My name is Carrie Hawthorne and I am PJT's
executive director. I'll be
traveling in Peru from January 22 - February
22 to work with artisans on
product design and development as well as
spend time getting to know all
of the artisans whose beautiful products we
sell. I have been working
with PJT since April and this will be my first
time meeting the artisans and
the wonderful staff we work with in Lima,
Bridge of Hope.
When I'm able to access the internet I'll be
posting to this blog to share
the stories - both the challenges and
accomplishments - of my
travels.
Here's a map of where
I'll be traveling (the
map is interactive so you can click on the
different markers to see what
artisan groups are in each city and when I'll
be traveling where and
unfortunately - the roads are not nearly that
straight!!).
View Larger
Map
One of the
many challenges of working in Fair Trade
crafts is developing new
products. Fair Trade is fundamentally about
involving more people in the
global marketplace - marginalized populations
who often live in very rural
areas. But how are these artisans supposed to
know and/or predict what
will sell in a market thousands of miles away
for people of a different
culture and class? PJT works with these
artisans to come up with new
ideas in addition to improving already
existing products. Some of our
artisans are practicing craft traditions that
have been in their families for
many generations and for those artisans, we
try to preserve cultural
traditions by adapting their skills to better
fit the global marketplace.
Other artisans learned their skills because of
their involvement in the
Bridge of Hope Fair Trade Project.
So
during my travels, I will
visit every single artisan group and work with
them on developing new
products that will be ready for export in a
few months. I will also be
working with the artisans to analyze the
pricing of their products. (Our
artisans set the prices that they feel are
fair for their work; this price
covers the cost of materials and payment for
labor, and is not less than
minimum wage. Learn more about PJT pricing
here<
/A>.) A tool that will help us in this
analysis is the Fair
Wage Guide, developed by World of Good
along with a host of other
ngo's, Fair Trade organizations, and
non-profits.
I will also
focus on just getting to know the artisans and
listening to their stories. I
think one of the neat things about Fair Trade
is that when you purchase a
product, you can trace it back to a
cooperative actual persons, not just
some factory that churns out millions of the
same thing every day. Many
of the artisans have had difficult lives and
lived through the
Years of
Terrorism - where
communities and neighbors were often pitted
against each other - and we
want to capture their story. I hope to retell
their stories to people who
visit PJT's website and purchase PJT products.
PJT products not only are
about trying to bring economic justice to
producers but are also about a
cultural exchange.
My tentative travel
schedule
is:
1/22 - Arrive in Lima
1/23-1/30
- Meet the Bridge of
Hope staff and artisan groups in the Lima area
(11 different
groups)
1/25 - Give presentation about PJT
at annual
La Red Uniendo
Manos Peru meeting
1/31-2/3 - Meet
artisan groups in the
Huancayo region (4 different groups) and work
on new product
designs
2/4-2/14 - Meet artisan groups in
the Huancavelica region
(8 different groups)
2/15-2/18 - Revisit
artisan groups in Huancayo
to review advancement of new product
designs
2/19-2/22 - Revisit
artisan groups in Lima to review advancement
of new product
designs
2/23 - Vacation!!!
Finally,
don't forget to enter our
new product contest by January 28th!
Check
it out here...