Our friend Brian made this video for us. Take a moment to watch it and see the many hand-made, fairly traded products for sale in our store.
Our friend Brian made this video for us. Take a moment to watch it and see the many hand-made, fairly traded products for sale in our store.
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All of us at Ten Thousand Villages of Austin are very grateful to our amazing customers, our dedicated volunteers, and our community of friends who help us in our support of Fair Trade. Please take time this holiday season to love one another and to continue to spread the fair trade story!
Do you still have a few last minute gifts on your list? Or maybe ALL your last minute gifts? We have over 1,000 items, affordably priced under $25.00, that are bound to please even the most particular friend or family member. As always, your purchase will help to provide a living wage for families in over 30 developing countries around the world and educational opportunities for our artisans and their children. Every item, and every artisan, has a story behind it that we’ll be happy to share with you! So, make Ten Thousand Villages of Austin your one-stop shop for the holidays, where the impact of your purchase will be felt around the world.
A few of our holiday favorites:

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Tagged: holiday, nativity, ornaments

Raja Bannoura, West Bank
Raja Bannoura Workshop, based in Beit Sahour, a village on the east side of Bethlehem, produces hand–carved olive wood products. Bannoura coordinates orders for many olive wood carvers and workshops in Beit Sahour. He collects pruned olive branches and wood, stacks them in his yard, and dries them for six to nine months before cutting the wood for use. Laminating many small rectangular pieces together makes the larger flat pieces for nativities. Using small pieces of wood ensures that olive trees are not cut down for carving purposes.
Raja Bannoura began working with olive wood in his family workshop in Beit Sahour in 1974.
Ten Thousand Villages purchases olive wood nativities, ornaments and rosaries from Raja Bannoura. Ten Thousand Villages has purchased products from Raja Bannoura since 1978.
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Tagged: holidays, olive wood, ornaments, West Bank

Mike Muchilwa directs the work of KICK Trading, a Ten Thousand Villages trading partner in Kisumu, Kenya. Kisumu was a site of much post-election violence in Kenya earlier this year.
Muchilwa shares his thoughts and observations on the violence and its impact on Kisumu and the work done by KICK:
Kisumu, located on Lake Victoria in Western Kenya, and the location of KICK Trading, suffered economic damage of more than $45 million, which will take as many as 20 years to rebuild. Thousands have lost their livelihoods, and crime has risen proportionally. Property has been looted and destroyed, and the city resembled a war zone.
International observers have recognized the need to address many underlying issues that have boiled to the surface following disputed elections in Kenya. Key issues have been unemployment, poverty and inequality. Kenya has the third worst income distribution in the world, with 20 percent of its population controlling half its wealth. Many unemployed people, desperate to earn a living, have been forced into the informal sector, popularly known as the “jua kali” (Swahili for hot sun). It is these producers with whom KICK Trading has worked since its inception. The organization has always seen the potential of these marginalized people who have been left out of the formal economy.
I believe many artisans would have joined the looting, destruction and death had it not been for fair trade. Others have been rehabilitated from crime and prostitution because fair trade gave them the means to earn an honest living. When fair trade opportunities are lost, we see the death, desperation and hopelessness arising.
Fortunately, all of KICK’s producers were alright, with no reports of any having been harmed. Credit goes to partners like Ten Thousand Villages in the United States and Canada, as well as Trade Aid New Zealand, whose orders have kept producers working in spite of the hardships Kisumu faces. The recent chaos has strengthened KICK’s resolve to promote fair trade and benefit many more marginalized producers and desperate youth. With support from its trading partners, KICK can prevent a young life from becoming a death statistic—and prove that fair trade does save lives.
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Of course, you know that all the products in our store are handmade and fairly traded, but did you also know that some of the products do not come to us through Ten Thousand Villages? One of our favorite non-Ten Thousand Villages fair trade vendors is based right here in Austin, Texas! Handmade Expressions is a vendor for socially and environmentally responsible products from India. Like Ten Thousand Villages, they work with underprivileged and disadvantaged artisans to improve their economic and social standing by creating self-sustainable employment following fair trade practices.
One of our best sellers from Handmade Expressions is the cruelty-free, tree-free leather bound journals.
The really cool thing about these journals is how they are made. All the leather is cruelty-free, which means it comes from naturally dead animals. The journals are made in Rajasthan, India. Livestock has a lot of agricultural and household value for the vegetarian population in India, which makes it economically unwise to kill animals for their skin. Inside the sturdy hand-tooled cover is a thick journal of cotton rag paper. Artisans collect cotton waste and turn it into a pulp, making paper that is 100% tree-free. The final result: a rich textured paper, great for writing, drawing and painting.
Handmade Expressions has a wonderful website with lots of information about fair trade and lots of great pictures of the artisans who produce their merchandise. Be sure to check out the Community Development Projects that they are working on and their fair trade blog.
(author: Polly, Ten Thousand Villages Austin Volunteer Coordinator)

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Tagged: Handmade Expressions, India, journals, paper products, stationary
Felipe Enriquez (right) with his son, Luis (center), and brother, Julio (left), create beautiful ceramics for Ten Thousand Villages. Felipe comes from Ayacucho, a large town in the Andes mountains of Peru.
Felipe has high hopes for his children. His son, Luis, sees the success of his father and uncle’s business, and wants to follow in their footsteps. Ten Thousand Villages’ purchases from Felipe’s workshop, through Manos Amigas, are helping to provide hope and a bright future for this family and for others in their neighborhood.
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Tagged: ceramics, Christmas, Hands Nativity, Manos Amigas, Peru, Shining Path