Entrepreneurship, Fair Trade and Social Justice
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10	February 2014

RE: Fair Trade: A human Journey

This book provides us history and cultural overviews of major agricultural products, including banana, coffee, cocoa, handicrafts from Asia, Africa and Latin America. It is quite impressive since it uses vivid images and brief content to demonstrate those farmers and their lives. The text encourages us to participate in international social and environmental justice movement towards, which also gives us clear concepts of fair trade.

By displaying certain data, the book appeals for our attention to the condition of fair trade nowadays, since it is a long term commitment that needs further development. It is surprising to know that about 70% of the world�s soccer balls is made in a community in Pakistan, while the balls used in the World Cup are made by slave-like children. Even more, only 3.7% of soccer balls are made under fair trade, which is really ironic as those players earned millions of dollars from the game yet those children still suffering from harsh living condition.

It is very depressing to read that people in Bangledesh are suffering daily under terrible condition. The densely populated country makes it harder for them to make a life, woman are allowed to be raped and not able to get justice because she is poor, girls may be forced into sex trade in order to support her family. Although The Mennonite Central Committee programs spare much efforts to help those women, they chances to renew their life under fair trade, so that they can feed their family and educate their children. More importantly, they are able to lead a life with justice and dignity.

Both the images and stories in the book give me a profound understanding of fair trade, it is a global movement that aspires social justice as well as environmental sustainability. Meanwhile, fair trade products are often high quality, and consumers are supposed to do shopping ethically with the belief that the producers deserve a basic right to obtain fair wages and living conditions, and we should buy non exploitative products, thus, the majority of the money can go back to the original farmers.