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The Story of Swallows

"You are changing our people's lives, thank you."
Raihan Ali from Thanapara Swallows Development Society in Bangladesh

Raihan Ali works at Thanapara Swallows Development Society (Swallows) in rural Bangladesh. Swallows has been supplying Fair Trade products for People Tree for 10 years now, including one of the most popular designs from this summer’s collection - our belted trousers.

Raihan and his wife Guinea visited People Tree in Tokyo earlier this year, to take part in World Fair Trade Day celebrations. As part of the celebrations, Raihan spoke to an audience of over 300 people, at the Women's Plaza in Tokyo. It was clear from his words that for Raihan and the producers at Swallows, there is only one conclusion: Fair Trade WORKS.

Fair Trade has enabled them to create an economically and environmentally sustainable business which provides real jobs for people in a remote rural community. Swallows is an example of a robust economically independent organisation, which also supports community development, addressing serious local issues such as poverty, discrimination against women, domestic violence, loss of cultural identity and environmental degradation, on a long-term basis.

Hope growing out of conflict
Raihan explained that Swallows began as a self-help village support organisation. It was set up as a result of the massacre of all the men in his village by the West Pakistani army, during East Pakistan's (now known as Bangladesh) war of independence in 1971. He was 14 years old when the West Pakistani army raided his village and he and his neighbours fled to the nearby river.

"When the army saw all those people by the riverside they thought that we were the enemy of West Pakistan. So they took all those people from the riverside and divided them on one side the men on the other side the women and children. First I was with the male side but one officer took me from the male side and asked me to go to the female side. Then they told us to go home and that they would send the men later on. But they killed them all - one hundred men of the village."

That day Raihan lost his brother and his brother in law. The village lost 200 men, and as Raihan explained, these were the breadwinners of each family. "In our society the women cook food for the family and the men are responsible for earning money for the family. With all those men gone, it was a disaster."

The initial aim of Swallows, when it was established two years later, was to provide opportunities for women to earn an income, as they were now at the head of most households in Raihan's village. Thanks to the support of partners such as People Tree and People Tree customers in the UK and Japan, today the handicraft programme at Swallows provides employment and training for 217 women. People Tree is Swallows' biggest partner.

Improving village life
Swallows School

Alongside their core objective of providing jobs for the village, Swallows has developed a number of community development programs. One of the first was a village primary school which is now attended by 300 students, and other small schools in surrounding villages now also provide education for 300 more children from six to 11 years old. Another project is the Sustainable Solutions for the Delivery of Safe Drinking Water, as much of the local water is contaminated with arsenic.

In total, Swallows has 12 programs which address local environmental and social issues. Over time it has developed into an independent community organization. It is able not only to provide real earning opportunities for the villagers of Thanapara, but it has also helped hugely to raise living standards in the area and send local children to school.

Creating garments and creating jobs
Raihan described the way garments for People Tree are produced at Swallows. It is a long process that requires workers with a wide variety of skills and provides work for many more villagers than a mechanised production unit would, in order to produce the beautiful handwoven and hand embroidered garments you see in our collection.

"We get design support from People Tree but we also develop some design ideas and show them to People Tree. We buy thread from the local market and we buy environmentally friendly dyes. We dye the thread, we dry it and then we prepare the loom.

"First there is bobbining, which is the preparation of the thread before it is put on the loom. Fifty-five women work half the day bobbining and half the day on the hand loom.

"Normally in Bangladesh only men weave. At Swallows, women do everything themselves; this has also given them the confidence that too; they can achieve what they want to. When the fabric is woven, it is taken from the loom to go through quality control. It is then washed. After drying it is taken to the sewing section, where we have 37 foot pedal sewing machines. Next, everything goes through quality checks. Then the garments are embroidered using our traditional stitch work and designs. We also make tablecloths, cushion covers and other products.

"In our rural area there is no other possibility for women to earn an income and this Fair Trade activity is the only place where women can find work and work with pride."

Banu

Banu’s story
To illustrate his point he spoke about Banu, who has been working at Swallows for 20 years. Banu's husband deserted her and their children, without divorcing her, which often happens in Bangladesh. Banu was left to support her children on her own. There was no conventional way of earning an income in the area, but she was able to join Swallows. Since then she been has able to provide for her family, send her children first to primary school in the village, then they went on to high school and college. Now they have good jobs and a good life.

Raihan concludes: "We have 217 women at Swallows and I am talking about only one woman. We have many other success stories among our women whose lives have changed through Fair Trade".

Fair Trade empowering women
Raihan’s wife Guinea joined Swallows in 1975. She knows her country as one of the poorest in the world. A small, populous country plagued by political problems, where 80% of its 145 million-strong population live in rural areas. Underlying many of the problems facing rural communities, Guinea believes, are the persistent inequalities between men and women: problems of domestic violence, the tradition of giving a dowry, the trafficking of young women that are too poor to get married, the violence of acid burning of young women who refuse marriage proposals, the lack of education, poverty, the lack of adequate health care, and the huge and growing economic gap between wealthy and poor.

Guinea feels discrimination and lack of opportunity for women in Bangladesh are the biggest barriers to improving their living standards in Bangladesh. "We have a woman prime minister but there are still lots of problems. Few women can reach a strong position in society."

However, Guinea believes that Fair Trade is giving women the opportunity they need to change their lives and the situation of women in Bangladesh: "Our local government minister worked at our production centre for nearly 20 years. She studied how to read and write at Swallows in her early twenties. She then became a weaver and got leadership training from our organisation. She became a leader within Swallows and then used this knowledge and became active as a local politician. She had been deserted by her husband but she took control of her life and is now helping to change the lives of other women in our surrounding villages and district."

More than just a fair price
Guinea highlights that with more orders from Fair Trade, even more could be done.

"Working with People Tree has improved women's economic life, their confidence and their social life. In addition to paying a fair price for every item sold, we receive a donation for our school program for 600 children. Fair Trade is helping to keep this school program running. It also helped us build a training centre that brings us an income to meet other costs for our development programs."

Swallows Day Care Centre

People Tree's sales have supported educational, environmental, legal and women's programs at Swallows and most recently have helped build a daycare centre which opened in May this year. Up to 30 pre-school age children attend the centre, meaning their mothers can take advantage of the employment possibilities available, knowing their children are being looked after. The Fair Trade principles applied by People Tree have created economic stability for Swallows, allowing them to move from being grant-funded to being an economically independent organisation. They have also led to the empowerment of the women of Thanapara, as well as encouraging and supporting traditional and environmentally-friendly forms of production.

So when you next look at one of the beautiful handwoven pieces in the People Tree collection, the chances are that it comes from Swallows and it has provided Banu, or another woman like her, with an income and hope for the future. And with your help and growing Fair Trade orders from People Tree customers across Japan, the UK and Europe, there is the potential to prove that Fair Trade works for help many thousands more people too.