Alisha Steele's blog

I just wanted to let everyone know that Brian Standing has made the NICA Fund video available online on his website. You can view the entire "Better Futures: Voices from the NICA Fund" at www.Prolefeedstudios.com

Now you can see the video and share it with other people without waiting for a copy of the DVD.

We will be at the Willy St. Fair Sept. 17th. If you are around, stop by our table to say hi. We'll be on the 800 block of Williamson St. (I think we will be near the Rock stage!)

-Alisha

This year's Fair Trade Holiday Festival will be at MATC's downtown campus (the same venue as last year) on Saturday, December 2.

The hours are being extending; opening at 9:00 instead of 10:00, so the event will run from 9:00-4:00.

This will be the 10th annual festival organized by Community Action on Latin America, and is more popular every year! As in past years WCCN will be present with pottery from Nicaragua along with many other venders of fair trade goods.

Malalai Joya was invited by WCCN and Women for Peace to come speak in Madison WI for International Women's Day on March 8th. Our only concern was whether or not she would be able to get a visa to travel here. Well, we got the good news that she has gotten her visa! It is exciting to have Malalai as a speaker for this event. If you want to see why this is exciting - take a look at this recent BBC article on Malalai; http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4606174.stm

For more information about the event, go to WCCN's Upcoming Events.

The Fair Trade Holiday Festival was a great success. There were many people there, and we had very little pottery left at the end. Many people came looking for the Nicaraguan pottery that they remembered from previous years. It is great that we are able to order more pottery each year, and support the artisans and cooperatives in Nicaragua that are producing it.

Thank you to everyone who helped out at the fair! I thought it went pretty smoothly!

I just got the second shipment of pottery, 7 big boxes full!

So, in preparation for the Fair Trade Holiday Fair on Saturday (see the events listing), I am opening the boxes and labeling the fair trade pottery from Nicaragua that we recently ordered. We have ordered many many more pieces than last year, since we sold out quickly. I hope that we have alot of people at the fair, since the location has changed this year, we are not sure how many people we will have. It is at the MATC downtown building.

I still have 5 boxes to open, and I am exited to see the pottery inside. Hopefully many people will come to the fair!