GOOOOOOAAAAALLL!

Every four years, the FIFA World Cup comes around and brings some added excitement, passion and good-spirited patriotism to the daily lives of people all over the world. 

According to figures published by FIFA in December 2015, more than a billion people watched the 2014 World Cup final in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. And during the month-long tournament in 2010, roughly 46% of the global population watched at least one minute of the games on TV, a report produced for FIFA by the British firm KantarSport claims.

The tournament unites us all, and regardless of language, nation, faith, gender and age, it's a time for everyone to root and cheer for a white and black rubber ball making it into a net if we so choose to. Whether you watch from a stadium or from your couch, it's widely accepted that a good game of footie is a good time. 

Who We're Rooting For

This summer, we're excited that four of our artisan partners are represented in the countries competing! Peru, Mexico, Colombia and Tunisia are all playing for this year's FIFA World Cup champion title. 

Bringing Fair Trade to FIFA

What better way to foster team spirit and friendship than with handmade, fair trade soccer balls? For centuries, hand needlework by Afghan women has been renowned for its singularity, beauty and traditional aesthetic. 

Dosti, a Bpeace nonprofit project, employs hundreds of women artisans in Kabul and Daikondy, Afghanistan, providing them with the resources needed to lead financially independent lives. Meaning "friendship" in Farsi, Dosti enables women to master the craft of conventional Afghan needlework through handmade production, combining traditional skills with contemporary standards.

Dosti soccer balls are club-quality and hand-stitched by the women, who produce about 500 in total everyday. Most of the artisans work from home, which allows for a safer and more practical working environment for these women, many of whom are mothers and homemakers with a great deal of responsibility. Dosti makes it possible for Afghan women to lead financially independent lives while remaining socially and personally secure.

Made with fine synthetic leather, these soccer balls have the perfect bounce, shape and texture. Each Dosti ball bears the company’s signature Doves in Flight pattern in the colors of the Afghan flag.

These soccer balls symbolize much more than an opportunity to play a friendly game of football. By harnessing the extraordinary sewing skills that Afghan women have long been recognized for, Dosti provides Afghan women the opportunity to work from home, provide for their families and produce something that transcends all cultures. 

The Soweto Uprisings of 1976

This past Saturday, while many of us were enjoying the warmth and the World Cup, Children of Africa Day was celebrated around the world.

Officially known as the Day of the African Child, June 16th is an annual, internationally recognized event celebrating of the lives and spirit of African children.

The holiday was established in 1991 by the Organization of African Unity in commemoration of the roughly 20,000 South African children who demonstrated tenacity and courage in the face of oppression during the Soweto Uprisings of 1976. The uprisings were a series of student-led demonstrations against the apartheid regime's racially oppressive practices in schools. The Soweto youths protested against being taught in the colonial tongue and demanded their right to a better education. Met with unsparing police brutality, hundreds of black schoolchildren were killed.

Observing June 16th

Various communities have adopted this holiday as a tradition, and each celebration is quite unique. 

• At Mainsprings, a non-profit providing refuge, health care and education to around 50 schoolgirls in Kitongo, Tanzania, June 16th is celebrated as a communal birthday party. Many of the resident girls come from backgrounds of trauma and neglect and do not all know their birth dates, making June 16th a pretty special day.
• In South Africa, June 16th is known as Youth Day, a public holiday in which common threats to young people, such as drug abuse and crime, are openly addressed. The day is intended not only to celebrate the youth of today, but those whose efforts and legacy led to its establishment.
• The international non-profit Girls Not Brides observes June 16th as a day that "provides an opportunity for Girls Not Brides members to encourage action to address child marriage at the regional, national and local levels.” 
• Save the Children in Malawi organizes an annual street march featuring band music, theatrical performances and a children's parade, drawing many spectators and attention to the cause.
• Okakarara, Namibia, held a colorful public forum with speeches by the city's mayor and other government officials on June 16th this year. The event emphasized youth enrollment in schools and the imperative that parents be involved in educational reform.

Why This Day Matters

Nearly three decades later, Day of the African Child is still recognized in honor of the Soweto schoolchildren and as a symbol of the ongoing need for educational reform throughout Africa. Threats to children such as sex trafficking, extremist influence and military recruitment are all-too-common realities in high-risk areas impacted by poverty and corruption. Protecting children from these perils and building support for the improvement of educational opportunities provided to African children are essential to inducing tangible and immediate change. 

A recent article published by The Guardian underscores the need for justice systems in Africa to undergo reform, calling for the implementation of policies which protect and serve youths rather than vilifying them.

The article details how despite recent progress, "children with disabilities; victims of trafficking, sexual abuse and violence; orphans; refugees and migrants are routinely discriminated against: they are denied access to justice, to adequate legal representation and to fair trial."

The article notes that as disheartening as it is, "children remain predominantly invisible in the justice systems in Africa" and "that traditional, customary or religious justice remains largely unregulated and renders children particularly vulnerable." The article encourages legal reform as the means for bringing African justice systems "into line with international standards and principles such as the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child."

Sound Familiar?

The Trump administration has separated nearly 2,000 children from their parents in a six-week period. The recently declared "zero tolerance" crackdown on illegal immigration has law enforcement scrambling to obey Trump's order to end "catch and release" detentions of migrants. But in practice, "zero tolerance" really amounts to zero humanity.

Former First Lady Laura Bush, in addition to a growing number of Republican lawmakers and conservative news outlets, has condemned the inhumanity of family separation, calling on Trump and the Department of Homeland Security to prohibit such a policy at Border Patrol. 

To hear of such stories happening so close to home is more than distressing, but also serves as a wakeup call to those unaware of just how ubiquitous harsh realities like this are for children around the world. We should strive to apply Youth Day's 2018 theme — leave no child behind for African development — to a more universal imperative: leave no child behind, anywhere. 

Whenever we went to a drive-thru, my dad would always stop the car at the garbage cans in the parking lot instead of the drive-thru window, and pretend to order food there, just to get a laugh. Even as we got older, it was still the funniest gag to see him ordering double cheeseburgers at the trash can.

My sister and I must have taken a bit too long in the morning so my dad's joke was: After God created man and woman, God considered his works. About the man, he said, “This wonderful body shape, the beautiful proportions, the perfect aesthetics - what a masterpiece.” Then he looked at the woman and said with a shrug, "All right, you just have to wear makeup."

My dad always used to say that after getting married I would have to bring my husband back to his place for us to live together. Living with my husband by ourselves or with his family would have been unacceptable to him.

This showed me how deep his love was for me. When I was young that sounded really great but now I don’t know. Sorry dad, but I still love him.

At five-years-old I always wanted to drink my dad’s soda when he was hanging out with his friends. I would yell and beg for the soda can he had in his hand until one day he finally gave me a sip. I cringed with a smooshed-up face saying, “Eww! That’s NOT soda!” as he laughed with his friends about my reaction to one sip of beer.

World Refugee Day is June 20th, 2018.

What This Day Means to Global Goods Partners

World Refugee Day, observed annually around the world on June 20th, is a United Nations event dedicated to familiarizing the global public with the refugee condition. The day is aimed at calling attention to the resilience and courage of millions of displaced men, women and children who have been forced to flee their homes due to war and violence. World Refugee Day encourages politicians, humanitarians and the general public to raise awareness for refugees through shared media and community outreach.

How We Observe World Refugee Day

At Global Goods Partners, we are observing World Refugee Day by highlighting the work of two of our artisan partners working closely with refugee communities. Borderline, a women’s fair trade collective located on the Thai-Burmese border, provides a safe haven for female artisans hoping to market their products after escaping political turmoil. Global Goods Partners works with four of Borderline’s member groups, which each help to alleviate refugee poverty and conflict by emphasizing human rights, gender equality and women’s health and safety. Borderline’s products include embroidered tote bags and naturally dyed fabric journals.

We additionally partner with UNHCR for the Design For Peace project, which provides assistance to Malian artisans and refugees living in Burkina Faso. The iron and leatherwork trades are traditional amongst the Tuareg people and hold significant cultural importance, which, thanks to Design for Peace, is now accessible through an international market. Shop Design for Peace’s leather bowls and canisters.

We can continue the United Nations's noble work for refugees on June 20th by acting, sharing, and donating to the cause.

How To Get Involved in World Refugee Day

ACT

• Donate to our work with women artisans around the world 
• Attend the WeWork Creator Marketplace event on June 19th featuring our products
• Find a World Refugee Day event near you

SHARE

• Use this social media kit to share promotional images and videos with the U.N.'s campaign hashtag #WithRefugees to spread the word
• Add your name to the #WithRefugees petition and share with others

SHOP

• All of our products are sold online, with half of the proceeds going directly towards our artisan partners

Striped Embroidered Tote Bag, Borderline

Naturally Dyed Fabric Journal (Two Sizes, Four Colors), Borderline

Leather Catch All Handmade Bowls, Design For Peace

Leather Jewelry Canisters (Two Colors), Design for Peace