SPAIN: How to fill a house with solidarity

Fair trade products are gradually being selected by an increasing number of sensitised consumers. Though a little more expensive than average they guarantee that those producers involved in their production, often in poor countries, have been paid decent wages and that their labour rights have not been contravened, that the access of women to the labour market has been promoted and that the environment has been respected. In Spain there are 95 shops specialised in fair trade. The range of products is so broad that no daily activity seems to be excluded. One can start the day by drinking coffee made in a Colombian co-operative with a cup produced in a Vietnamese co-operative. The coffee may be accompanied with orange and chocolate biscuits, all of these can be bought in the SETEM shops. One could even go so far as to eat such a breakfast on a table and chairs made by Honduran co-operatives. In the morning shower a bar of papaya soap can be used that is sold in the Sodepau shop in Barcelona and has been made by an Ecuadorian co-operative. Alternativa 3 imports complementary products such as soap dishes and combs. Clothes made by fair trade producers in Cambodia or in India can be kept in wardrobes also made by fair trade producers. Other accessories, like bags made in Nepal, are also on sale in International Solidarity shops. Lunch can be made using rice from Thailand with curry from Sri Lanka and ?guaranito?drinks made in Brasil. After a long work day and with no desire to go home and cook it is then possible to eat dinner in a fair trade restaurant where Costa Rican, Malian and Ecuadorian products are served.