One door closes…

…and another opens.  It is sad to say, but the time has arrived for us to say goodbye to our Marketing and Social Media interns.  However, despite our sadness at letting them go, we are so excited for their future endeavors and to work with our new intern in the summer!

Alyssa bids us farewell after nearly a year working as our Social Media Intern.  We are sad to lose her, but alas we must as she will be heading to Uruguay to study for the Fall semester!  Alyssa started at Ten Thousand Villages almost two years ago as a volunteer during her freshman year just down the road at St. Edward’s University.  She is studying Sociology and Spanish.

During her time here, Alyssa produced several videos, wrote about 20 blog posts, and scheduled countless facebook posts and tweets.  She also helped to organize and promote several events, such as One Reason Why and International Women’s Week. She also coordinated several online and in-store competitions–her favorite competition was the Favorite Things Competition.  Her final project has been to create a three part Social Media Report with information on our progress and ideas for the future on Facebook, WordPress, and Twitter.

Volunteer Coordinator, Alice May Berthelsen, says that “Alyssa has certainly taken our Social Media efforts ‘to the next level’ and has created a wonderful platform for us to use in our future endeavors… and that’s no small feat!”

Bernie leaves us after working hard for a semester as our Marketing Intern.  She will be returning home for the summer to work and, of course, continue photography.  Bernie also attends St. Edward’s University and is studying Photography and Communications.

While with us, Bernie has helped us develop marketing strategies for e-mail and for events such as World Fair Trade Day.  She also created the adorable scrapbook you might have seen in the store documenting Kitty’s adventures through India.

As Store Manager, Kitty Bird, says:

“I really enjoyed Bernie’s passion and excitement–it was easy to see how dedicated she was to the cause.  She always came to the store with great ideas and ready to work.”

 We look forward to seeing all the wonderful things Bernie will do with her life–don’t forget about us when you are a famous band promoter/photographer!

The Social Media Internship and the Marketing Internship will be combined after this semester to create one super awesome position–the Communications Internship.  This position will be filled by Baillee for the summer.  NOTE: keep posted for a blog post introducing Baillee, a super fun and quirky girl and also a St. Edward’s student (where y’all at, UT students?!)   However, the Communications Internship as well as the Education Internship will be available for the Fall semesters.  If you are interested, read below for more information on these two positions. If you’re not interested, then use the extra time to go sign-up for our Fair Trade Challenge!

COMMUNICATIONS INTERNSHIP:

Role: Maintain Facebook and Twitter accounts, assist with planning and strategizing our major events, send out store/ product related emails to customer base, write occasional blog posts, assemble calendar for blog post and major events, and create signage to display around the store advertising new items, sale items, etc. Engage with customer base on sales floor, be an assertive advocate for Ten Thousand Villages of Austin in networking with other organizations, and nurture and poster partnerships with other organizations.

Skills needed: email marketing/ social media, customer service, fundraising, assertive work style. Graphic design a plus!

EDUCATION INTERNSHIP:

Role: Assist the Volunteer Coordinator and the Education Group in training and educating volunteers, customers, and the Austin Community about Fair Trade

Skills needed: Passion for the learning process, enjoy engaging in meaningful discussions with others, and drive to learn more about Fair Trade.

Interested? Email Alice May at volunteers.austin@tenthousandvillages.com

Are YOU up for the challenge…

In Celebration of World Fair Trade Day, be a challenger and join the movement in raising awareness!  Be an example of what it means to “Live the Fair Trade Life” by eating, drinking, wearing and using Fair Trade products.  Then, tag pictures of you doing these things on Facebook and Twitter (@AustinVillages).  Stick it to ‘em and wear an “I am Fair Trade” sticker each day to show your dedication to the cause.  Come by the store starting May 4 to pick your sticker up!

After you’ve completed the challenge, come join us at the World Fair Trade Day Party May 12 from 10a-7p.  Come pick up your Challenge Award and party with other challengers at Ten Thousand Villages of Austin (1317 South Congress)! Enjoy henna artists, music, coffee, chocolate…and more!

Ready to go?  Alright then-sign up here!

 

RAISE AWARENESS. BE FAIR TRADE.

Celebrate Earth Day, Shop Fair Trade!

Earth Day is April 22…but why wait until then? Celebrate Earth Day by shopping with us TOMORROW APRIL 21.  5% of our sales this day will go to 6 regional non-profits:

Clean Water Fund

Sierra Club

Friends of Barton Springs Pool

Hill Country Conservancy

Texas Land Conservancy

TreeFolks

Also, Earth Day is the perfect time to sign-up for fresh, local veggies & flowers from Green Gate Farms CSA.  Ten Thousand Villages of Austin is now a pick-up spot every Wednesday, so make sure to sign up here.

(To learn more about 5% Day throughout Austin, click the logo below)

Help better our community, environment, and world by shopping fair trade!

Sassy, breezy, heavenly….Sarongs are Here!

Who can believe that we are already in the high 80′s…and it’s not even May yet?!  Although this may be a sign of a VERY hot summer, it is not all bad–mainly because it means we can bust out our summer clothes a little early and head to the Greenbelt for some swimming and tanning!  Speaking of summer clothes…

OUR SARONGS HAVE ARRIVED!

In honor of the arrival of both our sarongs and the perfect warm weather to wear them in, here’s a post dedicated to some different ways to wear the sarongs as suggested by Serenitys Journey.  Our two interns, Bernie and Alyssa, did a little photo shoot to model the different styles, and we think they may have had a bit too much fun…

 SASSY SKIRT

This is a perfect way to wear your sarong over a swim suit while you lounge around the pool (perhaps dreaming of Ryan Gosling like our intern Alyssa does)!  For this fun and relaxed look:

1. Hold the sarong around you at your waist, grabbing a corner in each hand.
2. Then, bring them together at one side and tie snugly above your hip.
3. A quick tip: For a shorter look, fold the fabric in half before wrapping.

HEAVENLY HALTER

For this slightly more elegant style, great to wear for a brunch on the patio…

1. First center the sarong behind your back, just below your shoulder blades.
2. Wrap the fabric around your body by bringing the two corners forward below your arms.
3. Cross the ends over your bust and tie them behind your neck.  Voila–an instant summer halter!

BREEZY BANDEAU

This look is great for leisurely stroll through the park or a trip to Zilker.

1. First, drape the sarong across your back while holding a corner in each hand.
2. Draw your arms forward to wrap the fabric around your body.
3. The key to gorgeous draping? Hold the fabric underneath your arms so your hands are free to twist each end before making a knot just above your bust.

TRY IT WITH A BUCKLE

To add this accent made out of coconut (that’s right, coconut!), just follow these three simple steps:

1. First, hold the sarong behind your body.
2. Position sarong around your waist and fasten with buckle.
3. Finally, feed the corners back into the buckle making sure enough of the sarong enters the buckle so that you can pull it tight and finish up with a knot if you like.

For more detailed instructions and a look at all our different sarongs, come into the store-we can’t wait to show you all the magical ways to utilize our wonderful sarongs!

Meet the Staff!

Third times a charm!  For those of you who have been confused by the many times we have posted this blog, we apologize–a few technical difficulties got the better of us!

Watch the videos and read the blurbs below to learn a little bit more about our four staff members. Those of you who think you already know them might be surprised!

Meet Alice May

Meet Christa

Meet Kitty

Meet Becky

Becky has been volunteering at Ten Thousand Villages since 2007 and has been our countess part-time since Jan of 2010.  A little known fact about Becky is that she likes to cook. She says, “because I often don’t follow a recipe, I have to make up names for the stuff I cook because my husband likes to know what he is eating!”  She also has five dogs, all of whom are rescue dogs.   To Becky, “Fair Trade means empowerment…  It helps people better themselves and their living situation and the lives of their families.  I love that saying, ‘If you want Peace, work for justice.’ Fair trade is about treating people fairly, and that to me is justice.”  Such a great quote, and being shared by such a great woman, no less!  Thanks Becky, for all you do!

The Women of Ten Thousand Villages of Austin

Third times a charm!  For those of you who have been confused by the many times we have posted this blog, we apologize–a few technical difficulties got the better of us!

Watch the videos and read the blurbs below to learn a little bit more about our four staff members. Those of you who think you already know them might be surprised!

Meet Alice May

Meet Christa

Meet Kitty

Meet Becky

Becky has been volunteering at Ten Thousand Villages since 2007 and has been our countess part-time since Jan of 2010.  A little known fact about Becky is that she likes to cook. She says, “because I often don’t follow a recipe, I have to make up names for the stuff I cook because my husband likes to know what he is eating!”  She also has five dogs, all of whom are rescue dogs.   To Becky, “Fair Trade means empowerment…  It helps people better themselves and their living situation and the lives of their families.  I love that saying, ‘If you want Peace, work for justice.’ Fair trade is about treating people fairly, and that to me is justice.”  Such a great quote, and being shared by such a great woman, no less!  Thanks Becky, for all you do!

What Would the People of Earth be Without Women?

In honor of International Women’s Day our social media intern, Alyssa, reviews the book “Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide”

Half the Sky is written by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, the first couple ever to win a Pulitzer Prize.  As Rohini Pande of Harvard Magazine puts it, this novel “is more than just journalism. It’s a tract that’s unashamedly intended to outline a problem and convince its readers to take action to solve it.” The problem outlined is the abuse, neglect, oppression and exploitation of women worldwide.  The manifestation of these range from maternal mortality to fistulas to sex trafficking to systemic rape to gendercide.

A few quotes to get you thinking…

“It appears that more girls have been killed in the last fifty years, precisely because they were girls, than men were killed in all the battles of the twentieth century.  More girls are killed in this routine ‘gendercide’ in any one decade than people were slaughtered in all the genocides of the twentieth century.”

“The equivalent of five jumbo jets’ worth of women die in labor each day, but the issue is almost never covered.”

“Women aged 15 through 45 are more likely to be maimed or die from male violence than from cancer, malaria, traffic accidents and war combined.”

What makes this book so important is that it not only presents problems but, more importantly, that it also presents solutions in an approachable manner. Each chapter is divided into two sections, the first detailing the horrors of a problem facing women and the second focusing on an individual or group whose actions have drastically improved the condition of women in regards to the problem.  For example, in the section discussing maternal mortality and fistulas, in addition to learning about the horrible realities of these issues, we also learn about such wonderful people as Edna Adan who after escaping from poverty and earning a successful position for the U.N. decided to return to her home country and open up a hospital to help service women who would otherwise remain almost entirely neglected.  Another wonderful woman is Dr. Catherine Hamlin who opened the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital with her late husband Reginald in Ethiopia which offers free fistula repair to women and girls.

Many of the issues facing women around the world I was vaguely aware of, others I was already passionate about, and some I didn’t know about at all.  However, no matter what the case was, Kristof and WuDunn always succeeded in teaching me something, whether it be about the issue itself or about a possible solution I had never considered.

An important fact about Half the Sky: It is a non-partisan book.  And by non-partisan I mean that Kristof and WuDunn point out the flaws of both political parties and emphasize how unproductive it is to involve politics in enacting justice.

One section that exemplifies this is the section on education.  Although I have always appreciated the power of an education, I never realized just how much impact it can have on a community. A few quotes on education…

“… the single most important way to encourage women and girls to stand up for their rights is education”

“‘Empowering women begins with education,’ she said” [quoting Mahdere Paulos, the woman who runs the Ethiopian Women Lawyers Association].

Although many of the solutions mentioned are important to consider, they might seem lofty for someone reading the book on their couch here in America.  But fear not, Kristof and WuDunn offer simple steps we can all take to make the world a better place. In addition to the final chapters of the book “What Can You Do” and “4 Steps You Can Take in the Next 10 Minutes”, measures for change we can accomplish are sprinkled throughout the novel.  For almost every solution they present, they explain what the cost would be and oftentimes it is much less that one would expect.  One part that stuck out to me was when they laid out the cost for de-worming kids in Africa to help keep them in school:

“‘The average American spends fifty dollars a year to deworm a dog; in Africa, you can deworm a child for fifty cents,’ says Peter Hotez of the Global Network for neglected Tropical Disease Control, a leader in the battle against worms.”

Amongst all these wonderful teachings and encouragements, however, I feel the most important lesson from Half the Sky is this:

“Women’s Rights are Human Rights”

I don’t meant to say that this book contains the answers to all of the world’s problems. I don’t even mean to say that I completely agree with everything Kristof and WuDunn wrote.  For example, though America is mentioned briefly as a contributor to these issues, the blame is generally placed on developing countries.  Although there may be a stronger presence of these issues in developing nations, we should not get off scot-free. A larger focus could have been placed on our indirect and direct relationships alike with the exploitation of women, primarily in the areas of slave labor and sex trafficking.

However, this book did get me started.  It opened the door to my desire for change and curiosity about how to enact this change.

Mark Twain’s response to the question posed in the title of this blog: “Scarce…mighty scarce”.  Although this is both funny and true, in honor of International Women’s Day I ask you to consider some other implications of a world where women-or, in other terms, half the world’s population-remain an untapped, exploited, and oppressed resource.

TO LEARN MORE…

Half the Sky Movement

SPECIAL THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING SOURCES…

Bonnie’s Books

Harvard Magazine

On the Issues