Ten Thousand Villages

Ten Thousand Villages is a fair trade store that has had a location in Windsor for 12 years. They are working with multiple developing countries to give more people the opportunity to earn a fair wage.

Fair trade helps to provide families in developing countries with better lifestyles and helps their communities grow.

“The person who has done the work is getting paid a fair wage,” said Helen Rattray, a volunteer at Ten Thousand Villages. “They take great pride in doing the work because it’s a different concept. They are very proud of what they are doing. Seventy per cent of the people we work with are women, so it builds self-esteem and self-worth.”

Ten Thousand Villages has locations in Canada and the US where they sell these products from 32-35 developing countries. According to Rattray, fair trade products are more expensive because the person is getting paid reasonably for their work, but that it is quality work that is not found anywhere else.

“Everything is handmade, nothing is made by machines which is unique in this world,” said Jan Kearns, a volunteer at Ten Thousand Villages. “So everything is different, there are a lot of unusual things that we get you won’t see in regular stores.”

Both Rattray and Kearns said (that) they think the reason why more people do not buy fair trade is because the public does not know much about it.

“When you try to explain it to them they are very positive about it; how can you not be? It’s not fair, it’s not just that people are being ripped off and suffering because of our greed,” said Kearns.

For more information about Ten Thousand Villages visit their website www.tenthousandvillages.ca and for more information about fair trade go to fairtrade.ca.

Photo by Stephanie Zografos
Fair trade store, Ten Thousand Villages is located on 624 Chilver Rd. in Windsor ON. It has been fair trade since 1946.