PaulaWalla infuses product selection with Fair Trade goods and Recycled items

Ethical business is one of the main goals at PaulaWalla Imports. While it is normally difficult to track exactly how and under what conditions many items are manufactured overseas, PaulaWalla has recently teamed up with World Trade Goods to source Fair Trade goods from many different cooperatives in several different countries.

"One of the most exciting items we're bringing in now is called a Recycled Coin Purse," says owner Paula Pierce, beaming. The purses are hand crocheted out of discarded plastic bags that once choked the landscape and livestock of Gambia. Discarded plastic bags are gathered up, cleaned and hand crocheted into colorful, unique coin purses by women trained by Njau Recycling and Income Generating Group. These women are able to better support their families through skills learned in the group including not only bag recycling but also tie dye and beadwork.

The women also receive literacy training, free financial planning and savings account boxes, and are able to work at their own pace in their own homes. In addition to increasing their income by over 300%, the women have gained a sense of confidence, community, and hope for the future. Most of the women, although they have never been to school, are using the income from the sale of purses to ensure their girls and boys are able to attend school.

"We've also decided to carry the World Children Tote Bag made by the Fair Trade group Mayan Hands in Guatemala," says Pierce. Mayan Hands' mission is to assist weavers in their quest to raise themselves out of poverty. Working with fair trade, the women can count on a modest but regular income that enables their families to eat better, send their children to school, improve their homes and even save a little. Selling their handwoven textiles at a fair price, the women are gaining control over their lives.

PaulaWalla started over ten years ago with a strong desire to assist women all over the world by informing the public of human rights abuses and working with amnesty international to promote letter-writing campaigns to put an end to violence. "Now I've found a way to help in a more direct way," says Pierce, who plans to include more and more known Fair Trade goods on her website. "PaulaWalla is not only about making a profit. It's important to me to grow the business but at the same time make a difference, a real, tangible difference in people's lives who need a helping hand."

PaulaWalla Imports sells international gifts and household items online and can be found online at www.PaulaWalla.com or contacted by phone at 860-490-4258. PaulaWalla is a member of the Windsor Chamber of Commerce and believes in supporting the community from local to global.