Fair Trade Craft Consultant

Each time I return to Africa it feels more like home. I will never completely understand the different cultures, but I’m beginning to have enough of a grasp to make a difference.

In 2008 I founded and helped to develop the KamiAmi Women Cooperative, a fair trade craft enterprise in Pokuase, Ghana. We are a community development project of WomensTrust, a micro-lending organization based in New Hampshire. The KamiAmi women crochet bags and wallets using plastic bags that litter their environment. Our name comes from the first crocheting instruction I learned in the local Ga language: “kamiami,” which translates as “keep it loose.” The project, continuing under my guidance, is on its way to becoming sustainable, providing greater income for the women of Pokuase.

Also in 2008 I worked as a consultant for SERRV International, a nonprofit organization that promotes social justice and economic progress by marketing fair trade handcrafts. I visited southwestern Uganda and northern Ghana as a basket consultant, working in collaboration with the local NGO in each country, helping to evaluate and develop new designs for the area basketmakers.

From 2005 to 2007 I worked with Cross Cultural Collaborative in Nungua, Ghana, helping to develop “Recycled Ghana,” a papermaking and bookmaking project. Made by local Nungua children, the sale of these books helps to pay their school fees.

I would welcome new projects.


Links: WomensTrust - http://www.womenstrust.org/
SERRV - http://www.serrv.org/AboutUs.aspx