Lauren, from Trade Aid embraces a CORR the Jute Works producer Chandpur, Bangladesh in a 2017 visit. These are the artisans behind our stunning natural jute range.
The impact of COVID-19 on our trading partners is heart breaking. People we know personally and have formed friendships with over many years are in lockdown with no certainly of income. However, despite this, our trading partners are going above and beyond to connect with their members, providing income where no work has been able to be completed, providing food and keeping in touch with members.
Below is content from emails which conveys the impact this pandemic is having on them.
We appreciate your sympathy and care for the trading partners in this critical hours. Thanks God we, our staff and producer groups are safe and secure and pray to Almighty for safety and betterment of all Trade Aid Organisation members and staff. Yes. It is a time to show maximum kindness with each other. This disease is blind towards cast, creed and colour. It is a catastrophe which has not only frightened all human beings rather engulfed more than a million precious lives over the globe. – Craft Promotion Organisation, India
Greetings of the day! Trust you and all are well at Trade Aid! Many thanks for your email and sincere apologies for delayed reply due to limited access to internet till yesterday.  We never expected to see such a situation in our life time, which has affected the entire World, and numerous people have lost their lives. Every country is trying their best to save the spread or Covid 19 in the communities. We are in Lockdown since 21st of March and since then have been trying to do our best for all our Craftsman and Producer groups and Warehouse staff by helping them financially, and have been requesting them to stay at home and to follow the instructions issued by the Administration. This Lockdown is till 14th of April and we will get the update on or before 14th about whether it will be lifted or will continue. Due to the Lockdown, the entire work has come to halt as all the workshops are closed and the work will start one again as soon as the things become normal, for which we feel sorry. While staying at home, we have formed a Team of Residents of our Society and have been working to provide Food and other basic requirements to all the needy poor and Old age people who are staying alone or could not go back to their Villages due to Lockdown. We figured out that there are close to 500 families who need help, and started delivering them Ration and other basic requirements at their door step, while following all the safety procedures. These Families are also getting a sense of security that their needs are taken care of and we are doing a small contribution to ensure that the Pandemic does not spread in the community. We are sure that this will pass over soon as there is always a Sunshine after the dark and things will get better soon. We all Pray to God to keep everyone safe from this Pandemic. Stay Safe and Good Wishes to all at Trade Aid. – Aspiration International, India
Our staff, Producers and other beneficiaries. Stay Safe and Good Wishes to all at Trade Aid. We are trying to reach them through banks, home delivery and medical assistance if and when needed. We are also trying to make gowns for Hospital Staff, the demand of the day. I am hopeful we will work together to come through this lockdown. Trade Aid the great organisation. – ZDPM, India
Happy to hear from you. By God’s grace so far we all the sisters, our artisans and staff are keeping well. Few staff members come to work and some artisan women come to pick up the embroidery so that they can work at home. Here the shut down is till 14th April and we hear that it will continue. We really do not know what will happen tomorrow. Here more than the sickness, the poor and the daily wage earners are suffering. We try to help them. We have paid the salaries even for the days they were not able to come to work. It will be the same during this month too. – St. Mary’s, India
We wish you all the best. Please take care and stay safe. We want to inform you that all the Manos Amigas staff and our artisan partners are in good health. We are grateful to God for the prompt decision of the President of Peru to close borders and put us in quarantine from March 16 to April 12 (we do not know if it will be extended). Despite these difficult times, some of the artisans have already received 3 orders from different clients. They have bought raw materials and they are working, they have delivered pieces to paint in their homes, despite everything, they are moving forward. When we call them by phone, there are always words of thanks. We want to convey to you our gratitude in these difficult times. We want you to know that our commitment is still honest work, worthy of receiving a fair payment, so that we can get ahead. You are all in our prayers, and we do pray that everything will end soon and you can sell everything that has been produced, with effort and dedication. A hug from a distance. – Manos Amigas, Peru
As always, your purchase of Trade Aid products at your local supermarket, organic retailer, fair trade homeware and gift store, or through our online shop makes an impact on our global community.
As we regain our freedom to purchase goods in the coming weeks, we encourage you to talk to friends and family about changing to Trade Aid fair trade products wherever possible.
Through fair trade we can all build a better world.