Our guide to buying Fair Trade in Strathmore

After much brainstorming, research and planning, hopeTzedekah is pleased to offer a guide to buying Fair Trade products in Strathmore and the area. The brochure looks like the image to the left.

Give a man a fish and you’ll feed him for a day. (Aid)
Teach a woman to fish and she’ll feed herself. (Development)
Buy her fish & she has a sustainable way out of poverty. (Fair Trade)

The brochure answers questions like “What is Fair Trade?” and “Why bother with it?” and most importantly “Where can I buy Fair Trade products in Strathmore?”

We’ve taken the hard work out of the process, now you can easily begin letting your ‘purchase power’ work on behalf of poor producers in the developing world and fight modern-day slavery.

As you’ll see there’s a ways to go for Strathmore to be a Fair Trade haven, but we’ve got to start somewhere. And there’s some more options in Calgary included in the brochure.

Pick up the brochure at Hope Community or download it here. And for more Fair Trade options online, check out this earlier hopeTzedekah blog post.

As the board in the youth room says, “I am only one; but I am still one. I cannot do everything but still I can do something. I will not refuse to do the something I can do.”

Or as God says, “This is the kind of fast day I’m after: to break the chains of injustice, get rid of exploitation in the workplace, free the oppressed, cancel debts.” Isaiah 58:6 (The Message)

Resist Exploitation, Embrace Dignity

Several of us got to hear Michelle Miller speak yesterday at the Covenant Annual Conference in Calgary. She’s the director of REED, the group behind the Buying Sex Is Not A Sport campaign. It was great to meet Michelle. She encouraged us to be new abolitionists, to get loud about human trafficking - especially about its reality in Canada - and especially about the commericalization of sexuality that fuels the demand side of the human trafficking industry. Check out this powerful poem video from REED’s website:

Buying Sex Is Not A Sport

A campaign sticker in Vancouver.

Human trafficking at the Olympics?

Did you know that perhaps 1000 women from around the world have been trafficked into Vancouver for the sex trade during the Olympics? Most will be left there on the streets when the games are done.

Want to do something to resist such exploitation in our country and to support Christians who are working to free and restore these women? Grab some flyers from the welcome desk, spread the word, and go to BuyingSexIsNotASport.com

From the flyer:

An estimated 21 million women and children are trafficked annually, the majority for exploitation in the sex industry. This insidious market is driven by the demand for sexual access to the bodies of women and children. Large sporting events such as the Olympics bring an increase in demand. Often those who are the most marginalized and vulnerable to abuse pay the price with their dignity.

Buying Sex Is Not a Sport is a grassroots campaign that stands with and for exploited women and firmly against the demand for their bodies. Join us in saying, “Buying Sex Is Not a Sport.”

10 Things You Can Do To End Sex Trafficking Today:

• Address the brokenness in your own life. 
• Oppose the legalization (or total decriminalization) of prostitution. 
• Support gender equality and human dignity in your daily life. 
• Directly ask the men in your life if they pay for sex. 
• Challenge those who make sexist “jokes.” 
• Educate others about human trafficking. 
• Question the norm of “sex for sale.” 
• Seek freedom from a lifestyle of consumerism. 
• Support groups working with trafficked persons. 
• Advocate for laws to decriminalize the selling of sex and criminalize the buying of sex.