Ten Thousand Villages brings handcrafted gifts this holiday season

By Sophie Dudley and Alana Pickrell

BELLEVILLE – Musical instruments made from shells, popular Christmas ornaments made from dried gourds and hand-crafted bowls made strictly from newspaper are just a few of the items that students and faculty had the chance to buy from Ten Thousand Villages.

Earlier this week, a booth was set up at the college showcasing handmade crafts from around the world.

The organization, a non-profit fair trade organization that markets hand-made products and crafts from all over the world, has been running since 1946. That makes it North American’s oldest fair trade organization, says manager Derrick Cunningham.

The products come from 27 countries, 73 groups and more than 20,000 individual artisans.

Student Halie Mackillican bought from the booth for the first time this year.

“It is great because every item has a message and it gives meaning behind the gifts that I am giving to people,” she said.

As part of a fair trade organization, Ten Thousand Villages collaborates directly with the artisans and other organizations working in the developing country to learn how much other people in the community earn. The goal is that all the basic needs of the artist are met, including medical care and children’s education.

“Fair trade works with artisans in developing countries and pays them a fair wage for their labour. There’s no sweat shop labour, there’s no child labour involved, all of this is monitored by the world trade organization that gives us certification,” Cunningham said.

This year, 10 per cent of the proceeds that came from offsite sales, such as the sales at Loyalist, went towards the The United Way Campaign. Every year Ten Thousand Villages picks an organization, such as Doctors Without Borders, and gives them a portion of their sales to help with fundraising.

Each gift comes with a bar code that can be entered online which tells the buyer exactly where the item came from, including the country and the artisan group.

Several staff members commented on the fact that they look forward to the booth each year and almost always walk away with unique items for Christmas.

Peter Campbell, a senior buyer at the college, bought some stocking stuffers for his wife this year.

“It’s always an interesting assortment of stuff, so I always like to come and see what’s new,” he said. “You never know what you’re going to find.”

There are also two local stores open year round in Picton and Cobourg. The booth will be open again at the college next December.

With files from Matt Murray.