In All Honesty…

At the moment I am struggling. I hope it’s okay that I share that with you, but I figured sooner or later in your pursuit of justice and honest living, you will too feel the sting of a world that works contrary to the ways of our Lord. Some days are frustrating (driving from grocery store to grocery store in vain to find just one bag of fair trade sugar,) some days are disheartening (hearing others doubt the differences being made) some days hurt (watching a documentary bearing the faces of those suffering,) and many days are just confusing (what do I do next? How do I explain the gravity of it all?)

I don’t intend to be depressing but rather to encourage! Jesus basically guaranteed that when we make choices that mirror His choices we will be hearing from the World, and the phone call won’t be a happy one. I strongly believe that if Jesus were here today, He’d be asking where His shirt came from and who grew His morning cup of coffee (did Jesus ever need a caffeine boost?.) When did Christ ever prove himself ignorant or unfeeling towards the economic and social issues of His time?  I think He might have just gone into church pantries and started overturning cupboards filled with coffee beans and hot chocolate packets made on the backs of children.

I’m not suggesting you raid you’re local grocery store or pantry and I’m certainly not suggesting that we defuse our pains and struggles by giving ourselves a self-righteous pat on the back. Instead my hope is that we can encourage each other to humbly press on to set the captives free, bind up the broken-hearted, and release the prisoners from the darkness that is slavery today…and in doing so remember that we are not the alone in our fight to free the world.

Ethical Edible #1 Price Breakdown

So it seems I should stop saying things like “later this week” and “next time” because I never know exactly what my week will look like and if  “later that week” a different inspiration will hit…but better late than never I suppose. So here it is, the price break down of my first Ethical Edible.

• 4 cups of Wholesome Sweeteners Fair Trade Sugar – roughly $5.00
• Pack of 12 jars and lids – $9.00
• 1 package of Pectin – $2.50
• 4 cups of Fruit – Free (compliments of my backyard)
• 1 cup Apple juice – roughly $0.50

Total Price for 8 jars of jam –  $17 that’s only $2.12 per jar! Not bad compared to your grocery store jam (which probably doesn’t taste as good on the taste buds or the conscience.) If you don’t happen to have a fruit tree, given average price of the fruit, you are probably still only going to spend a little over $3 per jar 🙂

To check out the recipes I use for my jam click here .

Spreading the Love

Ethical Edible #1

I am long over due for a post but after two weeks of juggling around my husband’s new schedule things have settled down and I am happy to be reporting back to you! The past few weeks I have been working on my first Ethical Edible project, which I mentioned in the last post – jam!

Jam, thankfully has a pretty simple recipe, and while I wasn’t able to find an ethical alternative to every ingredient, the two most likely to come into contact with human trafficking (Sugar and Fruit) proved to be solvable problems.

It could not have been a more perfect time to start. This has been my first summer in the central valley of California and consequently I have been gushing over all the fresh produce. Still, as I learned from my time at the academy,  it is difficult to know who exactly picked all the fruit at my local grocery store and whether or not their working conditions were humane. So just to to make my ethical edible as ethical as possible I attempted to pick most of the fruit myself. I picked the figs from our very own back yard, was able to take many a peach off of a friend’s hand (or rather tree), and was even given some mangoes that my father-in-law was given in exchange for English lessons.

Fruit Tip #1- For those who don’t have any fruit trees of your own, try frequenting any nearby farmer’s markets. You can often talk directly to the family and find out how they harvest their crop.

Fruit Tip #2 – Visit a “pick your own” farm! Forget tracking down the history of your produce aisle, “pick your own” farms are usually great deals and its a fun outing for a summer or fall day! For a list of farms throughout the United States click here. 

Fruit tip #3 Take advantage of the chance to know where your fruit is coming from and save money! Most fruit can be frozen and used for jam or cobblers when farmer’s markets and the like close down in the winter. 

To sweeten my jam I bought fair trade certified sugar from Wholesome Sweeteners (which you can buy here.) I unfortunately didn’t realize that Safeway in Modesto carried it and ordered my sugar online, upping the price, but many who live near stores such as Whole Foods or Mother’s Market may have a better chance at buying it locally.

After multiple rigorous (ok at least tedious) days of jam making I ended up with Peach Jam, Mango Peach Jam, Fig Jam, and White Peach and Fig Jam. They turned out wonderfully, but I have to say the Mango Peach is by far my favorite.

One of the most exciting things about this first ethical edible is how much healthier and more affordable the finished product turned out to be compared to store bought jam. I’ll have a price comparison for you later this week to show you that ethical doesn’t always mean expensive!

Prepare for Take Off!

So when I first started my blog about a month ago, I told you to be on the look out for some key features, one of which I called “Ethical Edibles,” and another “Fair Facts.” Today I am going to combine powers and give you an introductory post to both. I can’t wait to talk to you about all the jam I’ve been cooking up, but first let me tell you why I chose to cook with a ten pound bag of sugar for $30.00 as opposed to the regular ten pound bag for $8.00.

 

Fair Fact #1 – Fair trade does not mean guaranteed slave free products…Fair Trade means a company has a zero tolerance policy against slavery. 

Think of it this way – most college universities cannot guarantee that no one on their campus is racist. They can however have a zero tolerance policy, meaning if they find instances of racism they will do something about.

Fair Fact #2 – Many fair trade companies work with small co-ops that would normally not be able to compete with larger factory farms.

Fair Fact #3 – Fair Trade is a third party auditing system. This means they certify whether a company is abiding by certain regulations and standards.

Why third party? Think of it this way – As an English Teacher I don’t let my students grade their own finals, likewise it is important that an outside source check in on such an important aspect of a company.

So all that being said, when I was deciding how to sweeten my jam, I wanted to know that the company I supported did not tolerate child labor, or forced labor of any kind. Looking for that Fair Trade symbol puts me one step closer to finding that sort of company.

Fair Trade Symbol

Debriefing

Well, I’ve been home from the academy for two weeks now and am still processing all that I learned. In these past two weeks I have had a number of people ask me “If you took one thing home from your classes, what is it?” I think the best answer I can give is as follows:  I realized that the consumer side of human trafficking is complex, that supply chains are complex, and finding our role in all of it is complex.

Phrases like “externalizing costs” and ” sub-contracting” engulfed just about every lecture and conversation at the academy. It was at times overwhelming, okay it was mostly overwhelming, but when has solving global issues ever been simple?

Why is it important that I realized the complexity of it all? When we grow in our understanding of things (something scripture always seems to be encouraging) we are more likely to find where our skills, interest, and circumstances can best be used. The more that I’ve learned the more I see a path set before me, but I have not always felt this way.

On the last day of the academy, I began feeling overcome with a desperation. I wanted, I needed to find at least one significant way, that I, Charlotte Burnam could impact this issue. I wanted, needed  to know how to live in an agriculture heartland with the knowledge that not everything grown in the U.S. was slave free. I wanted, needed something. And the only question I could think to ask was, “how do we buy produce ethically?” Our speakers response – “Grow your own food for now.”

Light bulb.

I cannot change what my grocery store offers overnight, nor can I pay for a plane ticket to the coco fields of the Ivory Coast. I have to start somewhere and sometime. It just so happens that my husband and I felt led to learn how to garden this summer and consequently have some corn and tomatoes among other things in our garden. It is certainly not enough to live off of, and I am still frequenting our local grocery store but I have realized that we must take steps, and we must take those steps one at a time. This week I replaced my husbands coffee, with Equal Exchange’s Fair Trade Coffee and found our first tomatoes of the season. The journey has begun.

*Stay tuned for some grocery list tips.

Getting Choosy with your Chocolate

Now that you’ve all signed the Raise the Bar Hershey petition, we’ll look at another way to send Hershey (and many other companies) a message concerning how we feel about child labor tainting our sweets.

Activism used to look a lot like raising picket signs, yelling catchy chants, and closing our pocket books (boycotting,) but our world-changing tactics are getting a makeover. At the Not For Sale Academy I became very familiar with a buzz word among the socially conscious world – Smart Activism. Using our creativity and knowledge to come up with innovative and effective ideas to combat the evils of this world.

So let’s explore one such “tactic” – the boycott vs. the buycott. With companies and corporations as big as they are today, it often feels like boycotting a company just isn’t enough. I propose that we continue boycotting companies with poor ethical standards but take the next step and REWARD the companies that DO have quality standards in their labor force. In doing so we are drawing attention to what we the consumers don’t want and what we do want.

So let me suggest that before you go buy your regular chocolate bar, you check out just a few of my suggestions on where to find a sweeter treat in both taste and history:

• Surprisingly Lindt truffles (available at your local grocery store) have a very transparent supply chain, so while they aren’t fair trade they have taken steps towards ensuring fair work environments.
• For conveniently available chocolate go to Trader Joe’s for their Free Trade Chocolate bar, it is just as delicious and just as affordable ($1.99)
• If you are willing to put in a little extra work and pennies ($1.99 – 3.99) for a lot of extra quality, check out Divine Chocolate available at http://shop.divinechocolateusa.com/Bars/c/DivineChocolate@Bar

* Fellow Turlock folks will have to make the drive to Modesto for Trader Joe’s, but fear not, I’m hoping to start talking with local grocery stores about carrying Chocolate you can eat guilt free (unless we are talking calories)

Truly Bittersweet

Well it seems that my dreams of a blog post a day this week fell short. Tuesday the internet went out, Wednesday I came down with what seems to be a summer cold. . Needless to say, today’s blog is a bit off schedule.

I know I promised you all a tool to track down the truth about your favorite chocolates, but I realize now that may have been a bit premature. Many of us have no idea what is going on in the chocolate industry today, let alone why a rating tool would even be necessary. So let’s lay down some basic facts.

Americans consume billions of pounds of chocolate every year and likewise

pour billions of dollars into the trading of cocoa. Cocoa beans can only be grown within 10 degrees of the equator. This means that more two-thirds of all chocolate is grown in West Africa and specifically in Cote d’Ivoire, a poverty stricken country where child labor runs rampant. Though many major chocolate corporations (such as Hershey’s and Nestle) signed an agreement more than a decade ago to crack down on child labor, it appears little has changed.

So how does this relate to Human Trafficking?

…Well in addition to falling under the category of child labor, research and investigations have shown that a percentage of children working on these plantations were kidnapped or coerced (with fraudulent promises of money) from neighboring countries. I don’t know about you but these facts leave a bitter taste in my mouth.

There are a number of ways we can grown in awareness and fight this injustice. So in light of all the s’more making that goes on in those last sweet weeks of summer vacation, I will be letting you all know of ways that YOU can fight slavery this very week!

For starters click below to sign a petition to push Hershey to create policies that will protect these exploited workers!

Hershey: Raise The Bar!.

Learning the Lingo

It’s been a long day and after some journal-ing and an attempt at a nap I think I may be ready to report back to you all.  I realize that much of what I learn this week will have to be sifted through and organized before I attempt to present it all to you. So for today I thought we’d learn some of the lingo (forgive me and my excessive alliterative tendencies) the abolitionist movement prefers to use. So let’s get to it…

Human Trafficking – basically this term seeks to encompass any sort of service that is exploitative in nature. So it includes forced labor, slavery, bonded labor, and forced or the worst forms of child labor.

Slavery refers to when a person is under the total control of another person and when the enslaved person is treated as property with restricted freedom of movement.

Forced Labor is work or service that is demanded of any person under the threat or consequence of penalty for which a person did not volunteer him or herself.

Debt Bondage starts when a person provides a loan to another individual and uses his or her labor or services to repay the debt. It becomes a situation of debt bondage when the value of the work is not fairly applied to the liquidation of the debt. This usually occurs through the use of unreasonable and absurd levels of interest applied to the debt.

Forced Child Labor is the hardest to define, as not all child labor is illegal in all places. The issue however, is when this work becomes exploitative, for example a child is in custody of a non family member who has the child perform work that financially benefits someone outside of the child’s family and does not offer the child a choice to leave.

Each type of Human Trafficking exists in every region of the world, and while we can’t  say every product we buy is a result of slave labor it is safe to say that any product we buy could be tainted by some form of human trafficking. I hope this hasn’t been too bookish or wordy for you! I promise you will want to stick with me because  tomorrow I’ll be telling you about a grading system that will help you know exactly which chocolates are truly sweet!

Not For Sale Academy, July 2011

It’s finally here!   Tomorrow my husband will be dropping me off at the Not For Sale Academy in San Francisco where I will be spending the rest of the week taking part in their “Supply Chain” course. Here is their description of the week:

The supply-chain academy equips investigators to document companies and their attempts, or lack there of, to maintain a supply-chain free of forced labor. Learn how to follow supply-chain, document the good and bad of compliance, and make lasting changes to the way our global economy treats the world’s most vulnerable.

You can’t tell me that doesn’t sound exciting and empowering! Just so you know a bit of back ground, Not For Sale is a NGO that combats Human Trafficking on various fronts. I greatly appreciated and respect their holistic approach to the issue and feel they have made a very serious effort towards raising awareness.  Not For Sale offers week long academies in which you can learn how to investigate and map cases in your own area, learn methods of aftercare for trafficking victims, or even learn more as a health care professional. To learn more about the organization visit http://www.notforsalecampaign.org/  To learn more about Human Trafficking on every continent including our own, I highly recommend the book, Not For Sale by David Batstone.

I will keep you all updated throughout the week to the best of my abilities. See you on the other side!

Getting Started

Well, here it is, a blog I might actually stick to. There are roughly 27 million people enslaved today. I’ve known this fact for awhile and after 3 years of wading in the awareness stage its time to move on to action. I am now investigating, pursuing, researching, whatever you want to call it, the consumer side of human trafficking. Hopefully as I learn more about what we as consumers can do to change the nasty facts of modern day slavery, I can relay the same information to you in an interesting, challenging, and practical way. A few things to keep an eye out for here at “An Elephant Named Slavery,”

• Ethical Edibles – recipes, reviews, and tips on where to buy slave labor free ingredients

• Fair Facts – The down low on what Fair Trade really means

• Just Jesus – A study of what the bible has to say about Justice and Mercy and what it means for Christian Abolitionists.

• Purposeful Partying – Follow me on my journey to bring Fair Trade parties to the central Valley