This was an interesting reading assignment. It touched on several other readings that we had read so far that dealt with giving an opportunity to the poor in order for them to be able to provide for themselves and their family. While reading this chapter I felt that it kind of gave us a lesson partially on the microfinance of a business. It give examples on the difference of marginal return versus overall return. Abhijit V. Banerjee explains why even if you give money to the poor that they often do not make enough money to keep a business running. Most of their income will go to overhead and expenses. There were several examples given that I find that made the reading a bit easier to understand. One example was of the storekeeper who built shelves in her home however did not have enough money to buy inventory to fill the shelves. She received a loan from her mother and she was able to fill her shelves with things that the village kids will like and buy. She was able to make money but it still wasn’t able to cover the cost for her time and building the shelves and the counter. When she was able to secure a loan for greater amount she was able to make enough to keep her in business.
Another example that was given was of the smart student of china (Xu Aihua), she was able to recruit some 100 students for $15USD and from those students she stood with 8 students which she believed in and she was able to make enough money to buy 60 automatic sewing machines. Those sewing machines was able to make her business grow and what is even more amazing is that she sells garments to Macys, JC Penney, etc. She was able to make her own investment in real estate for $4.4 million USD. That’s incredible in itself.
The articles touches on the reality of the poor and their businesses and how it is difficult for them to continue because there is no versatility and everyone is attempting to sell the same thing in poor villages. One example of this was the woman who were all attempting to sell “Dosas” which are rice and lentil pancakes. The woman are selling them same thing and time is wasted because they are competing against themselves.

Lastly, but definitely not least when they were conducting the surveys about good jobs to the poor, most of them chose to have their children work in government jobs. To me this is an indication that they want their children to have a long term job, be secured and not worry about living poor. As in the beginning of the reading when Ben Sedan was fine when he stated his family did not need anything because he son who had trained as a nurse and worked as a paramedic in the army. He was content to living the same way he has been living with no other mindset. Overall, this was a long but interesting read.

From the Black Sheep Parable I think he said it best when he was having a conversation with his mother: "For you, my career is driven by my need to earn money to support my family at home. For me, my career is driven by the experiences I want to gain". I feel exactly the same way, life can be hard if you choose to make it hard, even though I know that unfortunately some do not have the choices and others think that they do not have choices and they choose not to do anything. But life is an experience and filled with experiences, it is what you do with that experience that will determine who you are and who you will become in life. I connected so much to this reading and especially when they were discussing about money when the journalist asked him: You are the richest man in India, How does that feel? His response was one in which I would give if I was found in that situation. Me: We are equally alike, no difference, no amount of money in the world can change who I am, for I am myself and I come from the same world you do, breathe the same air you breathe and I am just happy to be me. Humble!

I enjoyed reading this article as I think Sarah Besky did a great job in her explanation of both the old regime and the new way that tea plantations get there products to the market. She sheds a different outlook on Fair Trade and what affect it has had on Laborers. In the Darjeeling Plantation, according to the article, it states that FT has made little impact. In fact, Sarah Besky, calls FT an international certification scheme. She states, in the case of the Darjeeling Tea Plantation and their regulatory processes – that FT has upset the way Tea is produced and auctioned off. It’s different than all the other articles we have read, that explain the exploitation of unfair child labor, this exploits FT and what affect it has had on Laborers and economic development in India. It’s amazing to read the history of the tea industry from the mid 1800’s that Sarah so greatly explains and think about how Tea plantations have evolved and how to this day it is such a lucrative crop. If one could only fathom that its never about land why there are wars, its about power – power with which we have learned about in our prior readings.

Sarah points out the flaws that fair trade has, as with any new thing or business that is catching on, however, we have to realize that not everything is a perfect system especially where money and profit is involved. I think the most disturbing thing of the entire reading that stood out to me was when the old woman that Sarah Besky was interviewing stated: “The British time was better.” This tells me that conditions are much worse than it used to be. FLO definitely has lots of improvements to make if they are to really impact the lives of farmers, families in a good way.

William Foote in his journey and the founding of Root Capital is the reason why Fair Trade is and continues to be possible. He is a prime example of someone, that for 10 years has been believing in people, by doing something to make a difference and giving others a chance to live, to survive and to be able to provide for their family, their community and even to the rest of the world. His story about his travel around the world including Tanzania and how his company has help transformed agricultural businesses by making them more sustainable and providing them with capital to invest in updated technology is something that reminds me that anything is possible when an opportunity is given to you.
I think he says it best that without access to capital these small scale farmers are trapped in a cycle of poverty. So he wanted to figure out a way to change this cycle and thus change the outcome. He realized an important issue that one cannot just provide these farmers with capital. They will have to be trained financially and a gap will have to be bridged between them and the market.
I like the example given of how Root Capital lends its money and how companies that they have invested in has increased their revenue and are now able to have access to different sources of financing. A surprising fact to me was that of the amount of loans that have been lent out over the 10 years they have a 98% repayment rate from their borrows and a 100% repayment rate to their investors. What that tells me is that they are doing and have been doing something right. The strategy and model that they obviously have adapted is indeed working.
There are several stories that William has described in this article that reiterates my thinking that when you are in the right place, at the right time things that are good happen. One of those good things was how Root Capital got Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (the company we learned about in class – funny how things come up) to invest. He was playing Nicaraguan revolutionary folk songs and TV cameras were recording him and the next day someone brought up that incident to him on how they seen him on national television. He calls it his fifteen seconds of fame, but it was because of this he feels that Green Mountain ended up investing.
William Foote and Root Capitals mission is extraordinary. They have given communities a fighting chance and have help built and rebuild an entire civilization. The biggest thing of all is that he believes and has a proven success rate. He has involved and brought about awareness that there are people that need help and if we all work together we can accomplish so much more. While we do not have a direct influence on what happens in the world we do contribute to either its recovery or its continued poverty.

Eric St-Pierre has given us the chance to experience and comprehend the journey that has surrounded fair trade. He has done a great job putting it all in perspective by providing us with detail accounts on the effect that fair trade has on woman of a culture such woman like Fatima and Shilpi which the MCC have called survivors because they have changed from what they thought they had to do, to doing something which they now have the chance and right to do. In these few pages we learn about the different products that make fair trade possible such as handicrafts by artisans and the most other common fair trade products like coffee and cocoa.
There were different points in the text that stood out to me especially the wage part of $30-$40 a month given for labor to woman weaving baskets at the Charity Foundation. While this might sound like a little to me, this is enough for them to feed their family and provide them an education as explained by Hanufa Begum who works at the Charity Foundation.
I like the time-line that is outlined in the text showing the history of fair trade and how the handicraft sector holds a special place because as the text states: “it embodied the very first germ of an idea…inside the truck of a car.” This is when Edna Ruth Byler sells pieces of embroidery from the back of her truck in Pennsylvania done by woman in Puerto Rico.
When Shipi was telling her story is was just crazy to read how, right outside of her home where she was being interviewed, Banglash men, (former clients) yelling: “Bangladeshis aren’t good enough for you anymore? You do foreigners?” It is just sad, because even though she has changed, she has to be faced with reality that her name, her reputation is tarnished forever.
This definitely was a good read because it has shown so much that has been done so far to date in Fair Trade, and while we are continuing to do so much we still can contribute more because we still have a long way to go, but change I feel is being accomplished little by little as long as we change of way of living because ultimately we do make a difference and we do have an effect on what is occurring in the world whether we know it or not.

After having seen this documentary, I put this on the same list as blood diamonds and sweat shops. We are often oblivious to the extent of labor that goes into making a product. Products that we import and we consume on a daily basis. Like in the Wizard of Oz, we do not know what is going on behind the curtain or who is pulling the strings so to speak. It is only when we are being made aware and are educated on what is really going on, can we truly learn and contribute to make a difference in this world. While we, the consumers, do not have a direct involvement into what is going on in Africa, China or any other part of the world that exploits child labor or even adult labor paying them little to no monies, and we can not directly makes changes, we do have the opportunity to make an educated decision in terms of the products we currently do consume in our life time. Even if the chocolate companies can turn their heads and profit from this $60 billion chocolate market, we can make a choice to hold these companies accountable by choosing only FTC chocolate, this will cause them to really think about their overall practices. As long as we purchase their products and they continue to make a profit, they will not make any changes. These companies might just "be buyers of a product”, however, they have obligations and social responsibility to the laborers and consumers of that product and it's time to hold them to those responsibilities.