Let me start by saying – I do not have an economics degree, or an international business degree, or a sociology degree. I run a small business with a big heart. Today we are going to talk about how fair trade products, fair trade gifts specifically, impact the world. But rather than share a bunch of statistics with you, which if we are honest, are sometimes difficult to fathom on a personal level, I’m going to share with you an individual story from one of our suppliers that I hope will highlight the kind of work we support here at beCAUSE minded. 
Sitti creates the beautiful pine soap dishes and olive oil soap you see in our beCAUSE minded boxes. These are some of our most popular items, especially for our customers looking for luxury corporate gift boxes. The soap and soap dish are made with impeccable quality. But it’s the impact that sets them apart. Each Sitti item purchase provides fair trade wages to refugees living in the Jerash refugee camp in Jordan.
In Sitti’s 2020 impact report, they shared the touching story of Hassan, one of the many artisans on the Sitti team.
The Rehabilitation Centre Carpentry Workshop is a loud place to be – with humming and zipping of a buzz saw. Hassan remains focused. Although he cannot hear the buzzing, because he is deaf, he knows the workshop like the back of his hand. Hassan is responsible for making every Sitti soap dish.
In 2020, Hassan and his team at the Rehabilitation Centre Carpentry Workshop produced a record number of wooden soap dishes. Due to the economic constraints of the COVID-19 pandemic, the profit from Sitti’s partnership with the Rehabilitation Centre to produce soap dishes was the only source of profit for the workshop.
Hassan began working at the workshop in 2014 after completing his carpentry training in a city nearby. “Due to my disability, I could not get any job. I was relying on the money my family provided to me until I became employed at the Rehabilitation Centre in Jerash camp.”
As an ex-Gazan refugee living with a disability in Jerash camp, Hassan found training support and a job through the Rehabilitation Centre’s Carpentry Workshop. “I became financially independent. I became confident in myself because I have a job. It made me feel like a normal person, treated like anyone, regardless of my disability. Everyone here can understand me and I feel no shame because I am deaf. My wife is proud of me. I can meet all the requirements of my family, and my financial situation is stable.”
Read Sitti’s full 2020 impact report here.
When we read stories like Hassan’s, we at beCAUSE minded are reminded that who we choose to be our corporate gift suppliers matters. And what kind of personal holiday gifts, or branded business gifts you choose can can literally make a worldwide impact. Through the fair trade wages of our suppliers, our gift boxes impact artisans from Central America to Central Africa to the Middle East to Bangladesh to the Himalayas.
Will you join us in changing the world through what we call “Empowered Gifting?”
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