In this issue:

• Domestic Fair Trade Snacks!

• UUSC Small Farmer Grant

• Delegation Reports
   - Chiapas
   - Nicaragua

• Upcoming Partner Events

• Camps and Retreat Centers

• Fair Trade and Faith 2006

• Loose Leaf Tea Coming Soon
"Thanks to God now we are able to be in this organization, weigh our own goods, give our product to CIRSA and not to intermediaries."
 - Vicente Hernandez Sanchez, member of CIRSA, Mexico

NOW AVAILABLE - Fairly Traded Snacks from US Farmers!

Introducing three new Equal Exchange products, from small farmers with love:
  • Roasted Salted Pecans
  • Organic Tamari Roasted Almonds
  • Organic Dried Sweetened Cranberries
Grown with care by small farmers here in the US, these snacks are available in resealable, 5 oz packages. Since 1986, Equal Exchange has been building Fair Trade by partnering with small farmer co-ops in Latin America, Africa and Asia. Now we are extending our model to family farmers, farm workers, and farmer co-operatives here in North America.
These snacks are available to order at the Interfaith Webstore.

For other ways to order, go to
http://www.equalexchange.com/how-to-order.

To find out more about the farmers, go to http://www.equalexchange.coop/dft.

With your help, we're Bringing Fair Trade Home.

UUSC Approves Grant to Promote Economic Justice for Small Farmers

In late 2006, the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, Equal Exchange's partner in the UUSC Coffee Project, awarded a grant of $29,245 to Porvenir Financiero, a financial training and literacy project in Latin America. UUSC's economic justice program supports workers in earning wages and negotiating fair prices that allow them to live in dignity. Porvenir Financiero supports that effort among farming cooperatives that produce coffee for Equal Exchange. UUSC's grant will help women, indigenous and young-adult farmers participate more fully in the project. Porvenir Financiero's overall goal is to strengthen financial management and business planning skills of rural producer organizations to enhance the long-term success and sustainability of their community-based enterprises.

Under a Small Farmer Fund program, UUSC receives a percentage of proceeds from coffee sales to UU congregations. UUSC then grants that money to support human rights and economic justice initiatives in coffee-growing regions. In 2005 alone, for example, the Small Farmer Fund totaled more than $17,000 from the sale of fair trade coffee, tea, cocoa, chocolate, and sugar that Unitarian Universalist congregations and UU families purchased from Equal Exchange. Equal Exchange has similar partnerships with seven other denominations.


Antonia Lopez Diaz
Former Treasurer of OMIRSI
CIRSA Cooperative Women's Group
Chiapas, Mexico


Delegation Report: Chiapas Mexico

Nestled in the mountains of Chiapas, the southernmost state in Mexico (and one of the poorest), live thousands of indigenous farmers. These are largely subsistence farmers, and coffee is one of the few crops that they are able to export. These farmers eke out a very modest living, and in recent years many have been forced to give up their land (the immigration rate in Chiapas is growing). I traveled to Chiapas in January 2007 with an Interfaith delegation co-sponsored by Equal Exchange and the United Church of Christ Jubilee Justice Taskforce. The group comprised 21 delegates from the United Church of Christ (UCC), Presbyterian, Unitarian Universalist, and Episcopal churches, and Equal Exchange staff. The delegation was led by Witness for Peace, an organization that works in Latin America to help raise awareness of the effect of US policies on that region.      

Our Mind Body and Soul fairly traded coffee is grown in Chavajeval and other indigenous cooperatives in Oaxaca and Chiapas.

Order at the Interfaith Webstore

Our group traveled to the community of Chavajeval to meet and stay with coffee farmers who are part of the coffee cooperative, CIRSA, that Equal Exchange trades with. This isolated, rural community is home to over 1000 indigenous Mayans (who primarily speak Tzotzil, an indigenous language). In 1998, it was the site of a raid by the Mexican army when three community members were killed, and most of the community's possessions were


Group listens to explanation
of coffee harvesting
destroyed. They have since declared their autonomy from the Mexican government, and receive no government services or aid.

The cost of living in Mexico is relatively high, and so even Fair Trade coffee farmers like the farmers we met in the community are struggling. Many have dirt floors, no running water, and only basic sanitary facilities, if any. Coffee farming, as we learned, is a very labor-intensive process and not an easy way of life. And yet through the Fair Trade system, these farmers are able to maintain their autonomy and their way of life, remain on their land, and stay out of debt. As members of the cooperative CIRSA, they have voting rights and greater access to markets than they would otherwise have.

Marcos Gomez Jimenez, Chavajeval community elder, spoke to our group about the community's struggles before joining the cooperative CIRSA: "Before we were with CIRSA, we were selling to intermediaries. Sometimes we would work day and night, but we didn't have any money because our products were robbed by intermediaries. There was not always sufficient food to feed us all."

Our group ended the delegation with a day-long, intensive session of evaluation and action planning. We were entreated by the farmers we met to share their story with our own communities in the U.S., to raise awareness of the plight of small farmers and the importance of Fair Trade.


Delegation to Nicaragua "Coffee with a Conscience"

In early January of this year, twenty current and soon-to-be Fair Trade advocates and coffee lovers traveled to Nicaragua for 10 days to learn about this unique country, coffee farming and Fair Trade. Our travel group included representatives from Lutheran World Relief and Equal Exchange, delegates (the majority Lutherans) from around the country, and our fearless trip leaders from the Augsburg College Center for Global Education.
Javier Gadea from Soppexcca explains coffee cupping to our delegates

Presentations on Fair Trade and Nicaragua's current and historical political, social, and economic situation provided delegates the backdrop for the group's activities. The highlights of the trip were our visits with coffee cooperatives that form CECOCAFEN, Equal Exchange's trading partner and LWR's partner in coffee farming development. We spent two nights with coffee farming families affiliated with CECOCAFEN's eco-tourism project. Women hosts and guides in the community have received training through LWR Coffee Project Small Farmer Funds. In the community we experienced coffee harvesting first-hand, and went on to see the different phases of processing that lead to the final product. Delegates finished the trip with great appreciation for the knowledge and hard work that coffee farmers bring to their farming. To learn more about this delegation, check out Summer Lewis' travel log.

Delicious coffee from Nicaragua and Peru: Check out the LWR Coffee Project Sisters' Blend! Equal Exchange and LWR launched this special blend, which includes Nicaraguan coffee from CECOCAFEN, to honor women coffee farmers and cooperative leaders in the developing world and Lutheran women who advocate for Fair Trade in the U.S. http://equalexchange.stores.yahoo.net/specials.html

Upcoming Events!

Religious Education Congress - March 2 - 4, we will be part of the Heartbeats exhibit at the Los Angeles Religious Education Congress in Anaheim, California. The Congress, sponsored by the Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, brings together about 20,000 Catholic religious educators. Heartbeats is a Catholic Fair Trade organization that has been collaborating with Equal Exchange for several years to promote Fair Trade in the Cleveland area and nationally. Heartbeats currently sells Equal Exchange coffee, tea, cocoa and chocolate to their customers. You can visit their website at http://heartbeatscatalog.org.

Stewardship University - March 3rd, we will attend an event called "Stewardship University" in Lancaster, PA, sponsored by Mennonite Mutual Aid (MMA). Equal Exchange will provide coffee and chocolate samples for the event, and we'll be co-presenting a workshop with Ten Thousand Villages on faith and Fair Trade. MMA provides stewardship education and financial services, with a focus on faith and values. Equal Exchange partners with the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) for the MCC Coffee Project. http://www.stewardshipuniversity.org/stewardship_u/

Advocacy Days - March 9-12, we will participate in the fifth annual Ecumenical Advocacy Days conference. The conference theme, "and How are the Children?" will guide and inspire this gathering of over 1,000 religious advocates from a wide array of Christian communions. Experts will train participants how to do advocacy and inform them of U.S. domestic and international policies that impact all of God's children and are shaping the future of our world. http://www.advocacydays.org

Camps and Retreat Centers Embrace Fair Trade

In January 2007 Equal Exchange attended the United Methodist Church National Camp and Retreat Leaders Conference. Over 400 Methodists enjoyed Equal Exchange coffee at meals and sampled chocolate and tea in the display area. Most importantly, people learned how they could promote and justice by bringing fair trade products to their site through the UMCOR Coffee Project and Interfaith Foodservice Program.

For over 5 years, the Interfaith Program at Equal Exchange has worked with camps and conference centers, offices, cafes and coffeehouses, hospitals, and other faith-based organizations who want to use Fair Trade in a professional setting. As a full-service equipment provider, we offer a full line of brewing equipment along with accessories like cups and lids, sugar packets, flavored syrups, and more!

Since 2003, the Interfaith Program has been building relationships with camping and outdoor ministry organizations. We have a deep connection with the Presbyterian Church Camp and Conference Center Association (PCCCA) and have attended the PCCCA Annual Conference for several years to promote the Presbyterian PC(USA) Coffee Project. Purchasing Fair Trade products allows camps to create teachable moments about fair trade and social justice.

For more information about how to bring Fair Trade to your camp or retreat center, or for information about the Interfaith Program, please contact Kalista at 774-776-7418 or kpopp@equalexchange.coop.

Coming Soon: Limited Edition Organic Loose Leaf Teas


Tea drinkers will truly appreciate these high quality limited edition loose-leaf teas. These fine teas offer a very different experience from bagged teas and are exclusively sourced from small-scale farmers in India and Sri Lanka. Equal Exchange is proud to offer the only small farmer loose-leaf line of teas in the country:
  • Darjeeling First Flush Organic
  • Darjeeling Second Flush Organic
  • Ceylon High Grown Black Organic
  • Ceylon Green Organic
These special teas will be available in early March, and new selections will be available throughout the year. Look for them in the Specials and Tea sections of our web store.

Faith Communities Made Fair Trade Happen in 2006

During 2006 thousands of faith communities served, sold, drank and ate 460 tons of fairly traded coffee, tea, cocoa, sugar and chocolate! 390 of those tons were coffee, a substantial volume for farmers in a market that continues to fluctuate. More than 1,900 congregations and faith-based schools, camps and organizations joined the program this past year, bringing new energy and creativity to the Fair Trade movement and helping extend the benefits of Fair Trade to 28 farmer cooperatives in 14 countries. And 2007 is off to a strong start. Interfaith Program participants are looking forward to products that we will launch this year, like our fairly traded snacks from U.S. family farmers. We look forward to working with all of you in the coming year as together we expand Fair Trade for farming families across the world. As you bring Fair Trade to your congregation or organization, please share your stories with us. Write to interfaith@equalexchange.coop and tell us what you're up to!

Equal Exchange works in partnership with the American Friends Service Committee, Church of the Brethren, Lutheran World Relief, Mennonite Central Committee U.S., Presbyterian Church USA, United Church of Christ, United Methodist Committee on Relief, Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, as well as congregations and organizations of many other faiths.