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FAIR TRADE

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				Economically empowering Nicaraguan artisans, fair trade garment factory workers (former sweatshop workers), and fair trade coffee farming cooper- atives and their families and connecting them with fair markets in Nicaragua and internationally, and; empowering people in the "First World" to help transform our global economic system into one that is fair for ALL people


Pine Needle Baskets: Women's Cooperative in San Jose de Cusmapa, Madriz, Nicaragua "THEY HAVE CANASTAS (BASKETS) IN THEIR BLOOD" Altagracia Vasquez Pineda is the founder of the women's pine needle basket collective in San José de Cusmapa, a village at the top of 4200 ft. Oroquina Mountain in northern Nicaragua. Having made these baskets for 16 years, Altagracia taught each of her four daughters the skill at the age of 9 or 10. Today Jhonna, 21, studies nursing; Arlene, 19, teaches at the Oratory; and Delys, 14, and Dulce, 9, attend secondary school. All make baskets part-time. "They have canastas (baskets) in their blood," echoes through their community. In 2002, Altagracia's husband, José Vidal, was in a terrible accident - a rock fell on him while he was working and crushed his pelvis. He is a farmer and a social worker and teaches education and health in the community. While José Vidal was recuperating from his accident, even he was making baskets! THE ECONOMIC REALITY OF CUSMAPA Cusmapa is one of the poorest communities in the department (like a state in the U.S.) of Madriz, and Madriz is one of the poorest departments in all of Nicaragua. (See here for more about Cusmapa -- link) The people here live mostly off agriculture - coffee, beans, and corn are the subsistence crops. A campesino (farmer/agricultural worker) earns 20 Cordobas, or about US$1.33, for a day's labor to ... [ Read More ] Click Here to read more artisans' stories. New Website Coming Soon! We have been working hard to get the new site ready and can't wait to show it to you! Keep checking back in August to see it.