Life next to a mine - Living in a toxic valley

In small villages near the city of Huancayo, Peru people make a living carving gourds into fine art. They also live in a valley where the water and soil have been contaminated by heavy metals thanks to the mines in the area. Fair trade and hard work give these people a chance to clean up their valley.

While fair trade strives to be a socially responsible form of commerce, the day to day concerns of both the artisan and the fair trade importer are not so different than those of any other buyers and sellers around the world. But fair trade companies do care about people, and we hope that the gourd carvers in Peru will serve as a good example.

In 2007 Lo Oroya, Peru made the list of the 10 most polluted cities in the world. The report cites extremely high levels of heavy metals in the water and top soil of this city in the Mantaro Rivey Valley in the Andes of Peru. The city of Huancayo and the villages that form the center of Peruvian gourd carving are all located in this valley. Read more from Oxfam America.

Lucuma Designs, sponsor of Fair Trade Helps, works with many families living in this valley. Fortunately, according to what they have been told, they live high above the contaminated valley. Yet they do not know where the food they purchase is grown, and we feel far more education is needed to encourage people to ask tough questions of their own government and fight for the health of their children. In the meantime, fairly traded gourds provide critical income to people in the valley and an alternative to a life in the mines. Moreover, gourd carving will become even more important if it turns out that the soil contamination affects much of the agriculture in the valley, as the livelihood of many more people will be at risk.

This issue will provide a chance for many fair trade companies to demonstrate their commitment to artists and their families.

We encourage you to contact the Doe Run Corporation in Missuiri and insist that they clean up the mine and all of the mine waste that endangers people and agriculture in the valley.