Fair Trade
Marketplace: For home goods, specialty items, gifts, and more, start your shopping with the Marketplace of Together Women Rise. You support the hard work of artisans from around the world, and a portion of your purchase is returned to further the work of Together Women Rise. See the full list here. If you are a vendor and are interested in participating, review our Cause Marketing Guidelines and submit a proposal here.
FairTrade Caravans is a social enterprise believing in people and planet before profit and passionate about the way fundraising is done and how products are purchased. It partners with schools and nonprofits giving back 25% of sales while supporting artisans and farmers around the world, including Tanzania. Its fair trade products are made or grown with no child labor, fair wages, safe working conditions, and sustainable practices, ensuring that the producers — many of whom are women — have the opportunity to better themselves, their families, and their communities. Together Women Rise will receive 25% of all sales purchased through this link.
Books
Fiction
A Girl Called Problem
By Katie Quirk
Thirteen-year-old Shida, whose name means “problem” in Swahili, certainly has a lot of problems in her life — her father is dead, her depressed mother is rumored to be a witch, and everyone in her rural Tanzanian village expects her to marry rather than pursue her dream of becoming a healer. So when the village’s elders make a controversial decision to move their people to a nearby village, Shida welcomes the change. Surely the opportunity to go to school and learn from a nurse can only mean good things.
However, after a series of puzzling misfortunes plague the new village, Shida must prove to her people that moving was the right decision, and that they can have a better life in their new home.
Non-Fiction
The Tree Where Man Was Born
By Peter Matthiessen
In this classic volume, Matthiessen exquisitely combines both nature and travel writing to bring East Africa to vivid life. He skillfully portrays the daily lives of herdsmen and hunter-gatherers; the drama of the predator kills; the hundreds of exotic animals; the breathtaking landscapes; and the area’s turbulent natural, political, and social histories.
Muddy Roads Blue Skies: My Journey to the Foreign Service, From the Rural South to Tanzania and Beyond
By Vella Mbenna
An Unforgettable Journey from Rock Bottom to the Top of the World. As a child, Vella Mbenna would lie under the sprawling oak tree in her yard, stare up at the clouds, and dream of exploring the world beyond her rural Georgia hometown. But after a failed marriage left her broke, without a career, and with a child to care for on her own, those dreams seemed as far away as the jets she used to watch etch trails across the Southern sky.
Determined to make a better life for herself and her son, Vella applied for a position with the US Foreign Service. Through hard work, determination, and an unwavering belief in God’s providence, she overcame prejudice, sexism, and professional setbacks to become a seasoned diplomat. She went on to serve her country with highest distinction, even earning an Award of Heroism for her actions after the 1998 suicide bombing of the U.S. embassy in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
Muddy Roads Blue Skies is Vella’s inspiring, deeply personal account of her amazing journey from the backwoods of Georgia to the far reaches of the globe. Part motivational memoir, part how-to success guide, part tribute to the power of dreams, Muddy Roads Blue Skies is a compelling read filled with self-help wisdom and valuable life lessons.
Follow one woman’s journey to get water in Tanzania.
