El Salvador

Landscape:

El Salvador is the smallest geographic country in Central America, about the size of Massachusetts. It has a tropical climate with arainy season from May to October and a dry season form November to April. The terrain is mostly mountainous with a narrow coastal belt and central plateau.

History:

El Salvador was originally inhabited by the Pipil Indians, descendants of the Aztecs, and the Pocomames and Lencas Indians. The Spanish conquest of El Salvador began in 1522 and was under Spanish rule until 1821, when El Salvador declared independence from Spain. In 1838, El Salvador became its own independent state separate from Mexico and other Central American nations. Following a period of democratic institutions in the 1970s, a

twelve year civil war broke out from 1980 to 1992. During this time the country was devastated and about 75,000 people died. Finally in 1992, the country signed peace accords, which ended the war, brought the military under civilian control, and allowed former guerillas to form a legitimate political party.

Economy:

Since the end of the civil war El Salvador’s economy has started to prosper. Poverty rates decreased form 66% in 1991 to 37.8% in 2009. Eventhough El Salvador is the smallest country in Central America, it has the largest economy in the region. GDP composition is made up of 11% agriculture, 29.7% industry and 59.3% services.

El Salvador has promoted an open trade and investment environment as they have recently privatized many of their major industries, such as telecom, electricity distribution, banking and pension funds. It is important for El Salvador to embrace fair trade practices with other nations, especially the United States, because 44% of their exports and 32% of their imports go to and come from the US.

You can help support the El Salvador’s economy through fair trade practices in the United States by going to www.peopleofhopecrafts.org and purchasing a unique hand crafted item today!

What is Fair Trade?

The Fair Trade Federation defines Fair Trade as “an economic partnership based on dialogue, transparency, and respect”. Fair trade practices create opportunities for economically and socially marginalized producers. By using fair trade practices People of Hope Crafts develops strong, transparent and accountable relationships with 15 different artisan groups in El Salvador.

People of Hope Crafts supports these 15 different El Salvadorian artisan groups through the sales and marketing of their fair trade crafts in the United States. We are committed to paying fair wages and establishing sustainable livelihoods. Our artisans are paid up-front: half of the total upon placement of our order, and half upon receipt. This practice ensures that the artisans’ income is not contingent upon our sales, even if we are unable to sell an item.

How you can help!

You can help support fair trade practices in the United States and El Salvador by purchasing a piece of jewelry, a bar of chocolate, a decorative item or even a new purse! People of Hope Craftsand our artisans will greatly appreciate your contribution!

Come visit us to make your purchase at http://peopleofhopecrafts.org or at our new jewelry website http://jewelry.peopleofhopecrafts.org/.

Did You Know?

People of Hope Crafts is a division of the non-profit organization Project Salvador. Project Salvador funds community projects to promote sustainable development in El Salvador, while POHC promotes community development though craft sales.

Mission

Project Salvador’s mission is to aid the people of El Salvador in implementing their own vision of justice: “We express our solidarity and deepen our relationship with El Salvador by creating awareness in the United Stated of the plight of the marginalized in Central America and by supporting grassroots community development through funding of projects in El Salvador and marketing of fair trade crafts in the United States.”

History

Project Salvador began in 1986 with the efforts of Dominican priest, Father Jim Barnett, who worked in the marginalized community of 22 de Abril in metropolitan San Salvador. Father Jim organized a group of young people who made crafts for sale in the United States to help generate some income for their families. Since these humble beginnings, Project Salvador has funded over 150 development and material aid projects and has worked with as many as 30 different artisan groups helping to market their crafts in the United States. At our 20 year anniversary in 2006, we celebrated over $1.5 million in projects funded and $1million in craft sales.

Scholarship Program

In addition to crafts sales, Project Salvador assists with community development through a scholarship program. Many students in El Salvador cannot afford to go to school and drop out at a young age in order to help their families financially. Project Salvador provides many young adults with the financial support they need to attend school and ensure better opportunities as they become adults. This program began in 1998 with a dozen students and has grown to nearly 200 students today.

Proyectos Los Ninos Health Promoters

Project Salvador has supported the Nutrition Project at Plan del Pino Parish in Cuidad Delgado since July 2005. The health promoters involved in Proyectos Los Ninosare all volunteers and help people in the community with basic health care needs that they otherwise would not have access to. Volunteers are trained in basic first aid, personal hygiene, dental care, nutrition, pregnancy and postnatal health, common illnesses and natural medicines and how to use them correctly. The program assists the nutrition needs of 80 children and 140 seniors in the 16 communities that make up the parish.

Hope…

Project Salvador offers basic need programs to communities in El Salvador that need extra help to get on their feet and become self sustainable. By assisting these communities Project Salvador is teaching them about nutrition, providing an educational outlets and giving them a market to sell their artisan crafts. Across the globe developing communities lack access to basic needs,which prevents them from further development, but Project Salvador and People of Hope Crafts give many communities in El Salvador hope for the future. Learn more about Project Salvador at www.projectsalvador.org!

Welcome Back!

People of Hope Crafts wanted to re-invite you to our blog. We have been gone for some time but will now be updating the blog with information about our artisans, craft fairs we will be attending and important topics that relate to the artisans lives in El Salvador.

To begin, we want to reintroduce ourselves so our readers have a better understand of who we are as an organization. People of Hope Crafts is a non-profit organization that offers sustainable community development in El Salvador through craft purchases in the United States.

How it Works!

People of Hope Crafts has been around for 20 plus years and has developed lasting relationships with 15 communities in El Salvador. We implemented our program just after the end of the relentless civil war in order to offer these communities a sense of hope for their futures. We have helped these communities establish safe and healthy workplaces where they create beautiful crafts.

The artisans we help support already had natural talent and lots of creativity, but they needed a place to sell their goods. People of Hope Crafts offered them this place by providing them with a market in the United States, which helped to ensure their success as artisans.

People of Hope Crafts offers online sales and participates in craft fairs where we sell the artisan’s unique crafts. By providing this international outlet for the artisans, we offer beautiful crafts to Americans, while also providing the artisans with a self-sustaining livelihood that they have struggled to gain since the civil war.

These beautiful crafts reflect the history, culture and struggle of the El Salvadoran people and will bless your home, workplace, school or church with the message of hope conveyed through their art.

Thanks for joining us and helping our 15 artisan communities succeed through fair trade.

Next week we will discuss our partner Project Salvador as they celebrate their 25^th anniversary as a non-profit!!!

World Fair Trade Day is coming up...

It is time to start organizing or searching for a fair trade event in May in celebration of World Fair Trade Day. You can coordinate a fair trade coffee and chocolate break at work, purchase some handicrafts for Mother’s Day among many other things.. To find an event near you, visit the events calendar at the Fair Trade Resource Network page,

http://www.fairtraderesource.org/link-up/events-calendar/

photo courtesy of Fair Trade Resource Network

Change.org Wants US to tell Target to Stop Using Child Labour

Now that fair trade gold is certified and ready for market consumption, what a great place to start, Target. It is widely known that child labor is common practice in the gold mining industry, let’s make this fact history. Sign Change.org’s petition to tell target to choose fair trade! Change.org was successful in another recent similar campaign to ask 1-800-flowers to offer a fair trade bouquet, and they succeeded!

http://news.change.org/stories/use-social-media-to-tell-target-to-stop-forced-child-labor-in-gold

Why Choose Fair Trade Cocoa?

When you are at your local store and purchase a chocolate candy bar, do you every think about where and how the candy was produced? Your answer is probably no, why would you? The candy looks clean and it tastes great!
The truth is the cocoa industry is full of corruption. Many cocoa business owners choose to use child labor as a primary production base. To learn more about how the cocoa industry affects people in the third world, have look at the film, The Dark Side of Chocolate. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y882AajKo1s