"International contribution" can sound like something inaccessible that is hard to approach. And things like volunteering overseas and fund-raising don't seem like something we can easily do in our everyday lives. Our "Cafaire" activity provides an easy, fun way to make international contributions. We hold various events and other activities with the goal of "bringing fair trade to Waseda."

Misanga (woven bracelets) made by the students at Niranjana School in Buttagaya, India are especially popular right now. The area around the school is either the first or second poorest region in India, and only one of every two children can go to school. Schools constructed by Japanese NPOs are in huge amounts of debt. When we were groping for something we could do, we hit upon the idea of having the children make misanga and selling them to Japanese people to earn food for school lunches. We quickly came up with an original Waseda design and set up the project. The sale of one bracelet provides food for five school lunches, so the children making the misanga are very serious about the project. These handmade misanga are very colorful and can also be used as straps for mobile phones. Waseda students are sure to love the design featuring the letter "W."

Also worthy of notice is our "machi chocolate." This chocolate is special because it was born from the desire of people in the area to provide a place where it was easy to buy fair trade products. Everyone in the area cooperated to put together the package design and to establish sales routes. West Africa contains many countries where cocoa is produced. To produce cocoa at an even slightly reduced cost, many children end up working at cocoa farms. Most of them cannot attend school, and have probably never even tasted the sweetness of the chocolate that they themselves produce. When you eat chocolate, we'd appreciate if you would think about this situation for even a short moment.

TAll of us would be happy if people would buy our misanga and chocolate not as an act of charity. Instead, we would appreciate it if they accepted fair trade products as one of their shopping choices, and selected them because they liked them.

For more information, please visit the Cafaire website: http://cafaire.jimdo.com