[lbo-talk] World Women Trade Fair

[John Thornton]

Dennis Claxton forwarded:
> They came with hope, left with unsold wares
>
> Sandy Banks
>
> January 22, 2008
>
> In a near-empty exhibition room in a Santa Monica hotel, Dorothy 
> Tarro packed up her table of unsold jewelry, purses and statues 
> Monday afternoon for the long trip back home to Kenya.
>
> She had come to the World Women Trade Fair at the Doubletree 
> expecting to find thousands of enthusiastic, free-spending shoppers 
> in the market for the porcupine-quill bracelets, beaded belts and 
> wooden bowls made by rural Kenyan woman as part of a project to 
> promote self-sufficiency.
>
> But during the two-day fair, she and partner Lucy Njenga sold only a 
> few hundred dollars worth of goods -- not even enough to pay their 
> hotel bill, much less cover the $4,000 they spent on airfare to get 
> here. Last year the two women sold $10,000 in a single day in Canada. 
> This time, they will return empty-handed to dirt-poor villages where 
> women rely on the sale of their crafts to feed their families.

These women obviously don't realize the radicalizing effect a recession 
in the U.S. MIGHT have and how much more that MAY improve their lives 5 
years from now.
They are short-sighted in only thinking about food, clothing and 
education today.
Haven't they heard the rallying cry "Bring it on"?

John Thornton