Fair Trade Fights for Justice and Freedom. Reflections No 504, 23 September 2010

Before I became a missionary priest I thought about my life during a spiritual retreat and asked how I could  best live usefully and in a worthwhile way since human life is so short. Would I reach eternal life? No one can know the answer, we have to die first. So I realized that since I was not a brilliant student I would not be rich in this world but I could be spiritually rich by helping others in this world and that’s when I became a missionary priest. 
 

Recycled Sack Coin Purse

I was by God's will sent to the Philippines on mission to spread the message of the gospel to the Filipino People. The Philippines was already a Catholic country converted by the Spanish who occupied the Islands for many hundreds of years. So why was it necessary for missionaries to go there and what more needed to be done? Well, as I discovered there was the established Catholic Church and people went to church on Sunday for Mass and participated in the rituals, devotions, pilgrimages and processions but this did not mean that the gospel was being lived out as Jesus Christ preached it. If He came to visit the people there he would not be happy, he would cry out and weep over the cities and he would say again, as he did to his apostles and followers 'I have been with you a long time and still you do not understand my message'.

Dried Mango

 
And he would tell again the story that we read and heard in the gospel today. How the rich man named 'Mr Richman' had good food every day, he dressed in expensive clothes and completely ignored the suffering and starving man called Lazarus who was begging for the scraps of food that fell to the floor. But even the crumbs the rich man would not share. The malnutrition of Lazarus caused sickness and sores and there was no one to help, no one had pity, or compassion. It was only the dogs that came to heal him and have pity.

Virgin Coconut Oil

 
That was the situation that I found in the Philippines: a vastly rich and wealthy elite, about 200 powerful families, owned the land, the food, the factories and all industry. Millions of Filipino people, mired in poverty, hunger and sickness, were begging for the scraps that fell from the tables of rich who lived in palaces and made billions of pesos from corruption. They even owned the government. The congress was stacked with the relatives and friends of the rich and government served them and not the poor. But these rich people were very religious, went to Mass, thanked God for their wealth and gave money to the Church. 
 

Pumice Stone Candle Holder

I wanted to put into action what Jesus preached and did; he said the poor were the salt for the earth, the most important of all, that innocent children were the models of sanctity that we should imitate them so we would be worthy to enter the Kingdom of God.
 

Resin Necklace

It was a big challenge and much progress, together with many other development agencies implementing the social teaching of the Church, society began to change. I started a charity called PREDA, an organization that works for justice in all aspects of life. It rescues children from the jails, saves children from human traffickers and from sex slavery in brothels. Today there is training for the youth so they can get jobs. We try to protect children in every possible way from abusers and traffickers. The goal of the charity is to make justice real, and to work to stop the corruption and wrongdoing and bring freedom to many people.
 

Wooden Seahorse Keychains

The charity called PREDA brings Economic freedom and human dignity, self-reliance, to thousands of people through the practice of FAIR TRADE. This aspect of our work at Preda Fair Trade is to help the poor by establishing livelihood opportunities so the poor can learn and to use their skills in the home and farm and produce quality products for the market. Preda Fair Trade gives interest free loans to the producers. Fair Trade finds buyers who pay a good, fair price for the products. There is no cheating or price fixing or corruption and the producers share in the profits. 
 

Wicker Rattan Basket

Fair Trade is another word for economic justice and improving the lives of hundreds of thousands by getting buyers for their produce at fair prices. It means that they can live in dignity and economic freedom. Fair Trade is working to give life to the hungry like Lazarus at the gate of the rich man, to save children from international criminals who abduct and sell children into slavery. We rescue them and give them a new life. We rescue and save the child workers in brothels and when they are pregnant save them from forced abortions. We take legal action to bring the abusers to justice and jail where they cannot harm and abuse children. All this important work is supported by the earnings that comes from the selling of Fair Trade products like dried tropical fruit, juice concentrates, and handicraft products. 
 

Woven Cornhusk Rope Bag

Buying fairly traded products is a way to fight for justice and reduce hunger and poverty. Fair Trade helps them to help themselves and to stand on their own and survive and prosper in dignity. END

Recycled Sack Shoulder Bag

All the photos above are of products of Preda Fair Trade. You can find out more about all the products here.

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Contact Fr Shay Cullen at the Preda Center, Upper Kalaklan, 2200 Olongapo City, Philippines.
Email: preda@info.com.ph

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PREDA Information Office
PREDA Foundation, Inc.
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www.preda.org