Videos for Social Good

By Marita Greenidge

I was doing my daily reading of Mashable and I came across this post on the top 10 videos for social good. They are all pretty interesting.

The groups vary from those supporting environmental health to those trying to lift people out of poverty. Have a watch; I really like the last one which is an interactive video where a young person has to choose his path. Each path can lead to various outcomes. It clearly shows how the small choices you make in life can lead to serious consequences. Good work by the Metropolitan Police Service of London.

Political unrest in Honduras and unfortunate economic situation in Kenya affecting our Suppliers

By Glenn & Rebecca Fadner

July was another busy month with both retail and wholesale shows. We had a few "drenchings" (in both Fair Haven and Geneseo), quick turn-arounds between shows, and as much time in hotels as at home! We're glad that the pace is a bit "lighter" in August, which will give us an opportunity to catch up a bit with things that have gotten set to the side (including yard work).

On a more somber note, I want to update you on how two of our artisans are being impacted by current events.

Honduras: Hopefully you have been following (at least to SOME level) the political crisis unfolding in Honduras. I can't tell you how the crisis in Tegucigalpa is affecting people "on the street" in the Gulf Coast city of Trujillo, but anytime there is political unrest in a country where tourism is a significant part of the economy, there's bound to be a decrease in tourist traffic. (This is a link to an annoucement by the US embassy discouraging travel to Honduras).

So even if things start picking up in the global economy, we can expect that it will be quite some time before tourist dollars start flowing freely in Trujillo. That makes our supplier Maria, and the others at the Made In Honduras co-operative, significantly dependant on what we (and others) sell outside the country.

Kenya: Just this week I received an email from Eunice Kasisi, who makes our "marbled" and bamboo jewelry. (Click this link for more about Eunice.) Things are very difficult in Kenya. On top of the political crisis there in 2008, the global recession, and the seventh year of drought, it appears that people in both government and business have been "manipulating" the price of food staples like maize for their own profit.

Food has become outrageously expensive for the poor of Kenya, with the result that there is nothing left over for other necessities of life. Eunice is the caregiver for her brother's two children since he passed away. Last week they were "chased from school" because she couldn't pay the school fees. (There are fees even for "public" school in Kenya.) She was asking if we have any business for her, and I had to tell her that at this point, we simply don't need any additional jewelry.

We're not telling you these stories to discourage you or to stir up feelings of guilt. That's not what we're about. But we DO want to encourage you to consider KVI and other Fair Trade businesses when you do need to make a purchase. And encourage your friends to visit us and other Fair Trade e-tailers. All of us thank you!

We wish all of you a great month!

Honduran immigrants speak about recent events in Honduras surrounding President Zelaya.

It’s Friendship Day People…so who are your friends again?

By Marita Greenidge

Can you do it? Can you really walk hand-in-hand with someone who’s not going where you want to go? At some point along the journey someone’s going to have to let go or both your journeys will come to a screeching halt.

Pretty simple concept…let’s make it even simpler. You are kind enough to give your friend a ride to the supermarket. You buy all your groceries and are ready to head back home. If both of you live at the same house then great, you return home together. If you don’t, you have to drop that friend off. If you decide you want to hang out with your friend a little more because you enjoy their company so much then you’re stuck at that friend’s house until you leave. Meanwhile your groceries are sitting in huge pile because you decided to linger and not go on to do your business. Your journey has halted and you haven’t reached your destination. The frozen food is getting warm and the hot food cold.

In life, who you surround yourself with has such a crazy impact on your life. It morphs your thinking because you become immersed in a way of life. If societal status and gathering ‘things’ are the ambitions of your friends, then you may slowly find that those become your ambitions as well. And we may not want to admit this but think about the way you speak…the words you use….those bits and pieces you pick up along the way. I never said the word “awesome” before I came to Rochester but now it’s ingrained in my vocabulary….a little gift from my classmates who said it so frequently. I’ve passed on “altrighty” to my roommate. You see how this works. These things solely creep up on us and we don’t realize until it’s ingrained.

You want great habits and ways of thinking to seep into you. You want peer pressure to have a useful purpose like encouraging you never to cheat on your spouse or to volunteer to tutor young kids or adults. You don’t want it telling you to buy the latest non-essential object as the only way to feel worthy.

You do this by surrounding yourself with the right kind of people, the ones who are going to the same place you are. It’s the reason in your career you’re encouraged to join associations related to your fields. You get all the good info on the recent developments in your industry and a group of people that can help if you get stuck in a problem.

It’s easy to see this applied to a career so why is it so difficult to apply to our lives?

Are You Committed?

By Marita Greenidge

Are you committed? I mean are you really committed? It’s pretty easy to say you’re committed because words are easy. I can say anything I want in the world but following through with actions is the difficult part.

I wanted to gain an MBA. After the first quarter I was told my full scholarship wasn’t really a full scholarship. I was literally faced with being kicked out of school because I couldn’t pay my bills. Perfect time to give up, right? Nope…

Commitment doesn’t mean that you’re in it only for the good times. The true test comes when the waters become choppy. I made the decision that I was going to get my MBA from Simon and I was surely going to make that happen. I now possess an MBA in Marketing and Entrepreneurship so I guess I can say staying true to the course paid off.

Marriage, friendship, goals…..having kids. These are all things that require a strong commitment because you know what? The journey won’t always be easy. Spouses will annoy you; kids will upset you; things will not always go as planned. But you have to be strong enough to say, “I made a decision and I’m going to see it through”.

Right now at KVI sales are down. But guess what? We made a commitment to our suppliers and we’re going to stick with them as we navigate through this challenging economic time. What about you? Are you honoring your commitments?

Aaahhhh to be Sweet.....

By Marita Greenidge

People usually don’t think I’m a sweet person. I’ve never understood why.

My latest explanation as to why I’m lacking the sweetness component is because my career-minded nature and ambitiousness overpower any sweet qualities. So I thought to myself, what defines a sweet person? When do you describe someone as sweet?

Must I wear ribbons in my hair? Should I own a puppy? Maybe I should own a puppy that has ribbons in its hair! Hahahaha….

Then I thought about what makes me think someone is sweet. I think both Rebecca and Glenn are sweet people. What makes them fit the bill?

• They have strong moral values
• They care about the welfare of others a whole lot
• They show how much they care by actually going out of their way to help others
• There’s a smile on their face even when they’re not actually smiling
• They motivate me to lead a good and decent life

I guess sweet can mean a lot of things for different people but my definition never seems to coincide with that of others. What does sweet mean to you?

Make a Difference today

By Rebecca and Glenn Fadner

Watch CBS Videos Online

Everybody's talking about the economy these days. And all of us are "challenged" by the effect it is having on our lives (and our investments). How often do we stop to think of the effect that it is having in the poorest regions of the world?

Our supplier Hagar Design has had to lay off over half of the women it employs because orders are "down" from every part of the world. The impact is not only on the ladies, but affects their children as well. Even we at KVI have had to reduce our orders by more than half the amount we ordered last year.

When we first started working with Maria, our seaglass artisan in Honduras, our orders made it possible for her to send her son, Samuel, to school. The economy has so devastated the tourist trade that Made in Honduras has far less traffic (and sales) in their shop. The "extras" are "out". Our recent purchases from Maria are essential to allow her to put food on the table.

Food prices are skyrocketing in Kenya. You can argue whether it's the economy or the corruption (probably both!), but many people are hard-pressed to put basic staples on their table. When we visited our artisans this past February, we brought along a gift of basic food staples to each one. We had been told that what we brought (flour, corn meal, oil, sugar, tea) was about a week's worth of food for a family.

A few weeks after we returned home, we heard from our artisan Simon, owner of Alisim Glass Studio in Kenya, how appreciative they were for the food that they had "stretched" for more than three weeks.

These are just a few examples that WE know about, but we know they are not isolated cases. When the economy falters in the "developed" world, we describe it as "painful" and "difficult". For those in the "developing" world, it could best be described as "devastating".

Buying Fair Trade products helps lessen the impact because one of the key tenets of Fair Trade is "fair" payment to the people doing the work. When you make a purchase - whether it's a gift from KVI, flowers for a loved one, coffee, tea, or chocolate - we encourage you to purchase Fair Trade and know that you "made a difference".

Don’t Settle for Mediocrity….Be Extraordinary

“Along the way, we settle,” began Seth Godin’s post. And I thought about this, along the way sometimes we do settle. We settle in relationships and we settle in jobs. In relationships we just don’t want to be lonely….in jobs we just need to make some money.

The personal development books will tell you, you don’t have to settle and any motivational speaker worth his/her salt will tell you the same. But then you take a step back and look at your life and wonder “Gosh, how do they really expect me not to settle? These are just easy words; they don’t have to live my life.”

And you know what, that’s true…they don’t have to live your life. But I’m going to throw my hat in the ring and also say settling is bad. I’m a realist although if you met me you’d probably think I’m a naïve optimist :-). I want everything to be amazing but I recognize things aren’t always so simple for everyone in the world so giving up-in-the-air solutions is a sure-fire way for people to turn away….I’ve seen people lose their faith because they aren’t given practical solutions beyond “Trust in God”.

And I trust in God but sometimes when dealing with real issues you need a lot more than those words.

Let’s take a look at jobs. Sometimes you do have to settle for a job which isn’t ideal because without it you might not be able to repay student loans or support your family. However that job doesn’t have to be the end of the line; there may be skills you can glean that help you get to where you want to go. There may be connections you can make. Don’t look at the situation with a closed mind; view it as a stepping stone to getting you where you want to go.

Relationships are a little bit more tricky…it’s obviously completely unfair to be using someone as a stepping stone to someone else. But with these I’d have to recommend that settling is not an option. If you know what you want and what makes you happy then you deserve nothing less and anything less will make you unhappy. Of course you shouldn’t have a laundry list of things that need to be checked off…people are only human remember!! But I’m sure there are some key traits you don’t want to compromise on. So don’t…..and these key things are usually better as character traits instead of superficial qualities.

So what makes me qualified at just 26 years of age to be speaking such things? Let’s say I’ve been there and done that. Settling never makes you happy.