More than one month after the tsunamis hit Southeast Asia, a businessman in Wolfville is anxiously waiting for more news from the people who helped him build his company.

Jeff Moore, one of the founders of the Just Us! Coffee Roasters Co-op, says 90 percent of the tea they carry is grown and packaged near the disaster region in Sri Lanka. They also purchase 10 percent of their coffee beans from Indonesia's Aceh province. The beans are used for their 'Rise Again' medium-roast blend, which they sell in Canadian grocery stores, restaurants and in the company's three cafés.

Nestled in Nova Scotia's Annapolis Valley, Debbie and Jeff Moore, David and Jane Mangle, and Ria March formed the co-operative in 1995. They buy organic tea and unroasted beans at fair trade prices directly from farmers in the Developing World, roast the java themselves, and sell it throughout Canada. With total sales of $2.7-million last year, the coffee and tea purchased from Asia represents a significant portion of their supply. The rest of their coffee comes from Mexico and Central America.

Although there is still no accounting for the scale of the suffering experienced by the people Moore works with, an impression of their tragedy is emerging. Most of the organic coffee Just Us! purchases from Aceh grows in shady mountainous areas, so the coffee trees still stand. But the catastrophe shook the lives of the people who make their living from them. Many workers lost family and homes, and a supervisor at one of the tea-growing projects died. A tea packaging centre along the Sri Lankan coast is being used as a make-shift hospital.

Just Us!, itself a workers' co-op, operates according to a fair trade model in which their South Asian coffee and tea producers receive a mutually agreed upon "just" price. In the wake of the disaster, the co-op is providing US$10,000 to begin rebuilding workers' houses while also fundraising in Nova Scotian cafés and communities. But it is the co-op's long-term commitment to the region that may help re-build hope.

"Many of the people directly affected by the tsunami were some of the most exploited," says Jeff Moore. "It's a situation where the hotel owners and tourism operators along the coast get rich while those around them struggle to survive."

The international aid being directed to tsunami-affected countries will help in the short-term, he says, but will do little to benefit the long-term economy. "The inequality will remain," he says, "only fair wages can transform lives."

When Moore first visited Southeast Asia in 1998, he saw how fairer wages can change lives in the producing communities. Before an alternative trade relationship was established, he argues the economic model being used was reminiscent of colonial slavery, with people treated as "less than human."

There was instability and the associated alcoholism and mental health problems because people simply did not earn enough to live, notes Moore. Although his co-operative is only a small piece of the puzzle, after 10 years it has made a difference in many lives. "We try to turn the system on its head by using fair wages to allow people to survive, build adequate housing and access health care," he says.

Coffee is the second most traded commodity in the world after oil. Although fair trade coffee makes up less than one-half of one percent of world coffee sales, it is a trade model that is growing. In Nova Scotia, fair trade coffee represents one percent of the market.

Encouraging consumers to purchase fairly is something Olga Gladkikh believes must be promoted. The adult educator and community development advisor at St. Francis Xavier University's Coady International Institute in Antigonish says any time resources return a fair price to the producer, the benefits are felt at the local level.

"Sugar, coffee, tea - these are all products produced in the global South, largely for consumption by the global North," she says. "And without fair trade most of the profit flows North with the products."

With coffee prices at a 30-year low, small farmers are forced to sell their coffee to non-fair trade buyers for a price that is less than the cost of growing it, says Heather Weinrich, of Transfair Canada, the non-profit certifying body for fair trade products sold in Canada.

"To finance the next year's crop, the farmers then have to take out high-interest loans from moneylenders," she says. "With fair trade, farmers have access to low or no-interest loans in addition to receiving a just price."

"Just Us! has a small share of the market," admits Moore, "but it is a model that works for us and for our producers, and it's something the world should push for as Southeast Asia rebuilds."

Andrea Markey is a journalist based in Nova Scotia. Related websites: www.justuscoffee.com; www.transfair.ca; www.maketradefair.com; www.cuso.org

Source: IDEAS - The International Development and Environment Article Service