. A Communist in her day was just concerned with equality and jobs, not much to do about loving and caring. Catholicism gets a bad rap today because of human weakness and politics, but at the heart of it, the Gospel message keeps urging us on to do exactly what Dorothy Day did - love her neighbors as Christ had loved her - personally, compassionately and selflessly. There were many times she was criticized because she gave everything away to the poor - even the rent money they needed to live on, but she radically gave it to the poor knowing full well that her God would care for her needs and those she was caring for as well. It is the same thing I have experienced so far in my life - the more you give to those in need, the more you receive and you never run out. It is a good day when I can say I have loved, given myself and saved nothing for myself.

Trapped By The Trinity

Today I visited a friend who is also a co-founder of our non-profit, Sobornost For The World Foundation, Inc. She and I shared a few hours together sharing our summer vacation experiences, Vespers (evening prayer), a walk to the nearby village and dinner at the Greek Restaurant. It was a time to kick back a little and just enjoy the summer weather with a like-minded friend. She and I talked about whether we would go to another country to do work with children there, entertained the thought of whether or not a new store was needed to help move fair trade along on Long Island, and stopped by the cathedral to pray in silence while the Spanish-speaking people were celebrating Mass. While we sat in the stillness, listening to the Spanish words of the readings from Scripture, we tried to focus on what God might want to say to us on this beautiful summer day. My experience was an image - a tripod, with me under it, and a camera above on the tripod. When I saw this image, the thought that came to mind was that I was "overshadowed by the Trinity" and that the rest of Sobornost was represented as the camera - fully and actively taking it all in. Because of health concerns earlier in the year I had to take some time away from the active work I was doing to re-evaluate my health needs. Time has sped by and I find myself wanting to get involved more actively than I presently am, but now that I've seen this image I know I have to wait. In a humorous way I saw myself as "trapped by the Holy Trinity!" Being trapped or confined right now within the Trinity's grasp is not a bad place to be! In fact, there probably isn't any place I'd rather be, but being an active person keeps me wondering if I should go back "out there" to help out. I don't really know if I'll ever learn the lesson of waiting on God completely. It is so hard for me to wait when I don't see the road up ahead and I feel alone. Feeling alone is one of my worst problems. It causes me to jump, jolt and sprint when I should be still, silent and slow. When I finally reach the end of my life I hope I have learned this lesson of waiting on God well. Waiting is faith lived out. I should realize by now that when the pupil is ready the master will appear!

See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil

I have just returned from a visit to Texas where my family resides. One of the experiences I had while I was visiting was when I went to Central Market and World Market. These two very large chain stores are in some ways similar to what we are doing in our fair trade store in New York. The only problem I had was that neither of them was fair trade and they had never heard of fair trade. Both managers from the two stores looked at me mystified when I asked them if they had ever heard of it. The problem with this is that they are unfamiliar with exploitation in other countries where they are buying their products. They are unaware of child, slave or sweatshop labor. They are not aware of environmentally sustainable methods so that the earth is not robbed of its minerals or left filled with pesticides and chemicals. It is too bad. When I returned from these two stores I immediately went to the internet and began a letter-writing campaign all my own, followed by a phone call to some of our larger fair trade companies to let them know what I experienced. Most people wouldn't care if they bought a carved giraffe from a fair trade company or a vendor on a street corner because they just don't know the long-range implications and how human beings are being dragged through the dirt. Do I blame them? I don't really blame the consumers because they are somewhat insulated by the many schemes we have in our country to keep business alive, the economy in an upward growth pattern and the real truth hidden. Who I really want to blame are the multi-national companies who have all gone overseas in order to keep their businesses growing, their costs low for employees and products, and the consumer buying. These companies have just lost their ethics and gone into a production frenzy with the children and poor caught in the teeth of the factories. Don't people understand what's really going on? Fair trade is one alternative way of doing business which will help people all over the world to survive. This is, however, only one alternative and I have given myself to it for the sake of these people trapped in the middle. We all can and should try and make a difference in the world. We have access to all kinds of international reports and stories from people who are living in these circumstances. Why don't we take the time to read about them? If I have a choice between reading a book, a newspaper, an article on the internet, why can't I try and find out what is happening somewhere else in the world besides my own backyard? Do we really believe that what we don't see won't hurt us? One amazing statistic from the United Nations is that 2.8 billion people (about half the world) are living in poverty to the tune of $2.00 a day or less. What is the other half doing about it?

Stolen Childhoods

There is a documentary about child slavery/labor that I recently purchased entitled "Stolen Childhoods." It is not an easy DVD to watch because the entire program is filled with instances of child labor across the globe. Why I write about it tonight is because there are still over 200 million children locked in this slave trade and it disturbs my mind. There are children as young as six years old packaging light bulbs, little children sorting match sticks, girls and boys from as young as six making rugs in dark, unhealthy rooms across India and Nepal so that our multi-designed or oriental rugs are cheap enough for us to purchase. The headstones we use for our loved ones who pass on are being produced by young girls and boys in quarries where they work over 10 hours a day carrying the pieces of stone to a place where they are crushed and re-formed into a beautiful stone for us. There are just too many examples to write about tonight but I couldn't go to sleep without first saying they need your help. How we can help is by supporting fair trade products which are not made by children. We can support agencies that particularly are working against child labor such as the International Labor Organization, UNICEF, Catholic Charities and so many others. Just type child labor into the google search and start reading. There's an endless list of organizations you can support. They all need your help. Don't just turn away and forget them. They are the work force of today and they are unknown to you and me, but we use and wear all their products.

Fair Trade Ends Poverty

Hello again and thanks for returning. Today I will divert from "Sobornost - A Strong Word" and share with you why I had such a terrific day. The New York Times newspaper published a newspaper article with photographs today (7-20-06) about our fair trade store. People were pouring into the store, calling for direction and hours of business, and asking questions about our work. Fair trade is still relatively new to Americans, but we're catching up to England very quickly! Maybe you don't know about fair trade and so I'd like to explain a little about our store. Fair trade is a way of doing business that guarantees that the producers and growers receive a fair wage for their product, it insures that there is no child, sweat or slave labor, it uses sustainable practices which protect humans and environment, and offers loans and long-term working relationships to keep them in business. The reason fair trade began is simply because some nations were left out of globalization which benefitted some, but not all countries. Poor and developing countries only slipped further into poverty, while richer nations increased their profits. The comment by the international community of "20% of the world's population uses 80% of the world's resources, while the remaining 80% of the world's population languishes on 20% of the resources." Fair trade helps level the playing field. In my opinion, no one will become rich being a fair trade company, but no one will suffer and die either. People actually do die from the consequences of globalization, but very few of us see it. Children locked away in small rug factories or who work on farms picking coffee beans with pesticides may not live a long and healthy life. There is an incredible documentary that I tell people about all the time. It is called "Stolen Childhoods" and gives a heavy account of what is happening to our world's children. The New York Times, whether they are aware of it or not, has done a great act of mercy for these children and so many others locked in exploitation. We are immensely grateful for what they did for us. Our store is completely run by volunteers and the non-profit organization gives 100% of its income to keep this store growing and helping orphans from AIDS in Kenya and Zambia go to school and be fed. If you're interested in what we're doing, just write to me and I'll answer whatever I can - if I don't know the answer, just contact or for excellent information. Thanks for visiting today!

Sobornost - A Strong Word II

If you have just arrived, I was continuing from the blog "Sobornost - A Strong Word." There's so much to tell about Sobornost that I have to write in mini-segments! As I had said, "Sobornost" is a strong word held in high regard by many people especially Russians. It means different things to different people, but from what Catherine Doherty wrote, it is a community of love, a collegiality and great joy because those in the group are of one mind, one heart and one spirit. Of course, to Orthodox or Catholic Christians it goes on to be a word which describes the Trinity, if that were actually possible. The Rublev icon on the prior blog shows three people sitting at table with a chalice/goblet at the center. It is a beautiful work of art and is in the tradition of Russian iconography representing the story in the Old Testament where Abraham and Sarah are visited by three messengers and they tell Sarah, who is barren, that she will bear a son the following year. These three messengers are a representation of the Trinity as well.

Now I will continue from where I left off regarding the sub-Sahara orphans that our Sobornost community decided to sponsor. In our first year we sent over one of our volunteers who had experience with the Peace Corps. She wasn't sure what she would be able to begin for our Sobornost project of helping orphans in Africa, but she was ready to learn. We had an agreement that when she arrived in Zambia, met the people, and asked some questions about their needs, that she would just "know" what to do. That is what happened. On her first trip she brought us nine orphans who were living with other families. These children had lost their parents from AIDS and were unable to go to school for lack of money for school fees. It is the African way to take in the orphans either by extended family members, or neighbors, however, it does put a great burden on the family caring for their own family as well as orphans. It became a project for us to help those families by giving them help for food, housing and paying the school fees of the children in their homes. As time went on we began to see that more and more children needed food and school fees paid, so we began to take on additional children in Kenya and Zambia. At this point we have about 350 children and they go to school, are fed and have what they need to live.

Sobornost - A Strong Word

Welcome back! Sobornost is a strong word. It is a word held very reverently by Russians and Orthodox Christians. My experience of Sobornost came when I went to Madonna House Apostolate in Canada in 1979 where a Russian woman, Catherine deHueck Doherty was living and teaching about it. Actually Catherine founded the lay community. She was a powerful presence there and I found her to be a light in the world who was leading many people back to God. What was so striking about her was her insistence on loving God AND neighbor. She, herself, was a person who went into the silence with God into what she called "poustinia" or desert. There she communed with God and faced whatever was ailing in her spirit or the world. She'd come out of the poustinia with a "Word" to be lived by that community. This was life-changing for me. Years passed and I always felt her presence in my life leading me to live like she did. When I married my husband and started raising our children, my memories of her would gently remind me that there was still more to come in my life. Certainly, a family is a fulfilling life and I never once could say I wanted it any other way, but there was this God hounding me who called me to the "more" of life, just as Catherine had experienced. It led me to Sobornost - a living, breathing experience of being in community with people who felt the same call - listening to the Triune God - wanting to become as unified as possible here on earth. I think it is happening and in a way I could have never predicted. In short, a prayer community, which we call "Sobornost Prayer Community" meets twice a month for three hours at a time. In this time we share a soup and bread dinner keeping the tradition of solidarity with the poor, followed by one hour of silent prayer before the Blessed Sacrament with a few readings from Scripture or spiritual reading, and a time after prayer for our community to be together in a relaxed way with coffee and tea - all of which is fair trade coffee and tea and keeps the balance of justice with our farmers all over the world. We have met like this for eight years now and from this time in silence and listening came the call to go out into the marketplace and begin helping the poor. Which poor, I wondered? We had learned the statement "20% of the world's population lives with 80% of the world's resources, while the rest of the world's 80% population lives with the remaining 20% of the resources." This global village which was now inter-dependent for trade and economic growth - had brought much good to many of the eight richest countries, but forgot about the remaining poor countries and the impact it would have on them. Consequently, the most vulnerable children were in sub-Sahara Africa and we decided to go there first. When you return, I will share with you what happened next. Thanks for visiting and keep listening!!

What Can A Person Do?

It isn't easy trying to live the American lifestyle. There are too many pressures on us, too much technology to keep tabs on, bills to keep paying and so on. I get caught up in the middle class blues. But underneath all of these pressures, there lingers a question which keeps posing itself to me: what can one person do? At times the question was louder in my mind, but most of the time it quietly stood in the background of my mind, watching, waiting for a response. And so I began trying to find a way to help others who were struggling with less than a US $1.00 a day. Was I financially able to do that? Not really. It was a big jump in my mind that I could help financially. So how could I help? Being a prayerful-type of person, I began praying with a few people every month. It was a simple format: a soup and bread dinner, followed by an hour of prayer/silence/reading and ending with coffee/tea and good conversation. These meetings went on once a month for a couple of years and then went to two times a month. It was a three-hour commitment which was comfortable for my life as a wife/mother/worker. Time went on and then I heard the question again. I thought it had been put away. I thought prayer was enough to quench it. Praying, I thought, would help people all over the world in some miraculous way. Wrong!! It wasn't all that I could do. So I suggested to some of my fellow prayer partners that there was something we could do. They listened, ever so skeptically. I told them we could start a non-profit organization, open up a store for fair trade products (the first of its kind here) and begin sending a person to Africa to gather orphans from AIDS. It was a big jump for them! They just couldn't imagine it. I saw it in my mind - but like in a fog - not clear. I told them that God would provide for the financial needs, and that people would help. Time went on and I began to hear the question louder and louder - just like a helicopter traveling overhead which becomes louder as it approaches. Finally, I launched it. I set out to see it begin. We went from a store which hardly was visited to a store which is now more heavily visited all year long. I used to tell the others: "It's not about sales, it's about souls." It never mattered to me that a sale happened or not. Eventually, through much perserverance and faith, it would take off and sales would just flow naturally out of our faith. This became true. Then the person who went to Africa has gone from 11 children in Zambia to 350 children in Kenya and Zambia. These children are eating each day, going to school, learning, receiving clothing and blankets, etc. A small pre-school was built in Kenya and this coming year a secondary school will be built. Where did the funds come from to pay for the rent for the store and the mission to Africa? It was first seeded with the little bit we could put together, and then it grew into donations from small, everyday caring people to now larger groups wanting to help us. It really is amazing to see how things work. But the question I kept hearing, does it present itself any more? The answer to that is: the question is answered by the day to day commitment of sharing what we have with those who have not and when the sharing stops, the question arises again - ever so quietly, but persistently!

The Poor - Our Barometer

There are things about my daily life that show me that the poor do not come first. It is a sad reality. As I go about my day I start with having my breakfast, getting dressed, cleaning my home, going out to do errands, etc., but there is also a forgetfulness that happens when I do these mundane things. In a way, I look at it as "the less I think or do for the poor, the more I do for me." Yes, of course, I can be poor as well in that I need attention, food, rest, help, etc. but beyond that I am a person who loves the comforts of life, special foods, enjoyable friendships, and lots of entertainment. Actually, it is hard to pull myself away from these things, but it is necessary if I am to grow into full maturity as a person. Our lives must be balanced, and we all need things to live our lives in a healthy way, but when the poor are so far in the back of my mind, or they are not even in my mind, then I need to revisit my heart and ask myself the question: "Do I really care about the poor?" The more I do for me, the less I do for them. It's funny that this statement works in one way as a negative, but when you reverse it, it doesn't remain in the negative. Watch ... "The more I do for me, the less I do for the poor." (it's either them or me - someone loses out). "The more I do for the poor, the less I do for myself." (neither of us lose out because the more I give, the more that I receive!)

Sobornost For The World Foundation, Inc.

Sobornost For The World Foundation is a non-profit, tax-exempt organization which was created in 2003 to help the orphans from AIDS in Africa. Additionally, it was set up to begin fair trade on Long Island which is an alternative way of allowing developing world countries and those left out of globalization to bring their products to market. In Sobornost we have a person who visits Kenya and Zambia each year to coordinate our programs to care for orphans, keep them in school and look after their general health. So far we have several Zambian children in high school sponsored by Sobornost, two in college, and approximately 70 children who receive food in a "take-away" program. In Kenya, there are over 100 children who receive food twice a day in a supplemental program in one location, and in another location there are over 150 children who are in nursery school, receive blankets, food and medicine. The nursery school was built by Sobornost. The fair trade store in Hampton Bays, New York, is called World Village Fair Trade Market and is the first one of its kind. This is a place in the marketplace which allows people to come buy and browse the beautiful products of the poor, as well as learn and discuss issues affecting the developing world. Sobornost is a faith-based organization, which has its roots in Catholicism. It is mainly a lay organization but a Missionary of Africa priest has joined and he brings to the mission much of his 20 years experience in Zambia, knowledge of the unfair trading agreements world-wide and a desire to bring fair trade forward. If you find issues such as child labor, sweatshops, human rights abuse, unfair trade, fair trade, environmental sustainability, etc. interesting, please join us in any way you like: blogging, shopping fair trade, writing your governmental officials to change laws that affect the poor, or visiting links such as: www.oxfamamerica.org, www.fairtradefederation.org, and our web site at: www.fairtrademarket.org. Thanks for visiting today!