r be em pt Se 08 20
FAIR TRADE: Betterday in Vietnam CLIMATE CHANGE: Adapting to early floods in Bangladesh CHINA EARTHQUAKE: One community helping another AFRICA and EUROPE: Working for a fair partnership
A writer-photographer of German-
When I first arrived in Hong Kong,
American descent, I have been living in
late at night, on the day after voting in
Asia for twenty years now: this autumn
the 1988 United States elections, there
BETTERDAY
marks the anniversary.
were small red-lit shrines visible from
By Madeleine Marie Slavick
Much of my sense of home and com-
the metal gates of everyone’s very small
munity in Hong Kong revolves around
apartments in very high-rise buildings.
In Vietnamese, there is no trans-
to processing to packaging and sell-
Oxfam: there has been significant in-
I thought to myself: will this ever
lation for ‘social enterprise’ and the
ing. They provide quality and healthy
Hanoi-based company ‘Betterday’
food items – cashew, tea and coffee –
spiration and satisfaction in being able
feel like ‘home’?
to work alongside extraordinary people
Yes, there is a definite sense of
has no name in the language. Yet,
grown in six provinces across Vietnam.
for thirteen years. My colleagues work
home, although I do not keep a shrine,
“Betterday” is the brand name of the
All of the farmers they work with live
long and hard to create a little bit more
and my arm-span is wider than my
100 per cent Vietnamese owned com-
below the international poverty line
justice, equity, peace and community
home-office. I have circles of friends,
pany MDI Jsc.
of US$1 day; most are ethnic minor-
every day.
appreciate many aspects of Chinese
This speaks of some of the chal-
ity people; and many live in remote
I remember the first time I visited a
culture, and know the streets and vil-
lenges that this new company faces
village in Vietnam, in 1995: we endured
lages here. I vote, pay taxes, and have
every day: most people in Vietnam
mountainous regions. These 1,000 or so farmers working
hours and hours of rutty roads or long
a landlord.
do not know what ‘Fair Trade’ means.
with Betterday belong to groups with
hours in a canoe to reach project sites.
At the same time, I ask, what is
“Maybe we’re a little crazy,” say
as few as 14 members to as many as
Poverty was severe, as seen in disease,
‘home’ and ‘community’ and where
Nguyen Tuyet Minh and Dominic
100. The main requirement is that the
hunger, and sub-standard schools and
are the boundaries? To me, the sto-
Smith, who “used to have good-pay-
groups adhere to Fair Trade principles
clinics. O.N.E features a new social en-
ries in Vietnam and Shimen show that
ing jobs” but now volunteer their time
such as equal participation, gender
terprise in Vietnam that works to im-
everywhere is home, and that there is
for Betterday. “But we really believe
equity, eco-friendly farming and no
prove the livelihoods of farmers who
no community too remote for equity
that the principles of Fair Trade will
child labour. Betterday also looks for
grow high-quality tea, coffee and ca-
and equality. In northeast Bangladesh,
lead to sustainable development of
a sense of enthusiasm and determina-
shews in impoverished communities
too, as O.N.E reveals, farmers are
the country. We want to show that
tion: will the group be worth their in-
like these. It is the world’s first Fair
working to protect themselves against
it can work in a developing country.”
vestment, of providing technical agri-
Trade brand in a developing country,
the global changes in the climate.
Minh, Director and Founder, has
cultural assistance, management skills
and Oxfam has supported the growth
Across rural Africa, farmers are fighting
more than ten years of management
training, marketing support and infra-
against the unfair Economic Partnership
experience in marketing, and anoth-
structural expenses, such as for space
Agreements with Europe.
er five years of high-level positions
for drying and storing goods.
of ‘Betterday’. The first trip to China, in 1998, was in the mountains of the southwest: Shimen was rainy and cold even though
Yes, everywhere is home: one circle of community.
it was summertime, and the people I met worked extremely hard to make a living by growing potato, mining coal,
Madeleine Marie Slavick Editor, O.N.E
with NGOs. Vietnam has been her fo-
Tea picking tends to be done by
cus. Dominic, Agricultural Economic
women, cashew by men, and cof-
Advisor with Betterday, has seventeen
fee by both. Tea traditionally uses
years of experience across Asia, and
the most pesticides, up to 25 sprays
another eight in Vietnam.
per growing season. (Betterday tea
and herding sheep. Thirteen years later,
Betterday has already made its
is all organic, with no chemical pes-
Shimen farmers are in a healthy finan-
mark as the first internationally li-
ticides or insecticides used. Instead,
cial position to be donating thousands
censed Fair Trade brand located in a
a mixture of ginger, chili, garlic and
of Yuan to Oxfam’s earthquake effort
developing country. It is involved with
water is sometimes used.) Cashews
in Sichuan.
the whole supply chain, from farming
processing can be toxic and requires
Fair Trade cashew farmers (top) and Fair Trade tea farmers (bottom), who are Hmong minority people / photos cortesy of Betterday
in Vietnam