A select group of students were able to meet directly with coffee farmers over the course of a week.

M. Sheridan/CRS

Here are some of their reflections:

“My expectations for the trip were very basic, as I simply expected to learn about [Catholic Relief Services]and the entire fair trade process. However, as I learned how these organizations worked in México and internationally, I was deeply and unexpectedly moved by the people we met at the Maya Vinic and Michizá communities.  The kindness and dedication of the people to their vocation simply amazed me. Upon my return I have found myself discussing this trip with anyone willing to listen. I explain the fair trade process and the benefits the producers would reap because of it in an attempt to have more individuals purchase these products.”~ Erick Diaz, Freshman

I’m delighted to read of Erick’s enthusiasm and his help spreading the word about the benefits of Fair Trade.  But I am also glad to read this from senior, Ashlen Nimmo, who I have had the pleasure of meeting a couple of times:

“….I had been expecting that all of the benefits of fair trade would be made obvious to me, and that simply was not the case. Especially while we were in Oaxaca we learned a lot about the challenges that the farmers still face, despite the fact that they are part of a fair trade cooperative. This was one of the biggest challenges for me on the trip. One of the farmers remarked that fair trade, although it was the best option for them, was still not completely fair. This conversation helped to open my eyes to the complexities of fair trade. I think this was a positive thing for me, though. Although it can be disheartening to see the flaws, it is also humbling and helps me to recognize that the fight against poverty is no easy battle and promoting and purchasing fair trade is just one part of that fight.”

Ashlen and another USD buddy of mine, Hannah Evans, along with the whole delegation, are humble but energetic leaders in the fight for economic justice in their campus and their community.   The Fund is made possible by partner contributions we receive every time you purchase Work of Human Hands crafts, Fair Trade coffee and “Raise Money Right” chocolate.  Thanks to all of you who made their trip–and mine–possible participating in CRS Fair Trade!

“Two things are true for me this holiday season; everything fair trade seems to be a little more expensive than everything not fair trade and college students are flat broke.  So why would college students pursue the goal of bringing fair trade items to our college campus? For me, the answer is in my faith.

As a Catholic I am called to recognize and respect the dignity of every human person, and included in this, is learning respect in the economic world, one that maybe isn’t so connected to the “Catholic world”.  But the way I see it, every aspect of the secular world is connect to my faith somehow.  By coming to a better understanding of the practices and ideologies of the economy I live in, I have seen the injustices occurring all around the world.  Many people work in inhumane conditions and receive largely less than a livable wage.  The work of millions of people around the world is not being respected under the conventional economic system.  As a Catholic, I was taught to question the ideas and ethics of our society.  From an economic standpoint, we are confronted with these questions:

“Every perspective on economic life that is human, moral, and Christian

must be shaped by three questions:

What does the economy do for people?

What does it do to people?

And how do people participate in it?”

—Economic Justice for All

So how is this system of “free” trade helping the economy?  What does it do for the people? And how do the people participate in it?  The answers aren’t necessarily easy to come to, especially when the culture of our economy is based on the idea of free trade as a means to gain profit and sustain a capitalistic society.  Free trade is the only idea that the majority of our society know.  They hear  the term “fair trade” and say, “What’s that?”   Fair trade needs to become a more present alternative in our society.  Fair trade is the ethical and fair way to practice production and consumerism.  Under a fair trade system, the craftsmen and women, the farmers, the workers who produce the majority of consumer products around the world are offered a fair wage; the wealth from our consumer culture is distributed more justly to those whose hands are the laborers.  By advocating for a fair trade economic system, we cannot only better respect the human dignity of smaller-scale producers, but we can act in solidarity with those around the world in need.  We can ensure that those making our coffee, our chocolate, our home goods, etc. are receiving just compensation, and that our system of profit making doesn’t supersede  the worth of a human being.”

Interest in Fair Trade is increasing on Catholic campuses. photo credit: Wetzler Studios for CRS

The break provided at the holiday season is a great time to educate yourself about economic justice.   The CRS Fair Trade resources are great conversation starts for family time too!

September 26th
John Carroll University, OH
Ohio Fair Trade Expo
“Ok, so technically September isn’t Fair Trade Month. But let’s be honest, when it comes to organizing and educating folks on Fair Trade an early start is always a good thing. I’ll start by saying what a beginning to Fair Trade Month! This event was incredible. Organized by CRS Fair Trade Ambassador, Chris Kerr and Fair Trade interns on campus, they pulled together a diverse audience of Fair Trade experts and Fair Trade beginners. Myself, CRS Fair Trade partner, Equal Exchange, and many CRS friends were on hand to give workshops throughout the day. And in between presentations was a fantastic Fair Trade marketplace. I was very glad the CRS Fair Trade Fund was able to help sponsor the event and hope it fuels the Fair Trade movement in Ohio. A special thanks to Natalie Terry for being my local guide. To find out more about the Ohio Fair Trade Expo visit their facebook page or watch the video on youtube.”

Marketplace at the Ohio Fair Trade Expo. Wetzler Studios for CRS

October 6th
Cabrini College
LaSalle University
Philadelphia, PA
“A busy and exciting day for me! First things first. A visit to Cabrini College for their Fair Trade Day, a kick off to Fair Trade month. With amazing effort from Cabrini staff, students and dining services, Cabrini’s cafe brought in coffee from CRS Fair Trade partner, Peace Coffee, to be served throughout October. Not only is it from Peace Coffee, but the coffee itself was grown by farmers of the APECAFORM cooperative in Guatemala, a cooperative CRS has been working with for a few years. Talk about directly supporting CRS beneficiaries! I was lucky enough to be around for the free tastings CRS Campus Ambassadors held that morning to introduce the coffee to the students.” Check out the photo of Bit, Nicole and Shannon working the coffee pots!

“Now fully caffeinated, I headed over to LaSalle University to meet Brother Bob Kinzler and give a presentation on Fair Trade. I’d never been to LaSalle before and wow, what a campus! LaSalle is just getting involved in Fair Trade and Fair Trade month is the perfect opportunity to start holding events for students. What I found really intriguing was when Brother Bob told me that the school asked students to write on different “essay” questions related to the LaSallian mission of the university. One of the questions this year was how economic justice is related to the Catholic faith. I’d say that’s a pretty good place to start as they build a fair trade movement on campus.”

Bit, Nicole and Shannon serving Peace Coffee at Cabrini

October 8th
DePaul University, Chicago IL
Meeting with students
“Full disclosure here. I’m a DePaul University alum. So it was great returning to campus and finding a group of students ready to take fair trade beyond the coffee they drink in the dining hall and make it a movement. Not just at DePaul, but starting to plan an event that would bring together the Catholic colleges within Chicago. In the meantime, they’re planning a chocolate fundraiser with CRS Fair Trade partner Equal Exchange. I’m not being biased when I say, I was very impressed with the students at DePaul. The people in the room knew Fair Trade and had very specific questions about the movement and how to make it happen on campus. I knew I was talking to the right people. Thanks to Julie for pulling it all together.”

October 9th and 10th
University of Notre Dame, IN
Renewing the Campus: Conference on Sustainability
“This was one of those conferences you go into thinking you know the subject pretty well, and come out realizing all the different perspectives you never thought of. For me it was the theology of sustainability. However, it was also a good time for me to realize how many people may not consider Fair Trade to be a part of the sustainability movement. We talk a lot about climate change and how it will affect the poorest of poor, the people who had very little with causing climate change, however we rarely talk about how to involve those very people in the adaptions to and prevention of climate change. Which to me begs the question, are we really addressing the issues of the people who need the most help. While many colleges and universities associate sustainability with green buildings, recycling and composting, local and organic purchasing (all good things), fair trade is our opportunity to participate in a system that not only helps these disadvantaged populations economically, but also stresses dialogue and mutual understanding. I really thank Notre Dame for inviting me to hold a workshop at this conference, to add to the voices saying sustainability isn’t just about the environment. But in fact, we need also to pay attention to the social and economic aspects of sustainability for the concept of sustainability to really be sustainable.”

October 13th
Dominican University
River Forest, IL
Presentation to students
“This visit started off right! I got to campus in need of a coffee and found Dominican’s Pura Vida Cafe. Not just Fair Trade, but a CRS Fair Trade partner! And then, the room where our talk was happening was filled with Fair Trade products. Coffee and chocolate samples galore. Before I began my talk I was informed one of the classes present had spent the previous class learning about Fair Trade. So Fair Trade’s not just in the cafe, but also in the classroom. And again, I was so impressed by the questions of the students. Focusing not just on the price of the product, but the quality of life of the producers. Thanks to the Students for Peace and Justice for organizing the event and celebrating Fair Trade Month!”

Final Thoughts
Thank you to all the universities that hosted CRS this Fair Trade Month and for our CRS regional offices for inviting me out to do these talks. It’s not only great to see all the activities being done on college campuses around Fair Trade, but it’s great to see the diverse groups involved in those activities. For those interested in being more involved in Fair Trade on campus, ask around! It may be a peace and justice student group, campus ministry, the “green” committee/group, etc., that’s already working on it. If you need help bringing Fair Trade to your campus, our regional offices are ready to help connect you to the right people, or you can check out CRS College to get information on the variety of CRS activities happening on college campuses around the country.

Yesterday I was fortunate to be with the good folks at San Diego Friends of Fair Trade. They are a rather young (meaning the coalition has been around for about a couple of years) group of volunteers who want to build awareness of Fair Trade in the San Diego community. Whether volunteers from Christ Lutheran Church, small business owners from Karma Mart, or students from US San Diego, the group is united by genuine concern for marginalized producers overseas and how their local community can reach out to “make the world a better place” as coalition president Carolyn Lief said. Reach out they did!

Hosted by Cafe Moto, a family run coffee business that is committed to continuous improvement in its volume of Fair Trade coffee purchases, the coalition packed a bunch of great activities into a beautiful sunny California morning. There were presentations (from yours truly and representatives of the coalition), a coffee supply chain skit performed by students from the University of San Diego and, of course, our effort at being involved in the World’s Largest Fair Trade coffee break.

As somebody who has been organizing World Fair Trade Day events for about six years now, it was inspiring to see how this energized band of volunteers created a unique celebration of Fair Trade values. It was a perfect mix of uplifting Fair Trade principles for our brothers and sisters overseas while working to promote economic justice locally.

After we raised our mugs in solidarity with coffee farmers and sampled Fair Trade chocolate with origins in Ghana and Peru we enjoyed soup from The Tomorrow Project of Catholic Charities. The project collaborates with well-known San Diego chefs to develop recipes for gourmet soups that are then created by homeless women learning culinary and workplace skills.

Usually I say it is an honor to be invited to speak at these events, and it sure was! But it was also a real pleasure to hang out with a hundred or so citizens of San Diego who so sincerely want to live out the theme of the day: transforming lives through Fair Trade.