November 18 2008

Welcome!

For the purposes of getting this website up and running I’m going to be very brief for I do have a lot to say about "fair trade". The finished document that I am currently writing will be very LONG and in depth. Hopefully it will give my customers, who want to dig a little deeper, a much clearer picture of what happens in the Upper East Region—a little enclave tucked in the southern edge of the Sahel.

Allow me to make a few points.

We are NOT "Fair Trade" certified yet. Just because a company is certified "Fair Trade" doesn’t necessarily mean they pay a great price. IFAT and the FTF do their best but they don’t have the resources to oversee everything.

We are in the process of acquiring our certification from these two organizations.

To the best of our knowledge, we pay the highest price for a basket in Bolgatanga. More than any company that is listed on IFAT and FTF’s website. But we must do better for none of us so called fair traders, whether we’re certified or not, pay enough for a basket. That is the unvarnished truth. There is a lot of "spin" in the Bolga basket industry that would suggest otherwise.

Soon there will be a video of a weaver telling you what a great guy I am. Likewise, a video of my assistant, and his wife to be, telling you about the great things that the Baba Tree did during the "hunger season." Take it with a grain of salt. We did make a huge impact this year but we have to do better. Of course, from this moment on, we will.

For the mean time we have thousands of baskets to sell and our weavers need to get back to work. Its over to you.

In Oneness,

Gregory MacCarthy
Founder, The Baba Tree Basket Company.