Ethiopia

Korah, the city garbage dump just outside Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, is home to more than 120,000 people living in poverty, many with HIV/AIDS, leprosy, TB and other diseases. Caring for Korah and Carry 117 are a few of the many outreach efforts that were established to empower residents of this community, freeing them from a life of begging and scavenging the trash for items to sell.

Zambia

The Zambian Soap Company is committed to furthering African communities through sustainable and organic farming techniques.  Many of the workers are adult orphans or women who’ve been widowed by the AIDS epidemic.  Clothed in Hope is breaking the cycle of poverty by empowering women one stitch at a time. All profits go into community initiatives overseen by the local Zambian churches.

Kenya

Rape, abuse, and prostitution for food contribute to 50% of teen pregnancies in slums in Kenya. Rehema House helps the most vulnerable girls in Kenya and offers them hope and a future. They receive counseling and learn a variety of skills to help them prepare for their future. Miujiza Textile and Ceramics, Karama, Have Hope, Friends of Mercy, Rehema House and Grain of Rice Project are working towards empowering women with dignity through employment.

Costa Rica

Hands Producing Hope provides hope and job empowerment in this beautiful country. Mercy Covers is an outreach of the St. Bryce Missions that provides skills training, personal finance management, education, discipleship, and meaningful work for women in rural Costa Rica.

India

The sex trade industry enslaves countless women in India. Freeset employs more than 160 women full time. Not only do these fair jobs provide support for their families, it offers the women freedom and dignity. JOYN takes artisans living in poverty and joins them with the thriving fashion world in the step-by-step handmade process. Village Artisan believes that every person has a story and they work to tell those of the disadvantaged through their beautiful creations. Freedom Firm pulls women from the brothels and offers aftercare and job opportunities in Jesus’ name.

Uganda

Fashion and Compassion restore dignity through their work in Ugandan. The young women employed by Tukula are trained seamstresses who have found it difficult to find work or are on the verge of dropping out of school.  In addition to a fair wage, they receive medical care and access to savings programs.

Rwanda

No. 41 is a grassroots organization teaching young women who have aged out of an orphanage in Gisenyi, Rwanda (ages 18-25) not only to sew, a culturally relevant trade that would always sustain them, but to give back to their community through a feeding program supporting local schools.

Burma, Bhutan, Nepal, Thailand

The United Nations has relocated more than 50,000 refugees to Houston, Texas, due to religious and ethnic persecution. The Refugee Project exists to empower refugee women by teaching them skills and product creation.

Mission Lazarus advances the Kingdom through social enterprise, education and outreach. Hope Coffee works to create capital to sustain mission ministries that provide jobs and basic provisions like clean water to local communities in the name of Jesus.

Bangladesh

Basha is a “house of hope” to more than 45 women in 3 employment sites in Bangladesh.  The women who come into the program are restored through training, education and mentoring.  They are able to provide a new live for themselves and their children.

Haiti

From the rubble and ashes of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, 3 Cords was born.  They took 6 survivors, 5 of them amputees and seen as invalids by society, and gave them opportunity. They gave them a new life.  They gave them hope.  They stand on the “not yet” of the Gospel because their story isn’t finished.  A second partner in Haiti is Vi Bella. which means “a beautiful life.”  The people at Vi Bella are on mission to share Christ’s love by transforming lives and the earth.  In the end, their artwork is more than a piece of jewelry. Papillon Enterprises and Haiti Design Co-Op creates jobs and jobs create an opportunity for parents to not only feed their children, but keep them.

Swaziland

Timbali Crafts began as a Bible study to encourage the volunteer cooks who, despite their own hardships, feed over 2500 children at a community feeding center each day in Swaziland.  Their desire is for God’s provision in, not only food and shelter, but in love, acceptance, forgiveness, self-worth, joy and hope.

Are you a non-profit or an artisan group and interested in partnering with Fair Trade Friday?

Email info[at]mercyhouseglobal.org