SFAC Launches Nutrition Improvement Project with Faire Collection

Last year, when we at Shopping for a Change became aware that malnutrition and severe hunger was one of the biggest challenges faced by artisans from the Kichwa Tribes in the Amazon regions of Ecuador, we initiated the Nutritional Empowerment Project in cooperation with Faire Collection, one of our partnering artisan organizations.

The project, now jointly funded with net proceeds from our 2013 customer purchases and an in-kind donation from Faire Collection is underway.

On May 1st, Joy Bittner of Faire Collection traveled to the Amazon region to meet with the three communities who are participating in the project: Nueva Esperanza, San Pedro and San Francisco. It was then she introduced them to the project, completed enrollments, and implemented baseline surveys. Joy reported back to us that, “the people are really excited about the project…and the idea of organic gardening practices. Talking specifically with one family, they completely understood the importance right away as they had previously lived deep in the jungle (they said 25 kilometers from any real road) and so were used to living completely off the land.  Now they say with the widespread use of pesticides and chemicals (even in rural Ecuador) they are very concerned with the effect that they will have on the land and especially the rivers. They are very conscientious of being upstream of many of the Amazon waterways and very much want to conserve the natural environment that we are living in.”

The initial workshops to launch this project are scheduled for May 17 and 18^th, and will be led by the consultant we hired.

We hope you are proud to know that your all of your purchases last year are what made this project possible, and that by shopping on our fair trade marketplace you truly do help better people’s lives both domestically and around the globe. We think this project is going to be a great success, and have you all to thank for it.

Here are a few photos of the Kichwa artisans and families that Joy shared with us from her trip.