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Delegation Arrives in the Domincan Republic

Courtney Lang March 28, 2012

The Fair Trade Towns crew on their first day in the Dominican!

The Fair Trade Towns crew has arrived in Boca Chica, Dominican Repbulic, and local organizers are stoked after various emails and phone calls to finally meet face-to-face.

Our evening began by meeting with a local advocate, Unica, who works in the eastern part of Santo Domingo. Using her experience of fighting for democracy during the Dominican revolution as inspiration, she now focuses her work on child welfare through art education.  Unica gave us an inroduction to the political climate in the Domincan Republic–which was a perfect start to our trip.  Unica touched on the current and hisorical issues with womens equility and dictatorship–we’ll be given a lot more context over the next few days to relate this to.

We’re up early tomorrow and off to CONACADO, the Fair Trade Cocoa Growers Cooperative in Hato Mayor, where organizers will spend two days with host families learning about the life of a Fair Trade farmer by taking part in the cocoa havest and fermentation process.

We’ll have very limited access to the internet during thses two days, but we’ll be sure to have some recaps up over the weekend that will share what we’ve seen and taken away from the expereince, as well as lots of photos!

More soon!

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Courtney Lang, National Organizer | Fair Trade Campaigns

Courtney Lang brings over 5 years of community organizing to Fair Trade Towns USA, building both the Local Food and Fair Trade networks in Vermont. As Local Food Coordinator with City Market/Onion River Cooperative, Courtney worked with local producers, institutions and consumers to grow the local food system and organize a strategic model for community engagement through farm tours, workshops, and local food challenges. Like many in the Fair Trade industry, Courtney was inspired to take action in Fair Trade when she witnessed child-labor first hand in Costa Rica. As a founding member of Fair Trade Burlington, she has worked with economic development organizations, businesses, and consumers to build awareness of Fair Trade among Vermonters. She also worked with a Fair Trade USA licensee, Vermont Coffee Company, as Friend Ambassador where she united the story of Fair Trade to every purchase of coffee.