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Fair Trade Travel
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Travel, for Coop Coffees and its roaster members, is crucial to establishing and maintaining strong relationships with producer coops from all over the coffee-growing world. Exchanging information face-to-face with our partners and experiencing first-hand their daily context is an indispensable aspect of what we do. In addition to providing a wonderful opportunity for members and staff of Coop Coffees to visit with producers, many roasters have opened up delegations to the public and encourage their clients, friends, and family to join them abroad! To learn more about these chance-of-a-lifetime tours that our roasters will be leading, scroll down or click: |
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Just Coffee
Fair Trade Travel Delegations
Because our cooperative mission is based on direct relationships with the producers that grow our coffee, Just Coffee organizes delegations to grower cooperatives in Latin America several times a year. These delegations give Just Coffee costumers, coffee drinkers, travelers, students, curious souls, or other interested folks a look into what goes on behind fair trade and the long process of coffee from the seedling to your cup. Participants will have the opportunity to discuss topics related to the larger importance of participating in the fair trade system as well as challenges that still exist in finding a fair alternative to world trade through face-to-face conversations with the farmers themselves. It also gives producers a chance to hear directly from consumers about the end results of the coffee they grow, bringing a human face to this whole system. Participants will learn about benefits as well as challenges that still exist within the fair trade system, women’s empowerment, organic agriculture, food security, globalization, cultural diversity, politics, history, current events, environmental issues, social movements, and more. Throughout our stay, we will travel to coffee growing communities, share meals with and visit producers in their homes, visit local markets, eat typical food, and explore the surrounding area.
2010
Delegations:
Join us on our 2010 delegation to La FEM women’s cooperative in Esteli, Nicaragua!
July 13-18th 2010
Cost: $800 ( includes all in country transportation, two meals a day, lodging, a donation for the communities we visit, translation and interpretation services, and other activities. Price does not include airfare)
* Please inquire about scholarship opportunities, discounted group rates, or other options
Contact: Julia Baumgartner at julia (at) justcoffee (dot) coop
Fair Trade Tours with Higher Grounds Trading
**Visit their website for more info: http://www.highergroundstrading.com/fair-trade-tours.html**
Harvest Tour: Fair Trade and Indigenous Autonomy in the Mayan Highlands
February 4th – February 11th, 2010
Join us on an adventure through the Mayan Highlands of Chiapas, Mexico where we'll be meeting up with our many partners in the struggle for a just and dignified world. We'll be visiting organic and fair trade coffee co-ops working to create community sustainability and various autonomous projects that your coffee dollars support here at Higher Grounds.
Participants will have the opportunity to experience the reality of the rich culture of Mayan people struggling for autonomy and self-sufficiency and learn about the current threats to the existence of their culture.
The delegation will meet with organic farmers, women's fair trade artisan cooperatives, Fair Trade coffee co-ops, traditional healers, biodiversity and economic rights activists, and autonomous indigenous communities and leaders.
In addition to learning about the farmers' perspective of the powerful coffee industry, participants will find more in depth knowledge about fair trade and how to "plug in" when they return home.
Chiapas burst into the world's headlines New Year's Day 1994 - the day that NAFTA went into effect - when an uprising led by the Zapatista movement reminded the world that indigenous people are still struggling for their rights 500 years after the European conquest. Nestled in the mountains of Chiapas, San Cristobal de las Casas is the gateway to the Lacandon rainforests and forest-blanketed highlands. The city, full of colonial charm and vibrant indigenous culture, will serve as the base from which the delegation will visit a variety of non-governmental organizations, autonomous indigenous communities, and coffee co-ops.
Trip Highlights:
* Spend the day at a certified organic, Fair Trade Coffee Cooperative to learn about the positive impacts of Fair Trade
* Visit local coffee growing communities to learn about indigenous culture and the use of organic agriculture as a means to self-sufficiency
* Learn about the struggle for a just and equitable world through the eyes and words of the Zapatista Autonomous communities
* Examine the issue of land rights and see first hand the global threats to the Mayan communities very existence
* Learn about innovative, sustainable water projects taking place to support communal access to fresh water
* Meet with a successful women's artisan cooperative in the highlands and learn about the production of fair trade artisan goods
* Witness first-hand the effects the global economy has on indigenous peoples
Price: $700 - Includes double occupancy lodging, two meals a day, translations, guides, donations to each organization and community we visit and all in-country transportation.
Contact usor call chris@highergroundstrading.com at 231.922.9009 for more information
