Our speciality at Tribes and Nations is to help you make a difference where you are at. From the chance to make your cupboard fair to promoting at work, school or church, we can help!

Would you like some great resources? Find links to video, class guides, games and power point presentations that will make you look like a seasoned fairtrade pro! See all of this on our Youth Resources page. Find posters with coffee tea and cocoa facts, partner profiles and more on our resource page.

We encourage everyone to start small and do as much research as you can. The simplest and most cost effective system we provide is the Fairtrade Coffee Break. This comes with a short speech, plenty of Fairtrade web sites and a way of creatively presenting Fairtrade to your friends and associates.

The next step up for bigger groups is the Fairtrade Starter Pack. Its focus is to physically display the broad range of Fairtrade coffee, tea and chocolate available while educating on Fairtrade. It includes fact sheets and a free coffee and tea so people can try as they buy and learn.

Alternatively, you may want to take on a Consignment pack in order to receive a full range or handcrafts and coffee, teas and chocolates and even earn some money for your favourite charity while doing that.

 

From Ruth Fordyce at Parramatta Baptists

 

"Parramatta Baptist Church has run a successful “Fair Trade Fair” for the past 2 years, engaging our community on the issues of ethical consumption and fairly traded products.

 

On Sunday May 18th 2008, our first Fair Trade Fair was held in the grounds of Parramatta Baptist Church, in Northmead (western Sydney, NSW). The event was timed to fall at the end of Fair Trade Fortnight. To our knowledge, this was the first Fairtrade event to be held in Western Sydney.

 

Our aim was to promote awareness of fair trade products and where to find them, empowering people to make consumer choices that are ethical and provide a better future for producers around the world.

We invited and involved (where possible) local schools, politicians and the local community to come along and find out about the issues behind fair trade.

 

Leading up to the event, we spent time educating the members of our church about Fairtrade and ethical consumption. Many people had no idea about the injustices involved in the production of common products such as coffee, tea and chocolate, and were encouraged to discover there was something simple they could do, to make a difference – buy Fairtrade!

 

Our Fair Trade Fair featured a range of stalls selling fair trade products, informational speakers, and a fantastic children’s program, which engaged children on the issues behind fair trade. A number of families that attended commented on the value of the children’s program, as it helped kids to see what life might be like for a child growing up with parents who are not paid fairly for their work.

 

Every event needs food and drinks for sale … but at our Fair Trade Fair, even the refreshments were educational! We served ethically sourced coffee, tea and hot chocolate, while a number of the lunch and snack menu items highlighted creative ways to use fair trade food products.

 

Approximately 1500 people from our community came along, including our mayor and local MP! Many people went home with a fairly traded product in their hands (or stomachs!), as well as a “Where to Shop” brochure outlining many businesses that sell fair trade products online.

 

With this experience under our belt, in 2009 we were able to enhance our event even further. The word had spread and many more fair trade businesses were able to come and run a stall in our marketplace area.

We also added a sampling table where people could discover the huge range of Fairtrade teas and chocolates on the market.

 

Our Catalyst (social justice) team also ran a stall that gave out lots of useful information about how we can make a difference for farmers and producers around the world. Again, many hundreds of people from our local community went home informed about how they could source fairly traded products.

 

It has been wonderful to see the members of our church become more passionate about sourcing ethical products – we’ve had discussions at church about which shops stock Fairtrade milk chocolate, the first choice of many families with kids.

 

A real key in the success of our Fair Trade Fair has been the team of people behind it. Each element of our fair was based on the passion of someone in our team! The starting point for any Fairtrade Fortnight event should be the gathering of a team. Start with who you have and the interests and skills of those people – and you should be on the way to a creative and unique event.

 

For more ideas on preparing a Fair Trade Fair, Parramatta Baptist Church have created a CD full of resources and ideas. This is available from Baptist World Aid – speak to Scott Higgins on 1300 789 991"

 

ASG…Catalogue. May 1 – 15th 2009.

 

Tribes and Nations was founded by Grant and Mignonne Murray in August 2005.

 

This was in response to their time spent in Tanzania, East Africa as missionaries.

In February 1998, after a year of preparation they flew out with their then two small boys to fulfil a long held vision and dream.

In their time there they came face to face with poverty, in a way they hadn’t encountered before.

Grant had lived and worked in an Alcohol and Drug Rehab Centre in Mumbai, India for 5 months (1988) then travelled through India. Mignonne, Sri Lankan born grew up with the poverty of the tea pluckers a stones throw from her bedroom. At the time she understood this as normal. She also lived and worked in Redfern running a children’s programme to keep them from drugs, alcohol and vandalism. 1987-1992.

They lived in Tanzania for 5 years returning back to Australia in 2003 but left their hearts in Africa.

The all encompassing reality of poverty, injustice and hopeless which they saw lead them to action. It was at this point they discovered the Fair Trade Movement, when a friend arrived from the UK and shared about Fairtrade, and how it seeks to help developing world producers.

The fruit of these experiences and discovery of Fairtrade is what you see in their business Tribes and Nations, a global store empowering lives, which they feel will be their life’s attention.

 

Describing this exhibition.

 

…traditional weaving done on wooden treadle machine producing colourful hand woven fabrics, safety pins, egg shell, a goat herder discovering black gold, ordinary wire, old cotton saris not used as rags but as blankets and waste to art are the everyday things used to create simple beauty for everyday living.

Created not as a hobby but to earn a living for a sustainable life.

In understanding Fairtrade, we hope you will see the threads that binds us across many tribes and nations to form community. A community that might support and not supplant a individuals desire for integrity and live as equals in our world.”

 

Grant and Mignonne Murray.

 

Acknowledgements.

 

Jozica Crncec for seeing our vision , hopes and desires right from the beginning.

Thank you for this great idea and opportunity to have this exhibition. We thank you for your faithfulness, energy and encouragement when we have been down.

 

Mike McCorry and the Team at 11th Hour Advertising. Thank you for being willing to work with small time people like us and always giving us your excellence. Thank you very much for your invitation to have this exhibition.

 

Alison More our dedicated bookkeeper and administrator. Thank you for your belief, hard work and being willing to work with us.

 

Catherine Davies, our photographer for the last 14 months who sort to give her best at every photo session. Thank you.

 

Nadine Ward, who came on board to style this exhibition and do some photography during her current window of opportunity. Thank you for your help.

 

Our boys Heath and Simeon, Thank you for being patient with us and for encouraging us to keep going when the vision has been dim.

 

Thank you, to you, who are reading this. Thank you for being willing to come in and share the vision.

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Scarves.

 

“ Trade Ladders”

 

“ One of the signs of passing youth is the birth of a sense of fellowship with other human beings as we take our place among them.”

Virginia Woolf. (English novelist and essayist, regarded as one of the foremost modernist literary figures of the twentieth century.) The scarves are displayed on ladders to reflect the fact that we as consumers should be aware of every rung on the ‘ladder of trade’ that brings us our daily needs.

They are all hand woven in polished cotton. They look and feel like silk, and have a two tone sheen. They are all individual. You would be hard pressed to find two the same. The colours are vibrant and made in our up coming seasons colours.

The uniqueness and unity of these scarves represent our own uniqueness and individuality where together beauty can be created for the greater good.

 

The Fair Trade Movement

 

The Fair Trade movement is comprised of producers, importers, activists, organizations and consumers working together on a global scale to prove that an equitable international trading system is possible. As the umbrella industry group F.I.N.E -- composed of the Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International, the International Fair Trade Association, the Network of World Shops, and the European Fair Trade Association – defines it, Fair Trade is a trading partnership based on dialogue, transparency, and respect that contributes to sustainable development by offering better trading conditions to, and securing the rights of, marginalized producers and workers, especially those in the global south.

The Fair Trade Association of Australia and New Zealand works with and supports the FINE definition of fair trade:

"Fair Trade is a trading partnership, based on dialogue, transparency and respect, that seeks greater equity in international trade. It contributes to sustainable development by offering better trading conditions to, and securing the rights of, marginalized producers and workers - especially in the South. Fair Trade organizations (backed by consumers) are engaged actively in supporting producers, awareness raising and in campaigning for changes in the rules and practice of conventional international trade."

“World Fair Trade Day is a great idea. Fair Trade is essential for millions of people who work and struggle for survival everyday. It’s all about justice and human rights. So why don’t you join me in supporting World Fair Trade Day 09.”

Sir Paul McCartney. (World Fair Trade Day May 9 2009)

 

Cost of scarves…$30 each

Handcrafted by SELYN, Sri Lanka.

 

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Jewellery

 

“ Nobody to Nobility”

 

“ In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble. If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.”

2 Timothy 2: 20-21

 

Local resources’ like wood, ostrich eggshell, safety pins , elastic, seeds and some semi precious stones are mainly used to create the jewellery from UMTHA, South Africa. Silver and gold they have none, as yet. The designs are simple, but vibrant with colour.

Colour in textiles or jewellery is certainly away for African people to express life’s joy in the midst of monotonic brown of each day. Many a tribe can be identified by their own colours and jewellery for the women.

 

Today our jewellery comes from a Fair Trade company called UMTHA, from South Africa.

Umtha means ‘ray of light’ in the Xhosa language. Umtha is a Cape Town based organisation, which provides training and employment for previously disadvantaged women. Their employees range from single mothers and/or HIV positive women who live, mostly, in the nearby slum. Because of their status they would otherwise find it difficult to get any work at all.

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Throws and cushions for children or a child at heart.

Life that is woven…..

strengthening our future. (Selyn, Sri Lanka)

 

 

“What we are trying to do may be just a drop in the ocean; But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop” - Mother Theresa

 

“Haba na haba hujaza kibaba.” Tanzanian proverb.

(Drop by drop the bucket is filled)

 

Each piece has been hand woven on a traditional weaving machine. Each thread has been individually placed into the threader. Each thread has been hand dyed as part of the production. Together , woven strong with their speciality for vibrant colours, reflect the motto of Selyn Handlooms, Sri Lanka, “Life that is woven…strengthening our future.”

 

Just as our lives too reflect a weaving, the dark threads of difficulty defines and accentuates the brighter times but when you stand back and see the full picture, the beauty is revealed.

 

Selyn is a fully accredited member of the World Fair Trade Organisation (WFTO, once called IFAT) accredited businesses when they have a proven record of abiding and progressing by the principals of Fair Trade.

 

 

Throw, king size single.

 

 

“Greener Style….Wearable Art”

 

Reduce, Re-use, Recycle, Rethink………….Fair Trade.

 

"All labour that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Billboard bags, soap sachet totes, recycled toothpaste tubes, and drink containers turned into useable items and glass, recycled into a simple but elegant pitcher.

They are colourful, bright items you can use daily where the labour has been used to uplift dignity and undertaken with excellence.

There are two partners represented here. XS Project from Jakarta, and Heed from Bangladesh.

 

“The process of buying recycled goods is called "closing the loop" as a product cannot be described as recycled until it has been incorporated into a new product, thus coming a full circle…….” www.wasteonline.org.uk

 

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“Sari Blankets”

………. A new life in the making.

 

“ Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. In deed, it is the only way that it ever has”

Margaret Mead.

 

Recycled cotton saris that might have been used as rags are now renewed to bring warmth. The new lease of life reflects the change in the ladies who make actually make them too.

.

They are all designed to be individual and custom made with the feel of vintage. No two are the same. They are lovely and soft, with subtle colours contrasting each side.

 

It is a project started by Connexions to reach out to the women of India in the region of Kolkata. This area is a known Red Light district. Women from a very young age are caught up in this business, wether through sheer poverty, being sold by a family member or rejected by society with no other means of earning a rupee.

Size 200cm x 100cm.

Cost $120 per blanket.

 

“Street wire”

 

“There are few things that can lay claim to being truly and uniquely South African. Nelson Mandela, surely one of the most loved and respected (not to mention the coolest!) political figures of all time, is one. Wire art, the sculpting and crafting of works of art using wire, beads, tin cans and other recycled goods as a medium, is another.”

(…vision of Streetwires)

 

Wire Art, the sculpting and crafting of works of art using wire, beads, tin cans and other recycled goods as a medium, is a living testimony to the industriousness and creative spirit of the African people. The time we spent in Africa we saw some amazing art, from Naïve to the Intricate. The lack of toys meant the children made their own and we were always fascinated by them. We now have the joy of being able to bring this vibrant and amazing art genre to you.

Handcrafted by Streetwires, Cape Town, South Africa. A Fairtrade (WFTO) accredited organisation. Streetwires is a company that produces art from wire. An art form born in the shanty towns and townships of South Africa, it has now become a career for the wire artists of Streetwires.

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Its called “Black Gold”

 

“ The shepherd drives the wolf from the sheep’s throat, for which the sheep thanks the shepherd as his liberator, while the wolf denounces him for the same act, as the destroyer of liberty. Plainly the sheep and the wolf are not agreed upon a definition of the word liberty; and precisely the same difference prevails today among human creatures. “

Abraham Lincoln.

 

The first known discovery of “ Kaffa” (coffee) berries is in Ethiopia. Legend has it that goat herder Kaldi notices his goats are friskier after eating the red berries of a local shrub. He then tries it himself and notices he feels different..happier.

 

Coffee the second most traded commodity in the world, second only to crude oil. However the small holder coffee farmer still struggles to exist, to feed his family and make a profit to run his farm.

Fairtrade coffee is mostly from small farms who have joined a Co operative which has been Fairtrade accredited. Organic accreditation is also an aim to make sure it is environmentally safe and bird friendly.

 

If ever we could make one small choice for a better world it would be choosing to drink Fairtrade coffee. The Fair Trade Movement is very much market driven, meaning you the consumer make cafes change their coffee, demand supermarkets stock it, and big coffee cooperates appease their customers with at least online line of Fair Trade coffee.

 

Please be make sure you taste a sample of Ethiopian, East Timor or Nicaraguan coffee.

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Conclusion.

Something to ponder...

• If you woke up this morning with more health than illness...you are more blessed than the million who will not survive this week.

• If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation ...you are ahead of 500 million people in the world.

• If you can attend a church meeting without fear of harassment, arrest, torture, or death...you are more blessed than three billion people in the world.

• If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep...you are richer than 75% of this world.

• If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish someplace ... you are among the top 8% of the world's wealthy.

• If you can read this message, you just received a double blessing in that someone was thinking of you, and furthermore, you are more blessed than over two billion people in the world that cannot read at all.

9 " 'When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. 10 Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the LORD your God.

Leviticus 19:8-10 (New International Version)