Every Village Has a Story

It is drizzling when we arrive in the village of Amankwatia to meet the cocoa farmers. The roads are dirt. The houses are basic, made of mud brick, and no electricity reaches the village.

The farmers have been waiting for the national cocoa board to announce the price of cocoa at the beginning of this harvest season. Today’s newspaper headline, “Deal for Cocoa Farmers: Producer Price Up by 35%” is great news for Kuapa Kokoo farmers, who will earn more for their crop.

The Amankwatia Village Society is one of 1,030 cocoa farmer societies that are part of Kuapa Kokoo, a 45,000 member farmer cooperative in Ghana. There are 155 members in this village society, 52 of whom are women. These are small-scale farmers– each has just two to ten acres of cocoa.

The farmers from Amankwatia and other village societies in Kuapa Kokoo sell their premium cocoa beans to Divine Chocolate, to make the delicious, smooth and creamy chocolate that SERRV has sold for more than ten years. Not only are the farmers suppliers for Divine, they also own 45% of the company, which gives them a direct infl uence over how the company is run and a share in the profi ts.

(continued on page 2(continued on page 2( )continued on page 2)continued on page 2

“The day before I went to the village of Amankwatiain rural Ghana to visit cocoa farmers, I asked how farmers use the social premiums they receive on fair trade sales of their cocoa. At Kuapa Kokoo they told me ‘Every village has a different story.’ Going into the village, this was in my mind—to learn the story of Amankwatia.”

– Cheryl Musch SERRV Director of International Development

F A L L 2 0 1 0a nonp ro f i t o rgan i za t i on

Photos: Martha Dwemeh (above) and Kwaku Asamoah (top right) with cocoa pods

Haiti Earthquake UpdateWithin a week of the January earthquake in Haiti, SERRV assembled emergency supplies and sent them for artisan families. In a little over a month, SERRV was on the ground in Port-au-Prince, working to develop plans for a Haitian Design Center to generate income for artisans. Small grants and tool kits were distributed to artisans in the spring with donations received by SERRV. Five months after the earthquake, we returned to Haiti with staff from Lutheran World Relief to explore an alliance with SERRV partner Comité Artisanal Haitïen to advance work on a design center to help Haitian artisans get back to work. SERRV has a 30-year history in Haiti, and we have a long-term commitment to recovery.

Collaborating in PeruSERRV staff members recently visited our artisan partners in Peru. One artisan with whom they spent time was Maurelio Huaraca, a gifted ceramic artist in Lurin, Peru. Huaraca works in the Ayacucho tradition, using skills he inherited from his father.

“Maurelio is well known for his beautiful and intricate nativities,” said Matt Johnson, SERRV product development coordinator. “Our hope is that the ideas generated in this visit will bring orders to help sustain work for Maurelio’s workshop in the second half of the year, after orders for nativities have been fulfi lled. It was a real treat to get my hands a bit dirty, exchanging ideas and working side-by-side with a master craftsman.”

It is clear the farmers have passion for what they do and for their work with Kuapa Kokoo, which benefi ts not only them but the entire community. In Amankwatia, they tell the story of two key projects that are a result of fair trade premiums: a shared mill for corn meal and a new four-classroom high school.

In order to attend high school, children in Amankwatia had to walk seven kilometers to the nearest school. Consequently, most children stopped going after middle school. This new school, which will eventually have four grades, provides a local and accessible education. Kuapa Kokoo offers additional support for schools built with premiums including materials for students and incentives for teachers to encourage them to stay at rural schools. The farmers conclude, “All this shows that Kuapa Kokoo is a very good organization that cares about us.”

Kwaku Gyabour, the village society’s president, has been cocoa farming since 1968. He says, “My father was a cocoa farmer as long as I can remember.” Kwaku has fi ve acres of land planted with cocoa. “I joined the Kuapa village society because it is democratically run. And there’s a bonus at the end of the trading season.”

He continues, “With money from farming, all of my children went to school. And I built my own house. These are the most important things I have done.”

“In the future, I hope my children have university educations, and I hope my farm

continues to improve to support them. I don’t expect them to come back to farm. But they will inherit it and they’ll fi nd someone to look after it. That will provide them with an income,” he concludes.

The story of Amankwatia is the story of one village and there are a thousand more, from each village society working with Kuapa Kokoo — stories of fair trade premiums used to dig wells for clean drinking water, to provide mobile medical clinics for farmers in remote regions, and to advance women’s projects to help them earn additional income for their families when the cocoa season is over.

New secondary school, built as a result of Kuapa Kokoo’s fair trade premiums

NEW Divine Large Bar CasesAvailable October 2010

SERRV Participates in Global Fair TradeWe were pleased to host a regional meeting at SERRV in Madison, Wisconsin, for representatives from fair trade organizations in Canada, the United States, Australia, New Zealand and the Pacifi c Islands. In all, leaders from ten countries came together and discussed global issues impacting fair trade and the future of the movement.

Soon after this regional meeting, Cheryl Musch, SERRV’s director of international development, traveled to Swaziland to attend the conference of COFTA - Cooperation for Fair Trade in Africa. Nearly 100 people gathered to discuss how to take advantage of the growth of fair trade; discussing market access, business development, craft design, and other relevant issues.

Top 5 Reasons to Join theFair Trade Futures Conference in September1. Learn how to bring more fair trade into your life, town, and business.2. Meet face-to-face with artisans and farmers who create the products.3. Network with the larger fair trade community.4. Pick up practical advice that’s tailored to your needs .5. Be a part of history! Futures Conferences only happen every fi ve years — don’t wait to be a part of this growing movement for change!

Learn more and register: http://fairtradeconference.ning.com

“Working for a Better World”

MANY WAYS TO SERRVBUY

ENRICHMENT FOR ALL WITH EVERY PURCHASE ONLINE OR IN OUR CATALOG

SELLPRODUCTS IN YOUR RETAIL STORE OR HOST A SERRV SALE

DONATE*

YOUR MONEY TO TRAIN AND ASSIST

VOLUNTEERYOUR TIME AND SKILLS WHEREVER YOU ARE

www.serrv.org 1.800.423.0071*SERRV is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. Contributions are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.

SERRV product development specialist Kerry Evans traveled to Southeast Asia this year to work on new product design with our partners. One of the people she was impressed by was Slamet Riyadi, a wood carver in Indonesia.

Slamet Riyadi owns a wood-carving workshop in the city of Yogyakarta. There he employs 30 artisans, with 15 carving at the workshop and the others working in their homes. They earn well above the local minimum wage. Slamet believes owners and artisans are on an equal level and his dream is for everyone to grow and have better lives.

Slamet invests in making this dream a reality by using proceeds from sales at his workshop to benefi t both artisans and the broader community. The workshop supplies materials and loans to help artisans build their homes. They share the use of a vehicle as needed. To care for the environment, they have planted more than 200 trees and use fast-growing, sustainable wood for their craft.

Slamet’s workshop is part of Apikri, a cooperative organization owned by its members. SERRV has facilitated on-site business training and provided ongoing product design assistance with Apikri, and supported the artisans with funding and orders after an earthquake in 2006.

To SERRV customers, Slamet says he wants “ to have a continued relationship to build a better place together for young people who are working for a better world.” Batiked Salad Servers

©R

egin

a P

assm

an

Attendees from the Netherlands and Senegal

SERRV International500 Main StreetPO Box 365New Windsor, MD 21776

NONPROFIT

ORGANIZATION

U.S. POSTAGE

PAIDWESTMINSTER, MD

PERMIT NO. 874

O U R M I S S I O Nto eradicate poverty wherever it resides

www.serrv.org1.800.423.0071

Irma Olivas is the face on our new Sisterhood Solidarity Roast coffee label. Olivas is a woman coffee farmer from northern Nicaragua. She is a 38-year-old single mother of two who is part of La FEM, a unique organization of all women’s coffee growing cooperatives.

Before joining La FEM, Olivas worked on a large coffee plantation, earning little money and laboring long days without food. When La FEM came to her community, it changed her life.

Olivas shares, “La FEM introduced me to a whole new reality. I now have land, a cow, credit to improve my land, and support groups. Thanks to La FEM, we are able to produce 100% organic coffee and export it at a fair price. We now can buy school supplies for our kids, pay for our health and food. I fi xed up my kitchen and my teeth. I am able to not only empower myself, but to empower other women by hiring them to help on my land and offering them a better wage than they would earn elsewhere.”

SERRV is proud to carry Sisterhood Solidarity Roast and more fairly traded coffees on page 10 of our Fall/Winter 2010/2011 Catalog.

Her Coffee Empowers Women