When asked what Americans can do to help lessen the demand for slavery abroad, IJM staffer Lauren Johnson talked about Americans considering what they are purchasing. In case you missed it, you can read more of what she had to say here.  

Trade As One is an organization that works alongside churches in hopes that entire congregations of people will understand the global impact of their purchases. 

The market today truly is a global one. We buy produce, coffee, chocolate, clothing, jewelry, etc. and most of it comes from another part of the world. But how often do we consider the hands that have sewn our clothing, made our jewelry or farm the food and drink we are consuming today? We buy chocolate but aren’t told that the majority of the world’s chocolate is from Sierra Leone. There are over 800,000 children enslaved to the coca farms in Sierra Leone. I’m a sucker for chocolate but I don’t need it so bad that it would ever justify a child enslaved and deprived of his/her childhood so that I can eat a chocolate bar.

Check out this video that Trade As One released. Fair trade is not a perfect system but it is headed in the right direction. What are your thoughts on buying fair trade versus non-fair trade products? What are some other ways you know of that American consumers might help lessen the demand for slaves abroad based on what they purchase?  

 

For more info on how fair trade can help stop slavery check out:

http://www.stopthetraffik.org/takeaction/chocolate/

http://live2free.org/fairtrade.html

http://www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/fairtrade/coffee/