Trade For Freedom

You have responded.  God is at work through you.  Together, we are rebuilding lives.

It has been 3 months since the earthquake in Nepal.  Last night, another strong tremor jolted children and parents out of bed in fear.  Today, it lingers.  The thought of another big quake.  Everyone is grasping for a renewed sense of comfort, safety, and peace. For HOPE.

Gratefully, because of you, HOPE is lingering as well.  Your purchases create and sustain jobs for nearly 50 women in Nepal.  Their jobs provide them with hope.  Hope that they will have the money to rebuild.  That they will have a community of strong Nepali women by their side encouraging them daily.  That Christ will provide.

Twenty new women were hired after the first big quake and Trade for Freedom has been able to play an integral role in keeping them employed through your purchases, your parties, and your advocacy.

You are not only rebuilding lives that have been broken during the earthquake.  You are rebuilding lives that have endured unspeakable hardships for decades.  Where once a woman experienced shame, now she can experience honor.  Where once she felt worthless, now she knows that she’s God’s splendor.  Her job not only gives her honor in her society, it reminds her of God’s great love for her.  Every day.

Thank you for rebuilding lives with us.  Your purchases have enabled nearly 50 women to be employed and discipled in the love of Jesus Christ!

Every Trade for Freedom purchase provides ethical employment and Christian discipleship to women who have endured extremely difficult circumstances.  But how?  Here is the basic formula:

We cannot impact lives without the opportunity to provide employment.  When our partners employ a woman she earns more than an ethical income and benefits, she becomes part of a family.  When she walks through the door every morning, she is enveloped by love, support, and the presence of Christ.  All which have the potential to impact her life.  Giving her freedom, dignity and hope.

Employment stems from sales.  Our partners are committed to giving each woman meaningful work.  Women are hired based upon demand for the product she creates.  Demand is created by sales.  So, each woman learns a trade of which she can be proud.  She knows her work is quality as demand for her handmade products increase.  This culminates a healthy sense of self-worth.  She’s not receiving a handout.  She’s respectfully earning a living.  Dignity manifests itself there.

Sales are generated from Your purchases.  YOU are an integral part of the equation.  You have the purchasing power to create demand for her handmade products.  By purchasing her products, you’ve contributed towards sustaining her job.  Trade for Freedom works hard to design products with our partners that are beautiful.  It’s important to us that you not only purchase an item because you want to support her, but also because you love it!

New jobs are created through increased sales.  In order to sustain employment for women in Nepal, purchases of the merchandise they handmake must persist.  But, in order to grow employment opportunities for  women in Nepal, purchases must increase.  That’s why Trade for Freedom is hiring Advocates and recruiting Hostesses* to not only help sell product, but to help their friends and family become part of this transformational process.  It’s a privilege to impact her life!

By purchasing Trade for Freedom products, you are giving these women a job that is dignifying, pays a fair wage with benefits, and provides a community of strong Nepali women around her to support her through life’s ongoing trials.   Her job also introduces her to the love of Jesus Christ through daily devotions and prayer.

YOU are creating and sustaining jobs and enabling Christian discipleship, our friends!  Simply by making purchases of products you love.  You are making a difference in the lives of these Nepali women and their families.

Thank you for partnering with us to bring freedom, dignity and hope to those who need it most!

*For more information about how you can be involved in impacting these women’s lives through Hosting a Party or Becoming an Advocate, contact Mat and Becky Zellars:  zellars@tradeforfreedom.com

Trade for Freedom partners with social businesses that employ the most vulnerable and disciple them in the love of Jesus Christ.  Our partners employ and provide Christian discipleship to women who are survivors of tremendously difficult circumstances such as human trafficking and extreme poverty.  Trade for Freedom enables their employment by purchasing and re-selling the high quality, handmade merchandise they craft.

After volunteering for one of our partners for more than a year, it was evident that a massive challenge for social businesses operating in third world countries was finding and managing new customers – specifically, new distribution channels.  It takes an unquantifiable amount of time, wisdom, and energy to manage an ethical manufacturing company in a less developed country.

Daily, they face the challenges of complying to (or fighting) corrupt government standards, caring for the needs of their staff who continue to battle extremely difficult circumstances, and haggling local merchants to purchase raw materials at a fair price then loading as much as they can on the back of a motorcycle to bring it back to the office – praying not to get in an accident on the perilous roads along the way.  This isn’t even the tip of the iceberg.  And these are only the local challenges. After facing this craziness, they have little bandwidth left to pursue international clients for selling their beautiful merchandise.  So their products become a diamond in the ruff.  Beautiful when found, but hard to discover.  And the employment opportunities they can offer are limited to the sales they can generate.  So increasing impact can be challenging.

Trade for Freedom was birthed to support these social businesses who are ethically employing their women and discipling them in the love of Christ.  We seek out new clients and open up international distribution channels for them.  We assume the marketing and logistical challenge of selling their products.  We make bulk purchases that provide the capital our social businesses need to not only sustain employment, but to increase employment opportunities to those who need it most.

We are able to do this because of you — a conscientious, compassionate consumer who wants to impact lives with your purchases.  If it weren’t for your purchases, for your care, Trade for Freedom wouldn’t be able to continue buying products from our partners.  Purchases that employ.  Impacting lives.  With freedom, dignity, and hope!

THANK YOU!!

Trade for Freedom exists to give freedom, dignity, and hope to those who need it most. We partner with social businesses that employ the most vulnerable and disciple them in the love of Jesus Christ.

Our partners are on the front lines addressing issues such as human trafficking, modern-day slavery, and extreme poverty. Your purchases are fueling efforts to serve women who have endured these severe hardships.

But here comes the most important part of their story…

These women are survivors!  Yes, they survived the earthquake in Nepal. But when asked about how they are coping, they said the earthquake wasn’t the hardest thing they’ve faced in their lives.  You see, when you’ve experience violence or an inability to provide food for your children, earthquake trauma gets thrown into a plethora of suffering.

These women are strong. They aren’t helpless nor weak.  They are tenacious fighters who encourage one another daily to keep fighting.  When one woman falls down, they pick her back up.  And they remind her of the hope she possesses in Christ.  They share real life with one another.  With brave vulnerability.    

When Trade for Freedom says that they serve the most vulnerable, these are the women we reference. Strong, brave, tenacious survivors.  

Each one of your purchases helps these women to remain in a beautiful work community, enriched with God’s love, strength and courage as they earn a dignified living!

THANK YOU!

And for those of you itching, here is Trade for Freedom’s video which features a few of the amazing women your purchases impact. 

There are an estimated 35.9 million people held in slavery today. [1] 

India has the largest estimated number of people in slavery, between 10.7 and 12.7 million.[2]

Trade for Freedom aims to prevent modern day slavery by providing dignifying employment opportunities to those in greatest need.  We work with social businesses who employ survivors of human slavery, such as trafficking in Nepal and India.  Because human slavery is a physical crime where sexual assault is rampant, our partners are on the front lines caring for women with deep physical and emotional scars.  Trade for Freedom exists to empower our partners to reach more women, more effectively.  Meaning every purchase you make sustains or creates employment opportunities for women in need, while caring for the depths of souls.  Every purchase is you standing with them.  Hand in hand.  Caring.

Trade for Freedom also aims to source the highest quality products for you!  We want you to have great impact.  Please send us your feedback today about what you’d like to see and how we can serve you better!  You’re important to us.  You are part of this interlocking circle of care. Here’s a link to a 2-minute survey https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/DVXXHZN or simply email us directly with your feedback. (zellars@tradeforfreedom.com)

Grateful for you!

[1] 2014 Global Slavery Index.

[2] Sidharth Kara.  “Bonded Labor: Tackling the System of Slavery in South Asia.”