Cards From Africa, a Fair Trade Success
Rachel from 'Cards from Africa'
As I set foot inside Cards from Africa, I was immersed into a bustling environment of people sitting around wooden tables, gluing, cutting, bending and laughing as they hand-make each card.
The results are beautiful but as I sat and chatted with a group of ladies at one table I soon realised that their stories of hope and personal triumph were even more dramatic than the cards themselves. I would like to share just one of the many stories I heard that day.
Rachel lives in an orphaned household; at just 18 she takes care of her sister and brother, aged 15 and 12. She was just four when her dad died from stomach ulcers and only 11 when her mum died from AIDS.
Her aunt eventually took them in but was too burdened by having three mouths to feed. Up at 4am each day to do chores, Rachel started being absent from school and went from the top of her class to the bottom in just a year. When she couldn’t take any more and finally moved her siblings back to the house they were raised in, they discovered there was no furniture left and Rachel struggled to find a way to feed and clothe her brother and sister.
But since Rachel started working for Cards from Africa, all that has changed. She is now even able to pay the yearly health care fee in case her brother and sister fall ill and need to see a doctor. They are both eating well and wearing better clothes.
Rachel says that ‘the joy and dignity that come with providing for everyone’s needs is a new experience.’
Cards of Africa are just one of the 50 businesses that Shared Interest Foundation will be working with over the next three years. Training them in business and financial skills, market access and environmentally sustainable ways of working, we can help many others like Rachel to achieve their potential and provide for their families.
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