Disability Is Not Inability
If you live in southern Ontario and you're wondering what to do with yourself on the weekend of the 29th of September, I've got a suggestion for you. Rev up the engine, "pack up the babies and grab the old ladies" and everybody go to the New Hamburg location of the Ten Thousand Villages chain. It's a hop, skip and a jump away from Stratford, at 65B Heritage Drive, and it's going to be the site of a tent sale on from the 27th to the 29th. All items in the tent will be sold at 75% off. If you have questions about getting there, call Catherine at 519-662-1879. If you know you won't be able to go in person but you'd still to like to do a little shopping, follow this link to fill your virtual shopping cart with some incredible one-of-a-kind items that make great gifts. The prices are reasonable and the selection is amazing.
In case you feel the need of a good reason to go to the sale or the website for your shopping, you could get all kinds of them, but let me just tell you about one in particular. These stores are all not-for-profit and operate on the principle of
"be(ing) the change you want to see in the world." If the idea of Fair Trade is important to you, than you're already on board for a trip to a Ten Thousand Villages store. All surplus from the stores is used to expand new market opportunities and to build the capacity of the artisans to be successful. A perfect example of that is to be found in the Bombolulu Workshop for the Handicapped in Kenya.
Started in 1969 as a rehabilitation project for the physically disabled of the country, it has grown to a dynamic site on the outskirts of Mombasa that includes a ranking as a tourist destination. Since the government of Kenya offers no aid or welfare to its disabled citizens, they have been disproportionately represented among the ranks of Kenya's destitute, but as of 2004, 160 artisans have found employment at Bombolulu. They specialize in woodcarving, jewellery making, tailoring or leatherwork. Most of them receive free housing at the site, or rent subsidies, as well as healthcare, assistance with school fess, retirement benefits, trade union memberships and a secure monthly wage that is twice the country's minimum wage. An artisan who decides to set out on their own will be given financial assistance to start their own business.
When you shop at any Ten Thousand Villages location, some of your money could very well end up there in Kenya, helping to provide the means for a dignified self-sufficiency to a person who might never have it otherwise. How do you set a price tag on putting a smile on the face of one of your brothers or sisters that you helped to save from inability?
Started in 1946 by Edna Ruth Byler, a Mennonite Central Worker who brought home a few pieced of Puerto Rican embroidery to sell to neighbours, the Ten Thousand Villages has evolved into an official MCC program. Now a member of the International Fair Trade Association, it is a non-governmental, self-supporting organization whose philosophy is that trade should have a conscience.
If any of this sounds good to you, take a minute to look into the Ten Thousand Villages, and maybe fill the gas tank for that trip out to New Hamburg this coming weekend.
In case you feel the need of a good reason to go to the sale or the website for your shopping, you could get all kinds of them, but let me just tell you about one in particular. These stores are all not-for-profit and operate on the principle of
"be(ing) the change you want to see in the world." If the idea of Fair Trade is important to you, than you're already on board for a trip to a Ten Thousand Villages store. All surplus from the stores is used to expand new market opportunities and to build the capacity of the artisans to be successful. A perfect example of that is to be found in the Bombolulu Workshop for the Handicapped in Kenya.
Started in 1969 as a rehabilitation project for the physically disabled of the country, it has grown to a dynamic site on the outskirts of Mombasa that includes a ranking as a tourist destination. Since the government of Kenya offers no aid or welfare to its disabled citizens, they have been disproportionately represented among the ranks of Kenya's destitute, but as of 2004, 160 artisans have found employment at Bombolulu. They specialize in woodcarving, jewellery making, tailoring or leatherwork. Most of them receive free housing at the site, or rent subsidies, as well as healthcare, assistance with school fess, retirement benefits, trade union memberships and a secure monthly wage that is twice the country's minimum wage. An artisan who decides to set out on their own will be given financial assistance to start their own business.
When you shop at any Ten Thousand Villages location, some of your money could very well end up there in Kenya, helping to provide the means for a dignified self-sufficiency to a person who might never have it otherwise. How do you set a price tag on putting a smile on the face of one of your brothers or sisters that you helped to save from inability?
Started in 1946 by Edna Ruth Byler, a Mennonite Central Worker who brought home a few pieced of Puerto Rican embroidery to sell to neighbours, the Ten Thousand Villages has evolved into an official MCC program. Now a member of the International Fair Trade Association, it is a non-governmental, self-supporting organization whose philosophy is that trade should have a conscience.
If any of this sounds good to you, take a minute to look into the Ten Thousand Villages, and maybe fill the gas tank for that trip out to New Hamburg this coming weekend.
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