1. What is “The Bridge For Africa”? Bridge for Africa is a non-profit Fair Trade certified organization dedicated to promoting the dignity of work and self-sufficiency in rural Africa. Rather than giving a hand-out, we believe that giving someone the dignity of earning their own income increases hope for future generations and promotes peace and community wellness in Africa. We currently partner with 15 underrepresented artisan groups to design, develop and market unique handcrafted African collectibles. 2. I understand that you are a non-profit organization? Please share with us why your outfit is devoted to bringing work within rural areas of Africa and how you came upon organizing such an effort? On a 2003 trip to Southern Africa our founder was shocked by the absolute poverty in Africa coupled with the incredible skills and potential of the African people themselves. She felt that all these skilled artisans lacked was access to a market with the disposable income to purchase their unique creations. The idea for Bridge for Africa was born when our founder met with a likeminded Zimbawean living in South Africa who decided to come on board to make the vision a reality. 3. Tell us your pitfalls and successes to bringing such an organization on line? The hardest part about Bridge for Africa is definitely that we are working in the real world, alongside real competitors. Our pieces compete against products made under sub-optimal labor standards in different areas of the world. The key to the success of Bridge for Africa and all other Fair Trade organizations is the recognition of consumers that the choices they make when buying a product affect the lives of those who were involved in the creation of that product, whether it be a beautiful handcrafted basket, a cup of coffee, or a bunch of bananas. 4. How did you unite with such an awe-inspiring idea and make it a reality? Bridge for Africa is made a reality by a concerted effort from individuals in Africa and in the U.S who volunteer their time and skills to put forward our best attempt to create as much work in Africa as we can. We partner directly with artisan groups themselves, cutting out the cost of the middleman, and creating a direct connection between consumer and producer. 5. How did you ascertain this partnership between Africa and the U.S. As mentioned before, our founder traveled to Africa and met with various groups there to develop what would become Bridge for Africa. We travel to Africa sa frequently as we can to connect face to face with the artisan groups and make sure we understand their needs and we can communicate what we need to make their products a success in the U.S market. I will be traveling to Ghana next week to connect with a fledgling group there that we are just trying to get off the ground. 6. The artsian work on your website is intricate work, fabulous, and I find the purse very unique and stylish. What kind of process do you use to determine what products will be found on your website? First and foremost we need a direct connection with the artisan groups themselves. We absolutely refuse to work through middlemen – we need to know the location, the names, and the entire story behind a group or an individual before we will even consider working with them, no matter how fabulous the product. Once we ascertain that the group meets our standards for paying a living wage in the local context and respects what we feel to be the core tenets of the dignity of work, we will go forward with looking at the product and seeing if we think it is something that will fit within our product range and the U.S market. Often we will work with the group on product development to find something that we think will really resonate with our audience in the U.S, both aesthetically and emotionally as a piece of Africa that they can take home with them. 7. The Bridge of Africa is a notable foundation, and incredibly inspiring, have you found the media to be an outlet for growth; or is it more word of mouth? At this point the media has not played a huge role in Bridge for Africa’s growth. We are a very small foundation, largely run by three individuals in the U.S until recently where we have started building a larger volunteer team and getting more people involved. Our growth has mostly been word of mouth. Obviously having a website leads to all kinds of exciting connections that you just cannot create without having a permanent online presence. 8. What powers your website? We use GoDaddy and our website is entirely maintained by a few volunteers in Los Angeles who built and created the website. Much thanks and appreciation have to go to Tessa Treadway and Jeff Gardner for this endeavor. 9. Tell us about the two founders behind “The Bridge for Africa” The founders often like to remain anonymous as they feel that Bridge is more about the African artisans than the founders themselves. Kathleen Vaughan has a background in corporate business and works with Wells Fargo in San Francisco. Kathleen and her husband John traveled to Africa for the first time in 2003 and came back to the U.S inspired to try to make a difference. While in Africa Kathleen met Therese Smith, our South African Director, who lives in very rural South Africa with her family and had always wanted to be able to uplift and empower her fellow Africans. Bridge has certainly grown a great deal even since 2003 but Kathleen and Therese were really the initial driving force behind the organization. 10.What search engine to you use? We try to use everyclick.com, where a small donation is made each time you use the search engine to a non-profit organization of your choose. We also use google routinely. 11. Please share 3 websites that you are inspired by. We are definitely always inspired by some of the big players in the Fair Trade world and their websites. I always like to check out www.un.org to see what’s going on at the UN and also routinely check on www.bbc.co.uk for my news fix. Less