Shymala has high hopes for her granddaughter Roopa, and for her future. Roopa is 14 years old and is in the 9th grade, along with her best friend Mahalakshmi.

Shymala and Roopa live in one of the rooms of New Ambadi Rubber Estate, where we source our eco-certified Fair Trade rubber for our sports balls. These rooms are small, but quite comfortable. They have electricity, an individual water supply, separate toilets, and a small space for keeping chickens and growing vegetables. In fact, there is a waiting list for this type of accommodation. Most workers have to rent houses or flats in nearby villages.

Shymala works in the latex factory of New Ambadi. She is a trade union leader, not just representing the workers of the plantation, but also rubber workers throughout the district. She is also a member of the joint body, which was started when FairDeal Trading (our sister company in the U.K.) began buying rubber under Fair Trade conditions. Our group (FDT in the U.K. and Fair Trade Sports in North America) is the only company in the world that pays a Fair Trade premium for latex, which is then processed into components for soccer balls and other sports balls in Pakistan.

The joint body meets regularly and keeps meeting minutes. It has decided to save the Fair Trade premiums into a fund, which will be used to pay for the children of the plantation workers to go to college. Even though education in India is free, in principle, only children who can afford to go to private schools have a chance of getting a decent job after their schooling. The joint body told us that we need to buy at least 90 tons of rubber in order for the fund to have enough money in it to start paying out stipends.

Shymala hopes that her granddaughter will be one of the first to benefit. She would like her to train as a nurse. The three -year course costs quite a bit, which she could never afford out of her salary.

The second benefit of our buying is that we paid for the registration of New Ambadi into the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) initiative for responsible forest management, helping to make rubber production more sustainable.

The positive effects of Fair Trade (and your participation) just seem to multiply…thank you!