The annual Wares of the World Marketplace event was held on Nov. 3 and 4, in the Hoosier Room West and offered students, staff and the community the chance to see and purchase different wares from around the world.

Wares of the World is sponsored by the Office of International Programs and features handmade goods from Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East.

Jodie Beatty, International Admissions counselor and member of the International Program Committee, said the event is important to the promotion of fair trade.

“There are two main goals of the event, the promoting awareness of other cultures and promoting awareness of the concept of fair trade,” Beatty said.

Ten Thousand Villages, the not-for-profit company that supplies goods for the event, has been working to promote fair trade since 1946.

Ten Thousand Villages is a company that travels the world to find the goods and negotiate a fair price.

They then distribute the goods to programs like Wares of the World at IU Southeast and businesses like Just Creations in Louisville, who provide fair trade for artisans in the developing world.

“They send the goods to us and whatever we don’t sell goes back to Ten Thousand Villages to go back into another fair trade business like Just Creations,” Beatty said.

Now in its third year, Beatty said response to the event has grown over the past couple of years.

“Attendance has been very strong this year from the past couple of years. We have had a lot of repeat customers,” Beatty said.

Repeat customers like Tonya Harris, a Physical Plant employee, who said she has shopped at the event every year since its inception.

“I love the sandalwood soap, it smells so good,” Harris said.

Erik Naville, communications and advertising junior, worked at last year’s sale and returned this year as a customer.

Naville selected some handmade ornaments: a wooden picture frame, some apples that were carved from stone and a few other items.

“I came back this year to buy Christmas presents,” Naville said as Beatty wrapped up his purchases.

Although most of the proceeds from the sale go to support free trade and a living wage for artisans around the world, Beatty said 10 percent of the sales go to the IU Southeast International Scholarship Fund.

By AMY STALLINGS
Staff Writer
akstalli@ius.edu