Cool people consumers, cont.

As mentioned in yesterday's post, last Saturday I was able to visit the Ten Thousand Villages store in Pasadena. The third volunteer I queried was a Methodist missionary in Zimbabwe for fifteen years. He put his children in local public schools when the country was still under colonial rule that segregated education. Evidently, it was a system similar to apartheid. At one time, his family lived in a village. His motivation for volunteering? -- "I've seen what's it's like to live in a village and try to raise a family. I've seen how these women struggle and work just to survive, to make shirts that Walmart sells for $10.50 and the women get less than a dollar. It's not right, and I want to help them. Most of those women just want to educate their children." This gentleman referred to being "forced out" of the country, and he returned to the United States and taught theology at various colleges, including his alma mater, Yale University. Now he is "retired" but continues to volunteer. I was proud of him for trying to recruit me as a volunteer.
 
Honestly, I'm still trying to figure out how to incorporate ethical purchasing into my life. Thankfully, I have a head start since most of my clothing comes from the Fillmore Goodwill. Yet, if I think of all my money as God's and all my dollars as votes, then I still have a long way to go. I am grateful for individuals and organizations who have put work into researching companies, importing products, and developing a fair trade market. 

Nathan George is one of those individuals,and I was privileged to meet him recently at the justice conference. (More on that later.) Believing that ALL of our money belongs to God and that spending is a stewardship and discipleship issue, he founded Trade as One to equip the church to love its overseas neighbors by purchasing fair trade. We were both pleased that I had previously discovered Trade as One through a Google search. He still can use all the help he can get to promote the organization within churches, so if you think that your church might be open to selling fair trade projects, check out their website. You can also buy from them as an individual. I'm thinking of asking for a three-month subscription to their food box as a birthday present from my fam. To quote Nathan:

Live simply, give generously, and buy ethically so that the cries of the harvesters don't have to go up to God.