In 2009, Partners for Just Trade and Green America coordinated Resonating Change: Connecting Communities through Fair Trade, a tour that visited over 1,300 people in 11 cities throughout in the Midwest and Colorado.

We are pleased to announce our 2011 tour that will visit the Pacific Northwest. Sonia Anahue Uscamayta from the Munay Rumi jewelry cooperative in Lima and Yody Gladys Moran Trillo from the El Mercurio knitting cooperative in Huancavelica, Peru will be traveling to the United States to share how Fair Trade has impacted their lives. Sonia and Yody's stories represent those of so many women around the world; both were forced to relocate their families in search of a better life to earn more money or escape violence – and despite their move, still found life difficult. Yet since they’ve become a part of the Fair Trade movement, their horizons have expanded and opportunities have opened.

Our tentative schedule is as follows. Please check regularly as this website will be updated as more events are confirmed.

Date	City*	Local Sponsor	Event Time
Wednesday, May 11	San Francisco	Mercy High School	11:30am
Wednesday, May 11	San Francisco	Global Exchange	7:00pm
Thursday, May 12	Sunnyvale, CA	Sunnyvale Presbyterian  Church	7:00pm
Friday, May 13	Berkeley, CA	Ben and Jerry's and The  Berkeley School	9:30am
Friday, May 13	Berkeley, CA	Hub Bay Area &  Fair Trade USA	6:00 pm
Saturday, May 14	Berkeley, CA	Global Exchange	12:30-2:30pm
Saturday, May 14	Santa Rosa, CA	Fair Trade Stores of  Sonoma County. Contact  (707) 939-2847 with   questions.	7:00pm
Sunday, May 15	Sonoma, CA	TBD
Monday, May 16	Eugene, OR	Cafe Mam and  Eugene Coffee Company	6:00pm
Tuesday, May 17	Portland, OR	The Banyan Tree	1:00pm
Tuesday, May 17	Portland, OR	Northwest Fair Trade   Coalition	5:00pm
Wednesday, May 18	Olympia, WA	Traditions Fair Trade	4:00pm
Thursday, May 19	Tacoma, WA	Urban Grace, Chapel Hill,   Manitou Park and Trinity  Presbyterian Church	7:00-8:30pm
Friday, May 20	Seattle, WA	Fair Trade Seattle and  El Centro de la Raza	6:00-8:00pm
Saturday, May 21	Seattle, WA	Green Festival	3:30pm
Sunday, May 22	Seattle, WA	Green Festival	1:30pm
Monday, May 23	Spokane, WA	First Presbyterian Church	7:00pm
Tuesday, May 24	Spokane, WA	Kizuri	12:00-1:00pm
Wednesday, May 25	Leavenworth, WA	Jubilee Global Gifts

 
About the Artisans
Yody Gladys Moran Trillo was born in a rural community in the Huancavelica Province in the Andes Mountains of Peru. This region was heavily affected by the armed conflict that lasted from 1980 to 2000. At a young age, Yody and her family moved to the city of Huancavelica to escape the violence that was afflicting the countryside. She met and married her husband when she was 15 and soon after had her first child. Yody and her husband lived, barely scraping by, on his salary for many years.

Yody began to knit sweaters, scarves, and other items to sell in the local markets to help bring in a little extra money for her family. She connected with the Bridge of Hope Fair Trade project in 2003 and invited two other mothers to help her with a first order. As the orders began to grow, so did Yody’s group. El Mercurio (named after the colonial mine in her neighborhood in Huancavelica), grew to eight, then 17, and today has over 30 members. El Mercurio has been growing steadily during the last few years, creating finger puppets, stuffed animals, and more. Yody and the other members of El Mercurio have truly been inspirations, rising out of a violent past and becoming successful and respected women in their community.

Sonia Anahue Uscamayta has been working with the Munay Rumi jewelry cooperative for four years. Sonia was born in the Cuzco region of Peru and spent her youth helping her family take care of their small plot of land where they grew potatoes and tended to llamas. In order to help her family, she moved to Lima in search of employment when she was old enough to work. She met the other members of Munay Rumi while employed at a jewelry factory in Lima, working nearly 80 hours a week (earning only $115 a month). She’d always liked working with jewelry and while the employees were exploited and suffered appalling work conditions, Sonia recognizes that the job helped her learn some basic skills about jewelry making. It was also at this factory, where the managers often locked the doors from the outside so the workers could not leave, that the idea was hatched to break off and start their own business. Sonia appreciates her colleagues because as she said, “in the beginning when we were struggling to make money and find customers, when one person would want to give up, the others were beside them and encouraging them to stick with it.”

And their dedication has paid off. Munay Rumi’s sales have increased exponentially – nearly 600 times – since they started just four years ago. They have benefited from technical and design training over the past two years by PJT’s Sales Coordinator and jewelry designer, Peggy Eng. These trainings have built a cohesive collection and developed a signature style.

About the Tour Organizers
Green America is the nation’s leading green economy organization. Founded in 1982, Green America (formerly Co-op America) provides the economic strategies, organizing power and practical tools for businesses and individuals to solve today's social and environmental problems. www.GreenAmerica.org.

Partners for Just Trade (PJT) is a nonprofit Fair Trade organization that cultivates global partnerships between impoverished producers from Peru and Cameroon and conscientious consumers in the U.S. PJT addresses root causes of poverty through education, solidarity, a commitment to trade justice, and the sale of Fair Trade products. www.PartnersForJustTrade.org

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