Archive for July, 2008

When I first joined CRS about 2 and a half years ago, my colleagues told me I needed to get to know some “superstars” in El Paso. They were referring to Joesph and Linda Michon, who direct the Maryknoll Blindness Prevention Project and who also have embraced Fair Trade as a tool of economic [...]

Read the entry: Diocese of El Paso Declares its Support for Fair Trade →

One of the things that keeps getting better and better about my job as a Fair Trade educator is that more and more consumers are aware of Fair Trade. TransFair USA, for example, reports at least 20% of all U.S. coffee drinkers are aware of the Fair Trade label. As a part of the [...]

Read the entry: Fair Trade and more in Spanish ~ Comercio Justo y mas en espanol →

Back in the 1960s the international development community coined the phrase “Trade not Aid” as an approach to poverty alleviation. The notion being that, in addition to humanitarian assistance and emergency response, countries facing financial hardship are best served by economic opportunities with other countries. In Ghana, Trade Aid Integrated is a non-profit [...]

Read the entry: Trade AND Aid in Ghana →

As Jackie described in Three Coffee Countries in Eight Days, Simone Blanchard of the CRS Southeast office in Atlanta hit the coffee trail last week. While she wasn’t able to blog during her trip she’s come back ready to share her reflections.

Baruch 4:22-23
Deliver us, O Lord, from our bondage as streams in dry [...]

Read the entry: Fair Trade Reflections From El Salvador →

It’s true that most college and university students are out for the summer and taking a break from their studies, but for many, it’s time to look back over the year and realize what’s been accomplished. Last week we were talking about parishes on fire, this week we have some outstanding Fair Trade progress [...]

Read the entry: School’s out! Time to learn a lesson from students. →

This weekend I went to the movies with my family and learned about a new film, “Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa.” The wonders of animation aside, for me the country of Madagascar doesn’t conjure images of lemurs or other cute cartoon characters. Instead when I think of the huge island nation, I remember [...]

Read the entry: Madagascar 2: New Release →