I have had myriad thoughts, read several articles and thought of various sub-topics that I could write on. I thought hard about it. And today all I want to do is write those things that come to “heart”. My brain (planning) has gone for a walk. And so it could very well be randomness coming your way.

I read a quote recently that resonates with me. “You don’t have to be anti-man to be pro-woman”. Supporting one does not mean making an enemy of the other. It just means accepting that both exist. In an unrelated reading, there was a discussion on faith – how God cannot be scientifically explained. That there is no “sensory” experience. It just is. In a somewhat convoluted similarity, women and men just are. They both have their place in the world. Just like science and faith.

This is a sudden thought, but if we extend the analogies, men could be like science and women, faith. But women, might very well be Faith incarnate but somewhere we seem to have lost it in ourselves. The myth of the musk deer could hold true here. It runs after the smell of the musk it carries in itself. We women seem to be like these deer. We are running from pillar to post for the world (human race) to accept us as equals.

Isn’t that rather ironic? If we really look at the equation, the human race comprises of men and women and since we are talking equality the neuter gender. So essentially we are “seeking approval” from men and the neuters. What about ourselves? Why can’t we just accept ourselves? Why are we looking for the smell of the musk everywhere when it actually resides in us?

On this IWD centenary day, I hope that if any of us believe that we are seen as women because the other is a man then we should know that the reverse also holds true. He is seen as a man because I am a woman. If we exist because he exists then know that he exists because we do too. If it is relativity then it is both ways. If it is not relativity then we are just another human species – a woman.

We have all been conditioned and we all fall in the trap of making judgments. It is far easier to go with what we have been conditioned to believe because it is like a second skin. But it is very difficult to shed this skin.We need to unlearn to really learn something new because a full cup will always overflow.

We must allow ourself to realize ourselves. Womanhood is the means. We must allow it to help us realize our potential as human beings. It’s not about them, men. It’s about us, women. It’s not what they think, it’s what we think and do.

The past 6 months I have had extreme experiences. Super dangerous. Super sad. Super exciting. Super dud. Super sick. But through it all I have had the SUPER experiences with SUPER people. In almost all situations from complete disaster to full fun, women have stood up for themselves and those who mattered to them. AND they have stood by me and for me irrespective of knowing me or not.

I made a 3-week trip to the US in November 2010. This was to promote eyaas and our wares and get close to our customers. In three weeks I visited 7 cities – Columbus, Ohio; Pittsburgh, PA; Washington DC; Aptos, CA; Indianapolis, Indiana; Boston, MA & New York City and I got the opportunity to host trunk shows/exhibitions in 4 cities. I sent out a mail to people I had been interacting with in the United States since I started eyaas. So most of these people I had not met before.

In Columbus I was helped by Mark Cardwell from Global Fair Trade TV. WOW! is all I can say. Mark not only sent me an invitation to help with my visa, he also arranged a home stay at a friend’s place. Debbie housed me and fed me for my entire stay at Columbus. Says a lot about Mark and how he builds his friendships. He followed it up with being present at the venue of my exhibition for the 2 days that I was there AND he connected me with two fabulous women Connie DeJong from World Peaces and LeAnn from Peace Love Bling which I hope will develop into good working relationships. He did all this without knowing me from Adam’s. He set the bar.

Then I went on to Pittsburgh where I was hosted by Reverend Marjorie Riviera (Marj). Boy oh boy! What a powerhouse. Again someone I had never met. She hosted me for 2 straight days in her “Wisdom Shop” and helped me with posting my products to my next destination even after I had left Pittsburgh. Marj is a Psychic Medium and she gave me a wonderful reading as well. Through her I also had the opportunity to meet some gorgeous women Sara, Andrea, Victoria, DeShelle…. God Bless her and may she continue to bring peace to the many who depend on her.

Next stop was Washington DC and there I got the opportunity to meet Olivia Kahlili who manages her blog Cause Capitalism and now works with Ashoka Ventures in DC. She got me to attend the TEDx Youth Event taking place that week-end in DC where I got the opportunity to meet with some more brilliant people. Olivia gave me a very patient hearing. Thank you Olivia for your support and I know I now have to get the work together.

And what can I say about my next stop, Aptos California. Wendy Leonard and The Ihangane Project (TIP) were the best hosts anyone could wish for. Again, I had not met Wendy before but she went out of her way to support me and host an evening at her house. Food, drinks and Mama….I had a wonderfully invigorating discussion before leaving with Wend, her friends and Mama. Wendy and her work in Rwanda is an inspiration.

Last but not the least, one of my favourite places in the world – Boston MA. I was hosted by my friend and first photographer for eyaas, Ellen Callaway of Callaway Photo. She hosted me at her Collaborative Work Space where I got to spend the evening with some very interesting people. And the icing on the cake was a visit from the biggest and most consistent customer that eyaas has had from the start – Jennifer Blackmon. She came, she bought and made her mother buy too. I dont think eyaas will ever get a customer to top her. Jennifer completed her MBA, worked internationally and now works with Citizen School in Boston. A trooper if there is one

It will be remiss of me not to say Thank you to all my cousins, Chetna, Ujjwal & Utpal and my dearest friend Vidisha, who flashed their cards to facilitate buying my tickets or booking my hotels because I didnt have a credit card. Keep your cards ready. I am coming back.

All in all, at almost the end of one year of operations, I have to say that I got the best step up that I could have asked for to continue the work that I am doing today. It has been a year of intense learnings. And this post is about one which I would probably not have taken to, had it not been for those that I am working for – to reach out and ask for help.

I was amazed and still am that while there is so much talk about all that is wrong in this world and the intense cynicism, I got the best response when I asked for help. From sources and in ways I never expected. It restores my faith and makes me believe in the essential goodness of mankind (womankind)! No offense Mark, the female in you rules  God Bless you all and may you continue to prosper and make the difference that each one of you has set out to.

And now I have tasted blood and am planning my second visit this year. And the plea is out once again – I will be in USA in June. Who would like to see eyaas in their city?

I am having these thoughts because of a discussion I had with a colleague and social entrepreneur. Eyaas.com is the host for the India leg of a global collaborative convention which is taking place worldwide – Cosi10. One of the results of this convention is the creation of a knowledge base accessible to people on a global level – access over a period of time to documented discussions to global & local issues. At one level it is co-creation and process of learning through co-creation. At another level you are creating the content for the convention. The moot point is, would you pay for co-creation or would you pay for knowledge gained in the process of co-creation?

What and where is the perceived value?

I am reminded of the Buddhist tradition of debating and learning. If you visit the Tibetan Buddhist temple in McLeodganj, Dharamsala, in the evenings you will see a lively round of debates in the temple complex. A group of “junior monks” will sit in defense while the more senior monks played devil’s advocate to Buddhist texts. It is surreal to watch peaceful monks vehemently debating their understanding of the scriptures. But the basis of this format of “learning” of scriptures is embedded in the sense of understanding. Junior monks “understand” as opposed to learn by rote or take at face value what is being said. By debating and defending both sides get an in-depth and clearer knowledge of timeless truths.

Questioning, debating, discussing – learning by understanding. This is my idea of the process of collaboration that Cosi10 is trying to achieve. Now again, this form of learning works for me – people with similar backgrounds, motivations, ideas and ethos get together to thrash out their needs and requirements and create a repository of knowledge and networks which can be used as a stepping stone. How that repository is created and accessed, should that be discussed or should that be a given? And would you pay for a process which involved this level of creation? Would you pay for the process of thrashing the details unique to the community? Would you pay for laying the foundation for the community?

It’s true the monks don’t pay in cash. But would you?

The only reason we can talk of evolution and change within a system is because the system got created in the first place. Siiri Morley of Prosperity Candle makes this wonderful point with her entry An Evolving Notion of Fair Trade, “today we are standing on the shoulders of giants” – the fair-trade movement, the women’s empowerment movement. This allows her effort (and all of ours) with women in Iraq, to use fair trade as a starting point and take it much further to what they call the “prosperity wage”.

Fair-trade is largely associated with agricultural produce of which coffee is the most certified commodity. There are plenty of questions around the money that goes to the producer with respect to the ultimate retail price in the international market. But I have another question here – why are developing world farmers producing for the developed world while millions of people die of hunger in their own region? LeAnn of Crossing-borders-fair-trade shares with us this system of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) which not only supports organic agriculture and fair-trade practices but also looks at the environmental foot-print of such an enterprise. It creates “locavores” (love the term) and gives fresh produce as opposed to refrigerated goods from the super-markets.

Just recently I was watching a BBC story on Fair Trade. It spoke to people on both sides – people within the fair-trade community and producers who are getting more marginalized because they lack “certifications”. Mark Cardwell of Globalfts with his entry wonders if we are unintentionally creating a system of “industrial apartheid” and we just might be doing disservice to the very heart of the cause and the consumer at the end of it. Monika Nowaczyk of Cambodia Knits concurs on this whole issue of certification within the fair trade system. Her organization Cambodia Knits (CK), provides an income generation option for displaced women in Phnom Penh. Her point is that small organizations cannot afford auditors and because they are not certified does not mean they are not fair-trade. As Mark says, it is the principle and not the paper.

While the paper of fair-trade says…?!, the principles of fair trade suggests different worlds – “produce from the masses” and “mass production” – the difference between rural women making immaculate button-holes and factories churning out buttons in China. Eileen of Scarlet Threads, makes this point rather subtly in her post Buttons and their Holes. It is true how consumers have expectations of standardization which most small producers and rural folk (masses), are not concerned with. They need to be managed, to make each individual piece as close to the other in the same category as possible – without using machines! I had a similar experience with some of our (www.eyaas.com) artisans, especially potters who use traditional techniques. There will always be minor differences because each cycle has limited capacity. If we are lucky each batch will be 95% same, if not, we just get a new product category. Though most people see this as a limitation, we see it as an opportunity. Uniqueness of product is almost always guaranteed.

So, if we talk trade of agricultural produce and handmade goods in the global market, are we going to treat it the same way we treat industrial/mass produce? Should we evaluate it as clinically as mass production?  Are we as consumers willing to look farther into what makes us conscious and discerning consumers or are we going to be like lemmings following the crowd? With all of agriculture and handmade goods there is an entire local culture involved which cannot get disengaged from the final output. Do we recognize this?

“Give a man a fish you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish and you feed him for a life time” – Chinese Proverb. If there was ever a movement that was founded on these words it was fair trade. Fair trade is a wonderful concept which works on the principles of economic empowerment, which has now become an institution. And like any institution it is now at a stage where it needs to overhaul itself and look at re-hashing its principles or lose all that it stands for.

The basis of fair trade economics is “purchase price” rationalization for produce from developing world. The reference point to this rationalization is developed world prices and conditions. This makes tremendous difference to a few producers who can cull resources to produce goods which are acceptable in the international market. But here is the flip side – at one level while this raises the procurement price received by developing world producers, it also increases the economic gap within local communities.

I write from the other side of the fence because coming from the developing world and practicing the basic tenets of fair trade, I feel the current approach creates certain divides in the social fabric which eats into community living which is a huge part of daily life in the developing world. It is a noble thought and it ought to be practiced but I feel we need to change the approach to some extent to have a more holistic impact on societies as opposed to smaller groups of individuals.

Fair trade movement in its current form creates an economy which is divided against itself. The international fair trade community has been working towards “fair prices” for developing world producers. This results in a group of people in deprived communities to produce only for those who will give them a high price, i,e;  developed countries as opposed to local communities. A vicious cycle sets in, which sustains hunger and poverty as opposed to reducing it.

This might make you think I am against fairtrade. I am not. Price rationalization is the way to go, hence, fair trade is the way to go. But the reference point of this rationalization has to be part of the same world – it has to be the developing world and not the developed world. To the developed world people living under a $1 a day sounds appalling. But taking the reference of India where the currency conversion ratio is $1=Rs.45, it can buy people two square meals a day. It will not be a gourmet meal, but basics of 3 Chapatis (wheat flour bread), lentils and some potatoes every meal, while a $1 will buy 1 tall coffee in Starbucks or Dunkin donuts.

It is important that price rationalization is kept in perspective. Currently fair trade is not linked to anything other than economics which is driven top down – from the rich to the poor. What it needs to be linked to is community development. The basic price should be consistent with the local market conditions and any profits on final sale to the end consumer in the international market (which can afford a higher price) should get re-deployed in community development – education, health and hygiene, infrastructure etc. In today’s hyper economic terminology we could call it profit sharing or call them share holders. This to me would be fair trade. The fundamentals are still the same, it just increases the scope of helping and sustaining focused communities at a time as opposed to diffused individuals.

This is the principle that we at eyaas.com are working on. Internationally we have started partnerships with producer partners like Scarlet Threads (Empowering women in rural China), Ihangane Project (Supporting HIV/AIDS health infected settlements in Rwanda) or Cambodia Knits (Supporting marginalized communities in Cambodia) and retail partners like Seven Hopes United. In India we have partnered with organizations like Umang Mahila Samiti (Self-help women’s groups in villages of Kumaon), Aarohi (Providing health and education and developing new livelihood initiatives for villages in Sitla and Mukteshwar) and Bamboo House India (Creating green livelihoods and low cost rural housing by using Bamboo) .

These organizations work on the more inclusive principles of community development and fair trade as opposed to pure economics for individual gain. We will continue to look for such partners with whom we can work together using basic business principles for community good.

Social Capitalism and collaboration at its best!

We need to look at the dialogue of Parker Selfridge in isolation. “We are providing them education and teach them English, we build them roads but after many years our relationships are only getting worse because all they want is to play in the mud.” There is another bit in the movie where he hints at how “we build roads and schools, give them medicines, give them money. We teach them. But they don’t want it…find out what they want…”  This to me is the crux of development, local or international.

Most of us on the lucky side of the economic divide, be it the developed nations as a collective or the rich in the developing & underdeveloped world, assume we know how to put things right. We assume we know what those right things are. We like to think that our parameters of success (money, education, health) is what defines success for everybody and so “playing in the mud” becomes something we ought to change. This point becomes even more pertinent in the context of international development.

With the words of Parker Selfridge as a backdrop, see where “international development” stands today. The developed world talks about helping & changing the life of the poor in countries which they call “developing” or “under-developed”. The vocabulary by itself is egoistic. You want to help the “bottom of the pyramid” coming from those who consider themselves at the top of it. You want to assist the poor defined by those who are rich. Why? Because you have education, you have wealth, you have money, you have roads and electricity and you play with plastic toys instead of mud?

Your hearts are in the right place, but your approach is Parker Selfridge. So much so that when you want to decide what you want to do to change the plight of those in need, you do it in the most developed of cities, the best of environments, where those who actually need the help (we assume) are not even there to postulate. Yes, some people do manage to make it. I will not say all, but a vast majority of them are those who come from privileged backgrounds. They have the benefit of a good education, at least a middle-class lifestyle and access to health benefits. Most of them are Dr.Grace, who for the longest time was interested in them because of research and data, and not Jake Sully who feels “…there is nothing we can give them. We have nothing that they want.”

The fact that development might actually be messing things up, was brought to light in my recent visit to a mountain village in the Indian Himalayas. 5 years back, on my last visit it was a beautiful, green mountain side with clear view of the Hiamalayan range right through to Nepal. This time when I went, the mountains looked stripped, naked. Trees had been cut, forest land was taken up for hydro-electric plants, and concrete hotels were built to support employment through tourism. The village folks spent time in “meetings” with NGOs who “told” them what they needed to do to survive in this changing era of global warming and city migration. I was informed about this by a bitter village youth, who is educated (completed high school), can communicate in English though his strength is his own dialect, and is involved full-time with a private-community village tourism initiative. His words “These NGOs have taken away the thinking of the people. They just tell them what to do without asking them what they need.”

Is this not the place where the idea of development needs to change? Is this not the place where we need to become Jake Sully and go amongst the people who we think need help and understand what “their” needs are? Maybe they want to play in the mud and all they want is clean mud. Or maybe what they want to know is how many other games can they play in the mud.

We need to take a hard look at ourselves and see what we are doing? Are we trying to assuage our own guilt by giving “them” what we have? Or are we trying to feed our egos by “making a difference”? My point is the difference that we are trying to make, is that the difference that is needed? It bothers me and I have started to question myself each time I think I know what “they” need. I have been humbled several times and I like to think that now I have learnt and learnt well that the people I think need help, might just be very happy with what they have. That if we listen to them they will let us know how to help them and ourselves. In fact I am extremely humbled to realize that they can teach me more about life than I can. They can teach me more about community and selfless living than I can. They can teach me more about enjoying the riches of life than I can about defining those riches.

Nothing in this world is a one-way street. You cannot only give and assume you have nothing to receive. What we need now is inclusion and acceptance. We need to lower our barriers. We need to engage and we need to communicate. We need to step out of our glass houses and step into the world we are trying to change. Become one of them. And maybe then we will learn that it is not “them” who need change but “us”.

1) Most countries where fair trade principles ought to be practiced are countries that make part of the developing/underdeveloped world.

2) The electorate and hence the government in these countries is not a bias-free and mature government especially as far as social reforms and trade practices go. Corruption especially bribery is quite rampant.

3) Poverty levels are so high that subsistence takes on a whole new meaning where survival for each meal is the goal.

4) Economic infrastructure is poor.

5) Education and awareness levels are low.

Recommendation: Let the producers unite. Producers have an idea of the input involved. They should form community organizations or co-operatives and lay out their requirements which should include pricing with margins and in some cases they could even look at a separate margin for developmental aspects of their own community which could include education, health, better trading practices and also advocacy and lobbying with national & international bodies.

This might sound idealistic but the reason why I feel this model works as a win-win and mitigates exploitation to a large extent is because of the level of transparency it builds into the system. And it is not all THAT idealistic. We are doing it. While researching how we could work in this space with a for-profit model, we found that there are plenty of organizations doing grassroots work and developing people’s skills for modes of income other than agriculture. So we started contacting these organizations with our offer. These are the principles we are working on.

1) Buy their products from them at their price if they want us to stock. We never negotiate. If we get retail price first time we will pay them but pick smaller quantities. Or we create their own marketplace and they can sell and recieve payments using our infrastructure for a minimum fee.

2) After sale of every SKU 10% of the sale (profit sharing) goes back to the producer (organization or individual). We always request that this money should get used on the developmental side.

3) In some cases where we create a marketplace and do not stock products we take a commission of 10% of which 2.5% is moved to Borderless World Foundation which runs a home for girls in the Kashmir Valley.

As I mentioned in our introductory post, I am not sure what the world’s parameters on fairness are. But these are the parameters we work on. We are not setting the buying price. We have been given discounts and credits on stock without asking for it. And we have organizations very willing to take our “professional” help in selling stuff while they work on what they know best – development. They do most of the product development and quality control while we manage the economics. It is a symbiotic partnership.

Zen-P

We are now on to the next phase of connecting with you. Through our blog EyaasWorld we will take you through several themes in our journey, brought to you by me, Zen-P. Who is Zen-P?

Zen-P is Pallavi TRYING to achieve Zen status – hence purely fictional and aspirational. But today ’the secret’ to the world is “Dont think you are, Know you are”, hence I know I am Zen. I am at peace with controversy. I am at peace with chaos. I am at peace with the world because I accept the world as it is – NOT!!! What I promise is a fascinating ride(read) through the smorgasboard of EyaasWorld.

The world that we live in, is full of variations and so is the world of Eyaas that we bring to you. There are people who make us feel that what we are doing is too lame. Nothing new. Nothing “ground-breaking”. Nothing innovative that would shake the world. And thats right and alright. The fact is that we are not doing anything new. We are just doing what’s been done before, with our own little twist and that twist is the EXPERIENCE – experiences which I want to share with you. Not because I think they are anything “new” or “ground breaking” or “innovative”, but I want to share them with you because they are “simple”, ”honest” and “heartfelt”. They renew HOPE.

Most people assume that we are running a store and managing a business for profit. We do not proclaim “fair trade” (yet) so are we managing on fair principles? I dont know what the worlds parameters of fairness are. I will not lay claims to anything. All I will do is share my experiences and leave for you to judge if you so choose to. Every organization or individual that we deal with and every product that you see online has a story, has a history and has lives behind it. It’s not just about the product, its about what makes the product – the man, the family, the community, the environment and back to man – a full circle.

We have said it before and I will say it only once more – help us build the link that will make this world all that it can be.

Zen-P is feeling exhausted with so much of zen-talk. Thank you for reading through if you did. Let me know what you would like Zen-P to zzzz on and I shall deliver.

The world of my dreams is just round the corner!!

Zen-P