The Colby Echo

Issue date: 10/19/07 Section: Features

Media Credit: www.Aardvarkalley.net Kenyan Women craft pots for the Korando Faith Widows and Orphans Women's Group.

Aardvark Alley is a business with a cause. During a hospitality exchange in Kenya in January 2005, founder Grace Von Tobel, also a Diamond Faculty Secretary at the College, was "taken by her conversations with AIDS widows and orphans." Charities and fundraising had little impact on the never-ending cycle of poverty in Kenya, so Von Tobel initiated Aardvark Alley, a for-profit business designed to provide unique products to its customers while offering an ongoing source of income to its producers.

The Internet-based company buys goods from the Korando Faith Widows and Orphans Women's Group in Kenya. The group was founded by Dofine Gumba Dawa Oliech, a former primary school teacher in the area. Oliech was first exposed to the severity of the epidemic when her students started dropping out in great numbers due to AIDS-related deaths in the family. When her eldest son died of AIDS, she channeled her grief into transforming her home into a safe house for destitute women and orphans affected by the disease. At last count, twenty-six widows and orphans were living under the care of Oliech and her husband. Aardvark Alley works with Fair Trade suppliers in the United States to sell the goods made by these women and children online and in local stores. A portion of the profits made on the goods is sent back to the craftspeople in Kenya to help with product innovation and development.

The philosophy behind creating a market for these products is the Kenyan saying "Kidogo kidogo hujaza kibaba," which means, in Swahili, "small-small fills the basket." The idea is that as long as an individual has his/her health, change is possible. This saying is applied to Aardvark Alley's mission to alleviate poverty and suffering through creativity and commerce.
Beyond selling the products through Aardvark Alley, Von Tobel is actively campaigning to include the business's suppliers in the Fair Trade initiative. If successful, Kenyan artisans will be assured a fair, safe working environment and a constant income independent of Aardvark Alley's ability to sell the products. In the meantime, suppliers receive 10 percent of the business's profits-as soon as profits are made.

Aardvark Alley sells its products online (www.aardvarkalley.net), on consignment at The Back Door to the Moon in Winslow, during home sale parties and at Colby.

According to Von Tobel, it is important for the Colby community to shop at Aardvark Alley because "[i]t's a good way to learn about fair trade practices and what it means to be sure you're buying through a fair supplier. The crafts are gorgeous, and Colby is a market that can afford to support this business." Aardvark Alley will return to the Pugh Commons lobby in Cotter Union Nov. 7 and 28. If you miss the sale and wish to order online, Von Tobel offers a helpful tip: "Don't pay for shipping! I work in Diamond, so email me and you can walk over to pick it up!"

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