Hearts Content Basket Set
This set of two colorful sisal baskets, hand-crafted by Rwandan women, includes eight individually wrapped heart-shaped chocolates produced from Fair Trade, organic cocoa in Peru, Costa Rica, and the Dominican Republic. After the 1994 genocide, Rwandan women took it upon themselves to rebuild their country, many doing so through the enterprise of basket-weaving; South American farmers who produce Fair Trade, organic cocoa are committed to high-quality, humanely produced chocolate. The Heart’s Content Basket Set brings together the spirit of these two groups, their fortitude and commitment to social change. The gift also includes a love note inscribed with the African proverb, “Our love is like the misty rain that falls softly, but floods the river.”
The Heart’s Content Basket Set is a set of TWO. Let us choose the colors for you! Each tiny basket measures 3.5×2” and includes a love note.
The Story
In the region of Virunga National Park in Rwanda, the women of the Kinigi Ladies Weaving Association are rebuilding their lives by hand-crafting small baskets made of colorful sisal fibers. Across the Atlantic, cocoa farmers in Peru, Costa Rica, and the Dominican Republic are working to reverse the environmentally hazardous, inhumane conditions practiced in much of the chocolate industry by joining cooperatives that are committed to producing Fair Trade, organic chocolate.
After the three-month genocide in Rwanda in 1994, nearly 70 percent of the population was comprised of women, and it was on their shoulders to rebuild the country. Hundreds of women across the country have since made a livelihood out of the thousand-year-old tradition of weaving baskets, which women customarily designed for community celebrations or as wedding gifts for the bride and groom.
The eight foil-wrapped, heart-shaped chocolates in each Heart’s Content Valentine Basket Set are created by Sweet Earth Organic Chocolates, which uses high-quality chocolate exclusively from environmentally conscious, humane cooperatives in Peru, Costa Rica, and the Dominican Republic.
Cocoa farms in the Côte d’Ivoire, the seat of the “Big Chocolate” industry, employ children who sometimes work with deadly pesticides without proper protection, harming not only the land but their own health. Additionally, Ivorian cocoa farmers are so heavily taxed that some have chosen to cut down their cocoa trees and plant rubber trees instead, said Tom Neuhaus, owner of Sweet Earth Organic Chocolates.
The farmers cooperatives that produce Sweet Earth’s chocolate, on the other hand, are committed to being both Fair Trade and organic, a combination which guarantees that the chocolate is grown in both humane and environmentally sustainable conditions. The cooperatives themselves strengthen the members-farmers’ economic positions so that they can better provide for their families.
Sweet Earth supports the non-profit Project Hope and Fairness, which works directly with Ivorian cocoa farmers to improve their conditions and work toward being Fair Trade and organic.
I am an American living in Afghanistan right now. Amber Chand sells some of the products from the “Women of Hope Project.” I serve on their board. This website means so much to me because it is bringing women’s products from around the world, at a fair price to all. I love to read about how women in different regions of the world are helping to re-create their lives, their communities, and the beauty that has been stolen away from them in the past. These are beautiful gifts made by beautiful ladies from different parts of the globe – what a nice way to say “I love you” for Valentines Day!