Impact from a Fair Trade Certified Rose Farm
This story is courtesy of One World Flowers and demonstrates how working for a fair trade organization makes a big difference in the lives of people. Buying fair trade roses at Oryana directly helps support these workers.
From Washing Clothes in the River to a Brand New Laundromat!
Women make up the majority of the workforce at flower farms throughout Latin America and especially at Agrocoex, on of the Fair Trade Certified flower farms in Ecuador.
After a long day at work, the women return home to cook, clean, and do the family laundry. The laundry situation required the women to carry their clothes down to the local river and wash them by hand. Can you imagine the chemical waste running through that river, and the number of hours required to do that all by hand?
The women decided to use their Fair Trade Premium funds to change their lives for the better while helping the environment. Using funds from Fair Trade flower purchases, workers were able to build a laundry facility located at the farm where women can bring their family’s clothes, pay a small fee, and have everything washed and folded for them by the end of the day.
Work Luz Sisa demonstrated the overwhelming impact on the farm when she said, “On the weekend, I used to spend my free time doing laundry for my family in a traditional way, which affected my health and contaminated the water. Now, I take advantage of my time to grow as a person, wife, and mother.”