Trade As One

Steve Conrad is a friend of ours from Minnesota. He is married to the wonderful Emily, and they both attend Upper Room. Steve is a really talented writer, and he made the mistake of offering his considerable skills to Trade as One. He is currently putting the finishing touches on our Trade as One curriculum, which will be available this fall. You’ll also see him profiled in the coming weeks as a Trade as One Stalwart. Long story short: we like him.

In 2006, I traveled to Africa for the first time.  The 2 weeks I spent in Eastern Congo impacted my life deeply.  I describe that trip as one of the most challenging and painful but also one of the most hopeful experiences of my life.  I saw poverty and suffering that I couldn’t comprehend.  But I also saw incredibly talented, smart, and dedicated Congolese people working to improve their lives and their communities.

I returned home, committed to helping my new friends in Congo.  I spent the next 3 years studying international development and aid programs, working with different aid organizations, and helping to build partnerships between my church community and the people of Congo.  I learned many lessons along the way.
One of the most important lessons I learned came from a group of widows that had lost their husbands in the fighting that has consumed Eastern Congo for the past decade.  These widows met regularly to provide emotional support to one another and had formed a co-op, working together to grow crops that they would sell in the market to help support their families.

When I heard about this group of widows, I started to think about how my church community could develop a sponsorship program that would help provide food or housing for these women.  But when I actually had the opportunity to meet and talk with the widows, I found that they had a much better idea.  When I asked them how we could help, they responded that they needed a small gas-powered mill.  That was not what I was expecting to hear.

These women had developed a recipe for a porridge that they called ‘Masoso’, made of Maize, Soy, and Sorghum.  They would sell this porridge to families in the surrounding area.  It was a very popular product – but the women needed a mill in order to be able to produce at a higher volume.  With a mill, Masoso would produce enough income to support all of the widows and their families.
It’s stories like these that make me a believer in Fair Trade. 

The widows I met in Eastern Congo had better ideas than I did about how to improve their lives.  They had identified a need and developed an entrepreneurial and innovative plan.  They didn’t need aid – they just needed some start up capital.  They needed an opportunity that I could help provide.
In the same way, Fair Trade is a way to create opportunities.  People in developing countries have great ideas – they just need access to markets.  A widow in Africa can’t compete with global corporations unless people like me help them.  One of our roles as the church is to help create opportunities for people who desperately want to be self-sufficient.  People in developing countries don’t just want to be the recipients of handouts.  They want to bring something of value to the table.  And with Fair Trade, they can.