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. Eight individually wrapped, heart-shaped chocolates produced from these cooperatives nestle inside two colorful Rwandan baskets to form the Heart’s Content Valentine Basket Set, an adorable, delicious gift for any socially conscious Valentine. The gift includes a love note inscribed with the African proverb, “Our love is like the misty rain that falls softly, but floods the river.”

Rwandan baskets: A capacity for restoration

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 tiny, colorful baskets available from the Women’s Peace Collection are the work of the widowed women of the Kinigi Ladies Weaving Association. Available in red, blue, pink, yellow or green stripes, the set of two 3.5” x 2” woven containers are a perfect little decorative object for your home, a special keepsake for your jewelry, or a basket to store candy. However you choose to use them, the baskets are an enduring symbol of the strength of women who have been through difficult times.

Heart-shaped chocolates: The high note of social justice

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.

Three different major kinds of cocoa comprise the world’s chocolate, and Sweet Earth chocolate utilizes the rarest variety, Criollo beans, a name which means, “homegrown,” or, “from here.” Only nine percent of the world’s chocolate is Criollo, a flavor characterized by high, floral and fruity notes.

The American chocolate industry primarily uses the forastero cocoa bean, from the Côte d’Ivoire, a mild bean of dark, low notes.

“One’s not better, they’re just different,” said Tom Neuhaus, founder of Sweet Earth Organic Chocolates. “It’s like comparing Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon.” A third cocoa type, Trinitario, has both high and low flavor notes.

While the different flavors each have their merits, the American industry, dominated by names like Hershey, Nestle, and Mars, create a product that is not only less flavorful, but also perpetuates negative business practices in the Côte d’Ivoire. Tom Neuhaus explained that the reason that mass-produced chocolate is so mild is that the flavor is dominated by the taste of sugar and milk powder. “The American chocolate industry uses machinery to produce large quantities at a low price, but the flavor is not that great,” he said, comparing the product to a two-dollar bottle of Charles Shaw Wine from California, eponymously referred to as “Two Buck Chuck.”

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, Neuhaus said.

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.

The Heart’s Content Valentine Basket Set brings together three sources of strength and social change—Rwandan women overcoming the genocide in their country, South American farmers’ cooperatives committed to Fair Trade, organic chocolate and West African cocoa farmers—into one simple, beautiful Valentine’s Day gift. The spirit of sharing, loving, and peace blooms in this set of two woven baskets. It is the perfect way to say “I love you” to your citizen-of-the-world Valentine.