The Success Platter or what happened on October 15th....

To make a Success Platter, you need:

-2 cups of Believers and Visionaries
-250g of Long-term Focus and Commitment

-250g of the rich mixture: Motivation, Solidarity, Ethics

-A handful of Laughter

-1 teaspoon of a few falls

-1 tablespoon of Lessons learnt

For topping:We suggest some white cream made of Ambitions and Projects

Combine all ingredients. Spread in pan and bake until golden brown!
This recipe serves a lot of people, as many as you want, perhaps even a whole nation...

On October 15th, we spent a day with nothing on our mind but the future of our dear Lebanon. Journalists have shown us recognition for the hard work of rural women in their cooperatives and for the cause of Fair Trade...it was a rewarding day...

To all of you with us on that day, Thank You...

Those small little things...

...take the time to look for them and the time to experience them.

Fair Trade Lebanon has spent yesterday 3 hours in a classroom with 28 graduate students in Advertising and Marketing at the USJ University. The discussion was about Responsible Marketing (Benoit and myself participated from FTL) and Eco-Tourism (explained by M.Pascal Abdallah, a pioneer & consultant in Eco-Tourism in Lebanon).

We had set forward the importance of marketing...marketing not only a product, but a story, a reality, a person. Our approach is to quench the thirst of a consumer with a deeper experience, a social impact. And the small thing in this is the satisfaction that comes from a state of mind, that of choosing to support long-term sustainability. Our society has imposed on us a very fast rhythm of life...we consume, work and live so fast that we forget and often refuse to take the time to Stop. and See the small things.

Eco-Tourism is about contributing financially, physically and scientifically to the well being of our protected natural sites. It's about hearing the story behind the smallest elements defining our ecosystem. Believe it or not, if we don't react to the incompetence reigning in our country, we will head right into the wall. Our children and grandchildren will hold us responsible for our passiveness. And we will live with the guilt.

The society as a whole must take action; M. Everyone will not save Lebanon alone and we know that, but Universities and Students, Governments and Researchers, Specialized NGOs and Careful citizens WILL. I want to thank Professor Zeina Adaime for having chosen to point out the small things and for proposing new solutions and ideas to her students. It is about capacity building and about completely assuming the role of education for a greener and more responsible future.

Sometimes it takes one leap to create a thousand others, just like a ricochet on water. Isn't that simple?

Thank you for having taken the time to read…

Fair Trade has 1001 destinations for You

You are probably sitting on your couch or behind your desk at work or at home...We're guessing the sun is probably up and you feel it's quiet warm, you are probably wondering which window to open and let some wind in. Lebanon is actually starting to get hot...We guess we're on the same pace as Canada and Europe today.

So here is the deal...we selected some products that would freshen up your day. Products of Fair Trade, some we tasted & loved, and others we would like to come across real soon.

The aim is to give you a glimpse of many items available in the realm of Fair Trade and show you how this movement thrives to be truly global and affect as many small producers as possible.

ETHIQUABLE launched a Thai Rice beer! Must be great with barbecues.

You can also taste Alter Eco's Green Tea leaves picked in India and flavored with Jasmine

Or how about some spicy banana chips from Ecuador? (We tasted those, so crunchy!)



Also, OXFAM has selected a wide range of coffee beans exported from Latin American countries

ALTER ECO brings us some great chocolate as well; The white Chocolate with Coco is deliciously addictive. You will eat the whole bar all by yourself (trust me.)

We still haven't mentioned the Mango Juice from Peru, the Cashew Nuts from Africa, the Sugar Cane from Haiti...Ah this is mind-torturing!!

Welcome to our World...You are now stuck with us!

Mate...from Argentina all the way to Syria and Lebanon!

Mate, also known as cimarrón, is a traditional South American infused drink. It is prepared from steeping dried leaves of yerba mate in hot water. It is the national drink in Argentina, though Paraguay and Uruguay also happen to claim nationality over the beverage, and drinking it is a common social practice in parts of Brazil, Chile, eastern Bolivia, Lebanon and Syria.

The custom of drinking mate in some provinces of Syria and Lebanon came from Arabs who moved to South America during the early twentieth century, adopted the habit, and kept it after returning home. Syria is the biggest importer of yerba mate in the world, importing 15,000 tons a year. It is mostly the Druze community in Syria and Lebanon who maintain the culture and practice of mate.

Those who share the mate join in a kind of bond of total acceptance and friendship. Generally the server of mate will start a new infusion and then take the first drink. This is considered an act of kindness by the other people in the circle, because usually the first serving is considered the worst.

I tasted mate for the first time during our last visit to our partner cooperative in the bekaa, I had the second serving which was still a bit bitter and I found it very close to strong green tea...one can of course add sugar according to his taste!

Patience...

Somewhere between Syria and Lebanon

Pics taken in the roads of Damascus

A Syrian proverb says : الصبر مفتاح الفرج*

Our one-day road trip to Syria was phenomenal, filled with encounters, adventures, snow and blocked roads!!
On our way back to Lebanon, our grumpy driver was about to U-turn and go back to Damascus because of the terrible weather.
We managed to convince him to drop us at least a couple of miles after the Lebanese border; Frustrated, he babbled a couple of words but kept driving.
We then got to Lebanon and realized the army had blocked the main road from the Bekaa to Beirut (meaning the fastest and safest way to go home was no longer a possibility).
At that point, the cab driver had definitely given up on us!!
But fortunately enough, Jack, our colleague in FTL and our savior, was able to meet us all the way to the West of Lebanon and we headed South together towards the village of Jezzine in order to go up again to Beirut!
All in all, instead of arriving at 6 pm as programmed, we arrived at 10, exhausted but joyful and relieved!
We were patient and it paid off.

It was day appreciated in every second and every mile.


الصبر مفتاح الفرج Patience is the key to relief *

Women going to France with no visas

What is Ambition?

When somewhere in your heart, you are convinced. When the whole world tells you to stop and give in, yet you remain steady and focused. When no one looks towards you and still somewhere in your mind, you know you have a chance.

Take it.

Nothing will ever come to you if you don’t start walking in its direction. So whether you define it as financial expansion, as happiness, as power, as education, sports, health, whatever it is, it doesn’t matter as long as you walk.

Stay focused.

I learned that even women in the far end of my country had ambitions. They too wanted their work to be recognized. Sky is their only limit and it is looking pretty bright these days.
Proud? They definitely are…Ambitious? To the bones…and bound together, they’ve always been; because city lights haven’t blinded them, because divided, they know they would fall, and because together they are building their ultimate dreams. Brick by brick, day by day, they are building the longest, steadiest bridge from the heart of Lebanon to the biggest continents.

Lift people with you.

When a precious mother knows that her own son living in Italy goes regularly to France and buys products made by his mother’s hands and love and those of her friends, she knows she’s made it. She knows she crossed those endless borders and needed no visas nor check controls. All she had was an ambition; a desire; a possibility that she chose to pursue.

Fair Trade Lebanon is a means, a link between forgotten cooperatives and responsible consumers but not a miracle doer. Guts and Perfectionism are qualities we learn and develop everyday and in every specific scale of our work.