Brazia is 20 years old, unmarried and has been stitching soccer balls in the Chagelan stitching center (which lies a few miles out of Sialkot, Pakistan) for a year. She likes Punjab music and enjoys practicing dancing with her sisters. Brazia enjoys stitching, as she has fun chatting with her friends, but would like to make more Fair Trade soccer balls.
A non-Fair Trade soccer ball, for example, only pays Brazia 30 Rupees, but a Fair Trade soccer ball pays her 47 Rupees, which she says is a good price. Brazia complains that Fair Trade orders are too infrequent, and asks us to ensure we get more order for Fair Trade balls. Our representative on the visit told her we’re working on it.
She doesn’t want to stitch footballs forever, but is planing on taking out a micro-credit loan so that she can open a grocery store with her five sisters.
With Brazia, we can see all our initiatives coming together in one person. She is a female, adult stitcher in Pakistan making a Fair Trade Certified wage. She has enough confidence in herself and the opportunities she has to consider taking out a micro-credit loan so that she can start her own business. A few years ago, this would have been considered an impossible task, but today it is within her reach.
Well done, Brazia!
