Ruth Hunter is
the General Manager for The Nepal Leprosy
Trust and goes to Raynes Park Salvation Army.
Here she shares with ALOVE how she is involved
in Fair Trade and why it’s so important
...
Where do you work?
I work in Richmond for The Nepal Leprosy Trust
- www.nlt.org.uk
What do you do
there?
I’m the General Manager, so it means
running the UK side of things. A day can be
very varied as we have a busy leprosy hospital
in South Nepal and a fair trade workshop in
Kathmandu. At one point in the day I might
be deciding on the lining of a handbag and
at another, trying to find money for nurse
training or spare land rover parts!
How did you first get involved in working
for Fair Trade?
I have always been interested in handicrafts
and Fair Trade because I grew up in Nepal,
so was always visiting the fair trade shops
in Kathmandu. I took it up again at University
In Norwich, where I was doing a BA in Development
Studies. For my final dissertation I decided
to write about Fair Trade in Nepal and whether
it was really fair to everyone involved in
the chain. I then went on to do a Masters
in Business Management where I wrote my dissertation
on Fair Trade and how small producer groups
can access the western market place. For a
few months after Uni I ran a fair trade shop
over the Christmas period, this was great
experience as it gave me an insight into the
type of products that sell and how the whole
fair trade system works. After doing that
I set up my own fair trade importing business,
importing goods from India and Nepal, which
I then wholesaled on to shops.
Why is fair trade
important?
Fair Trade is important because the alternative
involves exploitation of the most vulnerable
people in our world. As a society that can
afford to pay that little bit extra we should
really be trying to make a difference wherever
we can.
How is NLT trying
to promote fair trade?
NLT promotes fair trade by providing the UK
market with high quality, fashion bags and
accessories. We aim to prove that we can compete
against other bag manufacturers and designers
and remain true to our desire to help people
in Nepal. We do this by providing our workers
with medical treatment, housing, training,
and help towards education for their children.
How do you seek
to promote Fair Trade in your work and life
in general? I try to buy fair trade
products where possible, failing that, I
try to buy British made products. As I shop
online with Tesco there is a wide range
of food products that can be bought from
Tesco. The Co-op are also great at fair
trade.
For clothes there are loads of great little
companies springing up, try checking out
The New Consumer www.newconsumer.org
for an idea of where fair trade is at today.
Fair trade clothes are more expensive but
as more people start to buy them the prices
are slowly coming down.
For gifts there are many fair trade shops
in the UK – you can find the nearest
one to you by going on to www.bafts.org.uk.
I also support fair trade by adding my name
to anything that makes the cause of fair
trade better known. To find out more click
the links below:
www.bafts.org.uk
www.cleanclothes.org
When I’m in Starbucks I make a point
of asking for fair trade coffee so hopefully
the more people that do that the more the
message will get across the powerful business
buyers.
Isn't it impossible
to pursue fair trade -
how can we really know that what we are
buying is fair?
We can definitely know what we're buying
isn’t fair when prices are ridiculously
low for example. A pair of trousers at a
well known shop for £9.99! If you
add on all the UK costs, the freight and
the admin it leaves very little to the factory
abroad and even less to the producer who
made the garment.
For more info on Fair trade and clothes
please go to www.cleanclothes.org.
On this site they break down the price of
a $100 shoe, the worker ends up getting
a shocking 0.4% of the total. The fair trade
mark is a guarantee that the product you
are buying conforms to fair trade criteria,
these can be found at www.fairtrade.net.
You also know that any products bought in
a fair trade shop conform to these standards
because the suppliers have been vetted by
the British Association of Fair Trade shops.
Tell us a bit
about your life in Nepal -
how did that influence your involvement
in fair trade today?
I guess living in Nepal until I was 15 has
meant that I have seen the kind of poverty
that these people in the third world live
in. I have seen 5 year olds making carpets
for 14-16 hours a day. Others work in conditions
that are bad for their health but they have
no choice. They are caught in a vicious
circle. Without the work they will starve,
with it they will get ill.
I feel a responsibility to communicate the
message of fair trade because I have seen
the conditions where some products are made.
We are so privileged in the UK. We have
so many choices open to us, so if we use
just a few to make a difference to people’s
lives on the other side of the world, we
can be part of the solution to global exploitation.
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