Taiba Rahmani, who has started Her Craft, a business selling products hand made by girls in Afghanistan.
Step into Ten Thousand Villages on King Street, and you have stepped into another world. The store is filled with jewelry from India and Guatemala, baskets from Uganda and Rwanda, evil eye earrings and bracelets from India to ward off negativity and Happy Elephant eyeglass holders from Peru, kitchen essentials from Egypt, turtle earrings from Colombia.
Ten Thousand Villages in Alexandria is an independent non-profit shop founded in 1994 by a group of people who wanted to support fair trade and the artisans who supplied the goods. The original shop was at the corner of King and Alfred and moved in 2008 to its present location at 915 King Street.
The first Ten Thousand Villages was founded in 1946 by Mennonite Edna Ruth Byler in Pennsylvania who began selling goods made by women from her travels in Colombia for which she had paid a fair price. She began selling their handmade products out of the trunk of her car “by a woman to help women.”
Kate McMahon, the manager of the Alexandria shop, says they have well over 1,500 products and calls it “retail with a cause.” She explains she only buys from sources certified as fair trade, protecting the environment with the workers living in safe conditions and making a fair wage.
McMahon says the way it works is that she pays for the product before receiving it in the US so the artisans get paid for the product before she receives it. “I buy from them and they ship to us.”
Today McMahon has offered space for a one day pop-up shop to Taiba Rahmani, a 14-year-old girl from Afghanistan who now lives in Arlington and has started a business selling goods made by girls in Afghanistan. The scarves, shoes, tablecloths and dresses are shipped to Taiba who sells them here and then sends the money back to the girls to help support their struggling families in Afghanistan. She has sold a lot of the hand embroidered tablecloths so far as well as a pair of pants, beaded shoes and a cashmere scarf.
McMahon explains a lot of people seek out the store because it is filled with things that are unique, a lot of things you’ve never seen before. She points out the paper made from elephant poop. “Feel it; it’s really nice paper.” And she points to a wall with the colorful orange skirt, brightly patterned dresses and pants. “These are produced with sustainably made cloth. Fast fashion is terrible, harmful to both the women who make it and the environment.”
She says you can use the baskets to hide things, decorate the house, as a centerpiece on the table, and there are a lot of different things to hang on the wall. “There are adorable cat salt and pepper shakers that you can’t find anywhere else.”
McMahon said, “In this day and age where you spend your dollars makes a difference so why not support artisans to provide subsistence living for a purpose with no forced labor. It’s also better because it’s creative. Nothing here is mass produced.”
“Why do I do this? Because it means a lot to me. It makes sense all trade should be fair. These people are living on $1 a day. I want to live a life of dignity; so do they. Anything you purchase on a day to day basis can make a difference in how you direct your dollars.”