The snarling leopard propelled Kimberly into one of the fastest runs of her 23 years.  Walking back to camp from the workshop one August afternoon, her mind languishing on the fun she’d had with the Maasai women earlier in the day and listening to music on her Ipod, she disturbed the leopard several yards up the hill.

When I saw her, sweaty and breathless, she was regaining her composure, and relatively calmly asked if the snarl she heard could have been our resident leopard.   Since he had recently been seen dragging a Clip Springer to his lair in the same spot, I confirmed her first real adventure while living in the bush.

We relaxed with a cup of tea, and soon we were chatting of other things.  Kim had learned a lot staying with us in Kenya.  Being my niece, she was privy to our trials and tribulations from the beginning of our business, but coming to Kenya had added a new dimension, and she wanted to know more about how Fair Trade worked.

I explained to Kim that Fair Trade was comprised of basically four main tenants:

1. The guarantee by the Fair Trade company to pay a “Living Wage” for those who were   employed by or contracted by the company. “Living Wage” means a wage that allows the worker to feed, educate and take care of medical needs for their family.

2. The guarantee by the Fair Trade company that the people working for or contracted by the company were involved in the negotiation of their pay, working conditions and general working set up and structure.

3. A Fair Trade company must, in some way, invest either time, money, or assist a community in ways outside of the Fair Trade business; i.e. building clinics, helping schools, building infrastructure.

4. A Fair Trade company must operate within the globally accepted rules and regulations for an environmentally sustainable business.

Kim and I discussed the fact that few Americans could boast of such a system of compensation, as many dual income families have a difficult time covering the costs of living that a “Living Wage” covers in rural areas around the globe.

I was surprised that she, a relatively savvy and socially conscious young woman, hadn’t understood Fair Trade and realized that few Americans do.   There seems to be a deep distrust of business which surprises me, since most, if not all, Fair Trade businesses are small mom and pop operations.  Kim went on to tell me of corporate greed and big business transgressions as reasons why there was such distrust among Americans.

Although sympathetic to those concerns, I countered with the fact that more small businesses are started by women in the United States than any other group. Surely these women understood the power of small business to transform lives.

“Yes, but everyone wants an “angle.” Don’t you think some businesses are saying they are doing those things but aren’t?” she challenged.

The best way to insure that you are in fact changing lives by purchasing Fair Trade goods is to make sure that the company making the product is a member of a Fair Trade organization.  In the United States, the Fair Trade Federation is excellent.   It took us nearly 9 months to gain membership, and during that time, we endured 3 rounds of intensive interviews. Our business practices were thoroughly scrutinized, as was our method of production, operation and environmental claims.  Two other Fair Trade members had to vouch for our operation as well; this intense scrutiny is effective at determining a company’s compliance with the Fair Trade rules and values.

By this time, it was getting dark, and I told her that in the morning I’d tell her some stories of how Fair Trade business has changed the lives of women here, and on that note, we adjourned to our bucket showers.   Hyper aware of her surroundings after her encounter with the leopard, Kimberly scanned the area with her flashlight and stuffed her Ipod in her pocket, the foam ear blobs swinging from thin wires dangling from her jeans.  I had to smile. It took a leopard to make another young woman wake up and hear the “real” music!

In an upcoming blog, I will tell you those stories about how our Fair Trade operation has changed some women’s lives in Kenya.