Using Fair Trade principles to empower women in Uganda

Cross-posted from OMT Founder Halle Butvin's personal blog, Locus Amoenus

Last November, I had the incredible opportunity to give a talk about One Mango Tree at the Library of Congress. Since Fair Trade Month had just concluded, I decided to focus the talk on the principles of Fair Trade, and how One Mango Tree uses those principles to create sustainable income for women in Uganda.

The video is a long one, but it's the equivalent to meeting me for a cup of coffee to learn about how and why One Mango Tree got started. My presentation begins at 8:25. I hope you enjoy it! xo Halle

Mango Season Semi-Annual Sale!

Every April, everyone's eyes are on the trees in Gulu, waiting for the little mangoes to ripen from soft green to golden yellow. The day has come, and right along with it is The Mango Season Semi-Annual Sale. That's 50% off your favorite handbags, aprons, headbands, yoga bags, lunch bags, eye pillows, and more! Check out our sale page to see all the deals!

Just about everything is on sale!

We're clearing the shelves for Spring/Summer 2011, which will hit our online store very soon. Stay tuned!

Don't miss it: Cleveland Whole Foods Event this Weekend!

I'll be at the Whole Foods on Cedar Road this Sunday afternoon, so come check out the selection of One Mango Tree products and learn more about our efforts in Uganda!

Whole Foods Market
13998 Cedar Road
Cleveland, Ohio

Afterwards, be sure to stop off at Revive for some holiday shopping!

DC Downtown Holiday Market

Mark your calendars, DC shoppers!

We'll be in Washington, DC, this holiday season! Stop by our booth at the DC Downtown Holiday Market, 12 - 8 pm December 13-14 (that's Monday and Tuesday). The market is on F Street between 7th and 9th, near the National Portrait Gallery. If you work downtown, it's a must-do December lunch break. We'll have all of the gorgeous One Mango Tree products, and some freebies to boot! Make sure to tell friends, and let us know if we'll see you there - check out our Event page on Facebook!


Check out some of the great photos from past Downtown Holiday Markets - nothing better to get you in the holiday spirit - lots of caroling, hot drinks and twinkly lights - not to mention awesome products. Our favorite, The Red Persimmon will be there too!

xo Halle

Down Home Fair Trade

Ohio or Bust! I'm originally from Ohio - born in Cleveland, 6 years of university work at Ohio State University in Columbus before heading to DC and Uganda. My family - mom, dad and brother - are all still there. For this fall's One Mango Tree road trip, I'll be spending a lot of time in Ohio. October will kick off with a Starfleet show (that's my dad's band), followed by the Ohio Fair Trade Expo on October 9. I can't think of anything better than a week of rock-n-roll, autumn leaves and kicking off Fair Trade Month in the Buckeye State.


The Ohio Fair Trade Expo is sponsored in part by one of my absolute favorite fair trade advocates - Lisa Dunn, of Revive Fair Trade. Lisa amazes me with her boundless energy and passion for bringing fair trade to Cleveland. The success of her TWO fair trade stores (one on Lee Road and the other at Legacy Village) is astounding - and a true testament to her ability to rally people around social and environmental causes. She has an incredible eye for fashion to boot.

At Ohio Fair Trade Expo, One Mango Tree will also have a table, and we're donating super-cute organic cotton totes (made by our ladies!) with the Expo logo for all the attendees. The Expo will be at John Carroll University - if you're in Ohio on October 9, I hope you'll join us for this great day of promoting fair trade!

Celebrating Moms and Fair Trade

This year we get to celebrate World Fair Trade day and Mother's Day all on the same weekend!

We're excited to bring you some deep discounts for Mother's Day - think Aprons for $5, Coin Purses for $2 and Weekenders for $10!

Over here in Uganda, we're spending the holiday weekend packing up our Summer Collection to send it your way - new bags fresh from the fabric markets, Sseko strappy sandals and our very first organic cotton knit clothing line! You won't believe your eyes!

So, make sure to really celebrate your Mom this year, and while you're at it, celebrate World Fair Trade Day too. Think about all the ways that buying fair trade makes a difference.

OSU throws down, fair trade coffee-style

connecting uganda and columbus, ohio

Last Saturday I had a unique opportunity - to give a virtual opening lecture for an event. I opened up the Ohio State University SoBE Fair Trade Throwdown - via video Skype on the banks of the Nile River in Jinja. I spoke to students about my studies at Ohio State, and about taking the path less chosen and starting One Mango Tree.

Following the kick off conversation via Skype, the students - all members of OSU's Society of Business and Engineering - formed teams for the competition. The task was to role play as a Fair Trade coffee roaster and work together to develop a business model and packaging prototype to be pitched in front of a discerning panel of judges.

the winning team with their prize bags

The winners were a "team from Ethiopia," and they developed re-usable packaging covered in beautiful Ethiopian artwork. As a prize they received a One Mango Tree Weekender bag filled with all sorts of goodies.

eyes on africa

Eye care in Africa is terribly difficult to find - and when it exists, it is extremely expensive. Sherry Grigsby discovered this problem on a safari trip to South Africa a few years ago. After realizing the amount of change that a $1 pair of reading specs could make, Sherry started Eyes on Africa - a non-profit that provides reading glasses free of charge for people who do not have access to eye care. Eyes on Africa provided more than 5,600 pairs of reading glasses across the continent last year. Next week they are visiting One Mango Tree, and our tailors will have the opportunity to try on specs - to see if a small vision adjustment can make a big difference for them in their work and lives.

Check out the video above to learn more about Eyes on Africa and the work they do across Africa. We're thrilled to welcome Sherry and her team to Gulu next week.

celebrate international women's day

Monday, March 8th is a public holiday here in Uganda - celebrating International Women's Day. The holiday is recognized globally, highlighting the economic, political and social achievements of women in the past, present and future.

In Gulu, we're celebrating the achievements of the One Mango Tree tailors - all of whom started out with no work, and who all now put their children in school, food on the table, and count their savings each day. We think that the change they've created in their lives by earning their own income is astounding, and we're eager to see more women in Northern Uganda working, growing and achieving. They've done it all not by receiving handouts, but by working hard and earning a respectable income - they are changing the dynamic in Northern Uganda, one woman-one family-one village at a time.

There's really no question that women have the power to change the world.

Have you seen The Girl Effect? Take a few moments next Monday to appreciate the amazing things women have done, and if you're a woman, think about your contribution. We'd love it if you shared Women's Day with us - help us create more jobs by shopping on our site - maybe buy a little something for a fabulous woman in your life? Or further the reach by helping our ladies send all of their kids to school with our Share the Love program.

Tell us how you'll celebrate International Women's Day - we'd love to hear from you.

momenta workshops : project uganda 2010

portrait: lucy & coin purse

One Mango Tree has been fortunate enough to benefit from the skills of many talented photographers in the past couple of years. Nevertheless, I could not believe my luck last year when Momenta Workshops contacted me for their Project Uganda 2009. Momenta runs a series of workshops targeted at educating photographers - giving them an opportunity to hone their skills in the field, while providing multimedia for NGO partners.

I just met with Jamie Rose, Director of Momenta Workshops - she arrived in Uganda last night for Project Uganda 2010. This year Momenta is bringing five photographers to Gulu, and One Mango Tree is once again lucky enough to benefit - one of their photographers will spend a week at our workshop.

The project appropriately kicks off on Monday, March 8, which happens to be International Women's Day. Stay tuned for photos and multimedia from the workshop.

Check out last year's work - by photographer Stephanie Makosky.

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fair trade throwdown

On March 6, my alma mater, The Ohio State University (BA'03, MCRP'05) Society of Business and Engineering will be hosting the first ever

Fair Trade Throwdown

A competition focused on fair trade coffee, packaging, sustainability, marketing, and strategic business practices. Students will have the opportunity to hear from experts in these fields, gain insight on fair trade certification, design and build a packaging prototype, and present a pitch to sell fair trade coffee at Ohio State.

Featuring:

Halle Butvin, One Mango Tree, Uganda
Connie De-Jong, Global Gallery, Columbus, Ohio
Carol Gill, Department of Industrial Design, Ohio State University
Amanda McGuffin-Noll, The Blue Turtle Tea and Spice Co., Westerville, Ohio
Benjamin D. VanBuskirk, International Development Collaborative, Hilliard, Ohio

Saturday, March 6th
9:00 am - 5:00 pm
Scott Lab Room E100

Free lunch, snacks, fair trade coffee and tea, and PRIZES!
Open to all paying members, non-members $5

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winter sale

Don't let the cold get you down. Spending too much time indoors? Get online and check out our

Winter Sale!

25-50% off your favorite One Mango Tree items, in the bright African prints you love.

Also, receive a free headband with each purchase (a $6 value, while supplies last).

And, if you're shopping for your sweetie, hurry - order by noon EST on Tuesday, February 9th to ensure Valentine's Day arrival.

And if you need some additional heart-warming, check out our blog to read the latest on Lucy's story - you won't believe the impact your purchases and donations are having on our community!



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come on...

One Mango Tree Hearts

This year for Valentine's Day, we're kicking off our "Share the Love" campaign. It started as a fun product made from our scrap fabric and herbs. However, the favorite holiday of lovebirds happens to fall around the same time as the new year's first school term in Uganda. In our workshop, that means that among our ladies, 84 children will be hurried off to nursery, primary or secondary school this month. This send-off is a labor of love, even more so when you learn that almost half of these children are orphans - children of relatives, friends and neighbors who were killed during the war.

One Mango Tree helps our tailors with school fees - providing $15 per term for nursery, $25 for primary and $50 for secondary.

So, to celebrate a much-loved holiday, we're suggesting that you Share the Love - buy a cute little heart sachet for your sweetheart, friend, mom, sister, grandma - and 100% of the price (minus the labor we paid Concy to make the hearts) will help us pay school fees.

And remember, you can Share the Love all year round. There's always room for another heart.

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tea break becomes peace break

Violence is something the women of One Mango Tree know too much about - both from the 20+ years of warfare in this region and from domestic violence so often directed at Ugandan women. Participation in the 64-day campaign, Season for Peace and Nonviolence, is a way to affirm belief in the possibility of a peaceful world and to realize the important role each person plays in moving toward that goal.

Above left, a photo of One Mango Tree staff participating in a peace candle lighting to kick off 64 Days.

The Season was born about 12 years ago in the United States, out of the wish of the descendants of Mohandas K. Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., to encourage widespread daily practice of the basic nonviolence principles taught by the two great reformers and peacemakers. The assassination date of Gandhi (January 30) and King (April 4) mark the beginning and closing of the campaign.

During the 9 weeks, tea break at One Mango Tree will also be a 'peace break,' with attention given to a simple-but-powerful practice such as gratitude, self-forgiveness, patience, integrity, service, or creativity. The first week focuses on respecting and loving ourselves, since that's where peace must begin. Visit www.64-days.org to download all 64 practices or to sign up to receive them as daily email mini-lessons.

we know our status. do you?

On Friday, One Mango Tree was converted into a mobile HIV/AIDS testing center. The Visions in Action (VIA) clinic set up shop on our front proch, and our apparel section was changed into a private counseling room. CP and Josephine, social workers with Visions in Action, spent the morning with our tailors, providing quick-tests and individual counseling to share results and discuss HIV prevention.

The ladies were thrilled to be tested, and VIA made it very easy by bringing testing into the workplace. Once everyone was tested, VIA passed out condoms, posters and leaflets on HIV awareness. They'll be back in three months to provide a follow-up session, and helping the women to get used to a regular routine for getting tested.

They'll also be back to provide a family planning session - a welcome lesson for our tailors who just gave birth and want to learn to space their children.

Visions in Action provides free HIV/AIDS testing and outreach in Northern Uganda. They will test and counsel 10,000 individuals per month in 2010.

HIV testing and counseling at one mango tree

Visions in Action community educator Ochora Christopher spent two hours with One Mango Tree's tailors today, providing them vital information on HIV. He spoke about the ABC approach (Abstinence, Being faithful to one partner, and Condom use), the effectiveness of the latest antiretroviral (ARV) medications, and the voluntary testing procedure being offered at One Mango Tree. Using 'rapid testing,' VIA staff are able to inform clients of their HIV status almost immediately and provide private counseling and referrals, if needed.

This counseling and testing came about as part of a needs assessment conducted by Ruth Martin, a One Mango Tree volunteer in Gulu. The ladies were eager to know their status and learn about prevention and treatment. In partnership with VIA, an organization with experience in Northern Uganda, we set up a free testing and counseling session for the ladies. Tailors will also bring their husbands/partners and any other family members who wish to be tested, as VIA's mobile testing center will set up shop on our compound on Friday, January 15th.

origin uganda. crafted by hand.

In partnership with COMPETE, USAID's East African Competitiveness and Trade Expansion Program, One Mango Tree is organizing Origin Uganda. Crafted by Hand.

The event is a private reception for Ugandan Government officials and other civil society members - to show the diversity and beauty of crafts being produced in Uganda. We're aiming to illustrate that handicrafts are a viable export industry that can create sustainable jobs for women in Uganda.

There are a lot of barriers to export for craft groups here, one of which being the high cost of exporting - namely shipping and duties - and what can be a very difficult process in taking all the appropriate steps to operate legally as an exporter.

Origin Uganda is a big first step to bring together the African Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA) office, Ministry of Trade and Industry, and other key players - so that we can show off the amazing products being made by artisans around their country, and make it easier for other groups to enter the global market for handmade products.

For our part, One Mango Tree is working with COMPETE and the Government of Uganda to apply for Category 9 exception from the US Dept of Commerce. This exception allows handmade textiles to qualify for duty-free status, allowing artisans using these fabrics to increase competitiveness in their pricing.

art and identity in uganda

Do the crafts produced by artisans represent their cultural traditions and community values, or have the crafts changed to reflect those of the western market? Do western market demands influence the value system of the culture? Do these organizations build sustainable self sufficiency for artisans?

During the summer of 2008, a George Washington University student named Shaina Shealy was in Gulu asking these questions. She spent time with the One Mango Tree tailors in Lucy's market stall and visited our training programs in the IDP camps, always questioning and gathering information to answer these questions. Check out the result of Shaina's work in this beautiful slideshow of her photography, which is being featured at GWU's Smith Hall of Art (exhibit pictured at left), and the YWCA in Birmingham, Alabama. One Mango Tree is featured at the two-minute mark on the video.



Here are some excerpts from Shaina's (below, right, with Lucy and trainees at Bobi IDP Camp) research:

"As I conceived of this project, I saw national identity and globalization as two separate and opposing themes. I saw the unique artistic qualities of Ugandan artists as targets threatened by globalization. Yet, I found that globalization had not weakened the cultural expression, but rather it redefined it. National identity as expressed through art is in constant re-formation. It is built through experiences, impressions and perceptions which are fluid. Each artist featured in this study had been exposed to globalization, yet each artist maintained a strong national identity in her work."

"During this project I saw, first hand, the economic and psychological benefits the artists reaped as a consequence of the art they produced. They found their voices in their art. But the ultimate gift of self-sufficiency was obtained as a result of being a part of a supporting organization that offered life skills trainings, support groups, and/or basic security for its participants in addition to a forum for the produciton of art. Economic independence is crucial for women in developing countries."

christmas dance party

Aloyo Concy, breakin it down

I'm home visiting my family in Cleveland, Ohio for Christmas. It's freezing cold and a bit snowy (yay!) out here, the halls are decked and the holiday gifts all wrapped under the tree. At times it feels a million miles away from Gulu - and today I wished I could somehow be teleported back to our workshop for the One Mango Tree Christmas Party.

Our ladies really know how to party. The event, complete with local food and a screening of the IOM production video, turned into an all-day Acholi dance-a-thon. Check it out:

one mango tree christmas dance party from amy karr on Vimeo.

The production floor was transformed into a movie theater:

Our party kicked off the Christmas holiday week for our tailors. Our workshop is closed, so the ladies will spend the week with their families. Each tailor also received her annual bonus, which will go a long way in making 2009 a wonderful Christmas.

We all hope you are doing the same!

human rights day - december 10th

Nagawa Grace, at home with her daughter

Human Rights Day marks the anniversary of the 1948 signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. What does it mean to you?

"It is difficult to imagine today just what a fundamental shift the Universal Declaration of Human Rights represented when it was adopted sixty years ago. In a post-war world scarred by the Holocaust, divided by colonialism and wracked by inequality, a charter setting out the first global and solemn commitment to the inherent dignity and equality of all human beings, regardless of colour, creed or origin, was a bold and daring undertaking."

--High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour

I just finished reading Half the Sky - Nick Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn's collaborative work on human rights issues facing women around the world. It encouraged a timely shift in my thinking about the work we do at One Mango Tree, and the effect of economic empowerment on women in places like Northern Uganda. What does our work have to do with human rights?

The majority of our tailors had no work prior to employment with One Mango Tree. Most of them had very little education. They often sat at home, caring for their children, but with little voice and less opportunity. Gaining reliable employment is more than just a job - it's emancipation. As these women gain skill, they develop a louder and stronger voice. They send their children to school. They stand out as positive examples to the huge number of youth in Northern Uganda. They show what is possible, taking a strong, confident stance in the workplace, at home and in their communities.

Women aren't the problem - they are the solution.

This Human Rights Day, help One Mango Tree emancipate more women - shop our products and spread the word. The more you buy, the more jobs and opportunities you create for change. That change is truly a gift worth giving.