Grassroots Fair Trade business tells the story of Ghana
‘As Fair Trade vendors we are more than retailers, we are storytellers,’ says owner
Wednesday July 29, 2009 -- Michelle Strutzenberger
A thriving Fair Trade jewelry business based in Barrie, Ont. was started because of one woman’s passion for Ghana and its people.

It was while she was living in Ghana as a mission worker several years ago that Loreli Cockram, owner of Big Village Beads, says she discovered the beauty of the country and the “resourcefulness of its people.”

The Ghanaian ingenuity was made evident to Cockram particularly through the recycled-glass and hand-painted beads she discovered on her visits to the market with her two young girls.

When she returned home to Canada Cockram had a story to tell and a suitcase full of beads to give away as gifts.

“I held ‘make your own souvenir’ parties with the beads for everyone who had supported the mission, and the message stuck . . . and spread,’ says Cockram.

Very quickly her suitcase was empty but there were still people wanting beads. Cockram saw she had an opportunity to continue sharing the story of Ghana as well as supporting her friends there long-term.

“This naturally fit into the concept of Fair Trade,” she tells Axiom News. “I discovered a demand for a product here, which would go far in supporting a business in a developing nation.”

Cockram became an importer of the recycled glass and hand-painted beads of the Krobo tribe in the Eastern Region of Ghana. Big Village’s main supplier is TK Beads in Amrahia, which is just outside the capital city of Accra.

Big Village jewelry is now sold in several Barrie stores, at art and craft shows across Ontario as well as through beading workshops that Cockram leads.

“If we as Fair-Trade vendors take our job seriously we understand that we are more than just retailers, we are story-tellers,” she says.

“Big Village loves telling the story of Ghana. In particular, we focus on the beauty and resourcefulness of the people who are, and will continue, to be the foundation of the development of Ghana. We invest in their business because they are people who make a difference in their community.”

Cockram’s vision for the Fair Trade movement is that “people gain an understanding that it’s never just about the product or the sale.

“The far-reaching results of that mentality can be devastating,” she says. “Rather, when we consider the people, the culture, the talent, the hard work behind it, we’ll recognize value that goes way beyond the product. The product is the point where all those things meet.”

For Big Village in particular, Cockram says she would like to see it continue to be “a place where friendships are formed, either in the context of the Fair-Trade movement, where we connect the international community, or locally, over a table full of beads.”

To learn more about Big Village click here.

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