"The Table is Set" | December | Fair Trade Friday | 2022

is Set The Table

2022 VISION OF FAIR TRADE FRIDAY

Throughout 2022, we took you on a fair trade journey by featuring a different room of the home each month. The rooms were highlighted in your Fair Trade Friday boxes with appropriate items and included thematic unity, scripture, and intentional living inspiration. We hope you enjoyed building deeper handmade collections within your home.

THE TABLE IS SET

"There are far better things ahead than any we leave behind.”

C.S. Lewis

The table is the center of the home.

If our kitchen tables and dining sets could talk, they might urge us to stay a while… linger…pull up a chair...

Tables are the gathering places, where we feed our bodies and souls. They hold our food and our family and a piece of our heart. Tables are where cups and secrets are spilled.

The table, with its open chairs, welcomes all who enter our homes. "Gathered around the table, stories are told, memories are created, and love is abundantly grown.” —

Heaping Harvest

Tables are spots to place our bounties; they urge us to bless guests and offer blessings to God. Stories, support, and supplication around the table nourish our souls.

Arguments are solved, agreements are made, and attitudes are adjusted. What happens around the table in our home is sacred.

We fill our people at the table, we push back our plates, and we take memories and moments with us. Just as we will leave behind this year and all it has held, we set the table for a new one. New years hold new opportunities for new beginnings.

Set the table with the beautiful and versatile wooden stand to hold the 2023 calendar cards included in this month’s box. Take a moment to indulge with the included gift card by adding more handmade gifts to your table in the coming year.

mahogany book holder

MADE BY ITZA WOOD IN GUATEMALA

Itza Wood’s handcrafted mahogany book holder is a versatile piece you’ll reach for again and again. Use it in the kitchen to prop up a cookbook while you prepare a new recipe. In the office, this stand can display your 2023 calendar featuring Sanaa art. Or if you’re just in the mood to relax, use it to hold your tablet or phone as you watch your favorite movie.

Itza Wood

Itza Wood was founded in the largest remaining tropical forest of Central America, the Petén jungle in Guatemala. Itza Woods' skilled carpenters and artisans work conscientiously with a gorgeous array of exotic woods exclusively from the Petén jungle. All of the wood is sustainably harvested and FSC-certified. Itza Wood exists to create jobs and foster positive social impact in a place where poverty is crushing. Each item is handcrafted with the utmost care and reflects the beauty and biodiversity of the jungle.

Jaquelín

Jaquelín is 21 years old and began working at Itza Wood a year ago. Her husband was battling cancer and could not work. Jaquelín, mother to a 3-year-old daughter, came looking for work in order to support her family.

Many team members at Itza Wood arrive there without any experience, but with a real need to put food on their tables and take care of their families. Itza has a saying that they’re in a state of “constante aprendizaje,” which means they are constantly learning. They are willing to bring on new team members and train them in the necessary skills to succeed in the workshop. In their communities, there isn’t always ideal access to learning new skills or even to a quality basic education, which is why Itza sees its support of The Jungle School as vital to the community.

on the weekends. The young mother loves spending evenings and weekends with her daughter. After Jaquelín lost her husband seven months ago, Itza and its team provided support and financial stability so that she doesn't have to worry about the basics of food and shelter as she grieves and learns to live without her husband.

Jaquelín is so grateful for the opportunity to learn and being hired despite her lack of experience. She is most grateful for the work schedule and expressed that other job opportunities didn’t allow her to be home

Felt

MADE BY STREET HOPE IN KENYA

like this, you can get something fun for yourself too!

Street Hope is comprised of sixteen precious women in Mathare slum who had lived their whole lives on the street. Many were orphaned as children and have only known life on the street, others were homeless due to difficult circumstances, and all were doing whatever necessary to survive and provide for their children. Mercy House Global started simply by teaching them how to do a basic sewing hand-stitch. It is miraculous to see the women—one by one and by His grace—growing in their skills, becoming confident, providing food and schooling for their children, learning how to read, overcoming addiction, and moving into their own homes.

Zaituna

In 2018, Zaituna, a 26-year-old Muslim mother from Uganda, went to Kenya in hope of opportunities. The loss of both her parents and having no other person to turn to forced her to cross the border in search of a means of survival. She has two young children whose fathers abandoned them.

Zaituna had to quit her first job as house help due to deplorable working conditions and mistreatment from her employer. She struggled to find another job because she didn’t have proper paperwork. She was forced to seek shelter from a friend at Mathare slums. Unfortunately, her friend could not continue to accommodate her, and Zaituna and her children ended up in the streets.

In order to survive, Zaituna would go around to the estates neighboring Mathare looking for menial jobs like washing clothes. Sometimes she would beg from motorists. She finally managed to secure a job with Street Hope through a friend who also works there. With her first salary, Zaituna rented a house where she currently lives with her kids. She is excited and grateful to God that she is able to earn a steady income which ensures that she and her children no longer spend the cold nights in the streets and do not go to bed hungry.

2023 calendar

WITH ORIGINAL ART BY TAIBA, A RESETTLED REFUGEE FROM IRAQ

Taiba, a resettled refugee originally from Iraq, is a lead floral designer in Houston, Texas, where she uses her creative talents daily. Taiba has been creating art for Mercy House Global since her first days in the United States. She sketched the beautiful floral drawings on your calendar and recently designed and painted a mural at the Mercy House Global home office. Taiba loves how there are vast opportunities for her here in her new country and said, "Life gets

anuary

ugust

Reflection + Looking Ahead

Before we rush on to the excitement of the New Year, we should take time to reflect on the previous one. Review all the ups and downs, the lessons learned, and the memories made.

Good or bad, we should acknowledge the experiences that have shaped us over the year we've just lived.

So block off some time for yourself and grab a mug of your favorite drink. Find a quiet place where you can work through this guided reflection as you prepare for the year ahead.

Use your phone's camera to scan the code below. Download and print the reflection pages.

fair trade subscription clu FAIR TRADE FRIDAY

WHAT IS FAIR TRADE?

Fairly-traded products are made by artisans who work in safe conditions, are paid a fair wage, and work fair hours. No child gave up his education to produce your new favorite item; no mom was laboring in a sweatshop for 80 hours a week. We ensure that all of our Fair Trade Friday club items are fairly traded.

HOW IS FTF DIFFERENT THAN OTHER SUBSCRIPTION CLUBS?

We are not a for–profit company, or even a profit-for-good company — Fair Trade Friday is operated by Mercy House Global, a nonprofit. All profits from FTF directly support our maternal rescue center, Rehema House, in Kenya. You can learn more at mercyhouseglobal.org.

FTF PARTNERS WITH FAITH-BASED ARTISAN GROUPS ACROSS THE GLOBE. WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?

While we are a faith-based ministry and partner with other faith-based ministries, religion is not forced upon artisans, nor is it a requirement for employment. Many women & their families have different religions than us, and that is okay. Our belief in Christ calls us to love, serve, and help others, regardless of their personal belief systems.