Following leads

These past few weeks have produced a very intriguing lead for our SAA trip. For those of you who are worried about the fact that we cannot yet answer the question, "So what exactly will you be doing?" I may be able to quell some of those fears very soon.

Ben and I are currently volunteering with a Columbus-based organization named Global Gallery. You can read all about them here: http://www.globalgalleryonline.org. Basically, it's a fair trade gallery that specializes in crafty stuff, home stuff, art, and a few edibles (coffee, chocolate, soups, etc). They currently have four shop locations: Short North, Easton, Yellow Springs, and a kiosk at the Columbus Airport.

About half of their products are purchased through 10,000 Villages but the other half are purchased more directly. Their goal is to increase their contacts and buy more from the artisans or local groups directly. A noble goal as it cuts out the middle man and makes sure more of the profit goes directly to the artisans. It also allows them better control over the product design and materials.

Another goal they've set forth is to do a multimedia project with the artisans so that more information can be passed on to the US customers. The basic idea is to visually document what the artisans do, how they do it, and what they do with the money.

I will be doing an internship with GG next quarter. One of my projects will be to build a database of who they are currently working with in Latin America. They work with almost a dozen in the area Ben and I were already planning on visiting. This will be helpful to forge new contacts! Now here's the part that's directly applicable to our trip: Ben and I might be given the task of working on behalf of GG while in SA. At this point, the idea has been thrown around that we would work on the multimedia project with the groups that are in the Central Andean region. We could also work on building new contacts.

This kind of foot-in-the-door is just what the SAA needed. I can't wait to work more on these contacts and actually get in touch with these groups!