Salt Lake shop aids Third World artists

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    By Emily Stone

    Opportunities to help artisans in Nepal, Guatemala and Bangladesh can be found at a little shop in Salt Lake City.

    Ten Thousand Villages is a nonprofit, fair trade organization. They sell authentic handmade handicrafts from Third World countries. Their goal it is to employ artisans in developing nations by marketing their handicrafts in North America.

    Ten Thousand Villages began in 1946 when Mennonite workers were looking for ways to help the impoverished population in Puerto Rico.

    They brought home some embroidery and sold it out of the back of a truck. Soon they were selling goods from all over the world. Today, there are over 200 Ten Thousand Villages stores across the United States and Canada.

    The stores are staffed by a couple of paid employees and lots of volunteers.

    “Really, we only have three paid employees,” said Betsy Lamberson, assistant manager of the Salt Lake store. “The bulk of the work is done by volunteers, which helps the prices stay low and go back to the artisans.”

    The store in Salt Lake has over 90 part-time volunteers.

    Kathy Belnap, a volunteer from Salt Lake, said she likes working there because she gets to learn about the different countries and crafts as she works.

    Most of the crafts in the stores come with a description of where the product is made, what it is made from and how it was crafted.

    “We get to learn about the stories of the artisans themselves,” Lamberson said. “We don”t have detail on every single product, but most of them we do, which is kind of neat.”

    Lamberson said the artisans are paid 50 percent when the order is placed and the balance when the order is ready to be shipped. This provides the artisans with working capital so they can buy the materials they need to work and take care of the basics: food, housing and medical care.

    “They”re getting a continuous income and they are able to provide for each other and their families,” Lamberson said.

    Lamberson also said 70 percent of the artisans are women, usually widowed. They rely on selling their crafts to survive.

    According to the International Federation for Alternative Trade, the main goal of fair trade is improving the artisan”s quality of life. Fair trade organizations work to help artisans build a sustainable future on their own abilities rather than just giving them aid. This means that artisans receive a fair price for their goods and that the craftsmen and the environment are not exploited. Ten Thousand Villages works to meet these goals.

    Customers said they like the idea that their purchases make a difference.

    “I heard the story about it, about the fair trade, I thought it was cool so I came to check it out,” said Emily Bird from American Fork.

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