TenThousandVillagesArtisanStoriesVol1_Mike_KICK.mov

Ten Thousand Villages Artisan Contact: Mike Muchilwa
Location: Kisumu, Kenya
Artisan Group: KICK Trading

Mike Muchilwa has been instrumental in organizing a number of young men and women in the city of Kisumu (on the eastern shore of Lake Victoria near the border with Uganda) to work on decorative products for the local market and the export market. Many of these people come from families that have been affected by the AIDS epidemic. Almost everyone has found it very difficult to find regular, good paying work in Kisumu. Mike has used some of the skills and the recycling abilities of the nearby Jua Kali market (Jua Kali means working under the hot sun and refers to the efforts of craftsmen who scrounge raw materials like recycled metal to make products that can be resold. Their workshops and marketplace are often on a vacant piece of property and they do work under the hot sun.

Mike has also developed some basic training programs that help people to organize themselves, learn good business practices and realize some of their rights and privileges that are often denied to poor, unemployed people. Mike has done some of this training in conjunction with Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) in Kenya and Tanzania and he has also done a lot of significant work with the World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO) and the African region for WFTO known as Cooperation for Fair Trade in Africa (COFTA).

About Ten Thousand Villages
For more than 60 years, Ten Thousand Villages has been establishing long-term buying relationships in places where skilled artisans lack opportunities for stable income. Founded in 1946, the company has grown from the trunk of founder Edna Ruth Byler's car to a network of more than 75 retail outlets throughout the United States. Ten Thousand Villages is an exceptional source for unique handmade gifts, jewelry, home décor, art & sculpture and personal accessories made by artisans in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East. One of the world's largest fair trade organizations and a founding member of the World Fair Trade Organization, the company strives to improve the livelihood of tens of thousands of disadvantaged artisans in 38 countries. Product sales help pay for food, education, healthcare and housing for artisans who would otherwise be unemployed or underemployed. For more information, visit www.tenthousandvillages.com.

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• Fair Trade
• Ten Thousand Villages
• KICK Trading
• Kenya
• Kisumu
• 4120060
• Wedding Couple Card
• recycled soda can
• recycle
• cards
• statues
• ornament
• earrings
• wire
• Mike Muchilwa