A Sustainable Christmas For a Better World

There are times and places where Christmas has turned into a commercial holiday, but the Christmas decorations made by Solid International help to change this trend. Not only do you buy a durable product that does not cause any harm to our environment (changing the ways in which products are being produced), but there is also a humanitarian aspect to this project and campaign launched by Solid International.

If you like the cozy feeling of Christmas and would like some knitted ornaments hanging in your sustainable Christmas tree, then you might want to go Christmas shopping in A.S. Adventure. In this store, both located in Leuven, Ghent and Kortrijk (Kuurne), you can buy Ayacucho Gadget Christmas Balls (4-pack). These ornaments have been knitted at a workplace founded by Solid International—a private organization—where products such as scarves and hats are knitted and crocheted manually. The women working in this unique place are disadvantaged teenage moms and other women. Solid International wants to create opportunities for this vulnerable group living in an economic climate that is often discriminating and exploitative. Buying Ayacucho Christmas balls is therefore more than just decorating a tree. It is buying goods that have been produced in an ecological way and by a humanitarian organization. But there is even more to this story.

Ayacucho is not just a name for a product. It is both a city and a region in Peru situated amid the Andes highlands, one of the poorest regions in the world. With the aim to help Ayacucho in building sustainable developments in the region, Solid International—a private organization—located its activities in this traditional but poor region in 2005. The private organization wants to improve the living conditions of underprivileged peoples, to create more opportunities in this and other troublesome regions and offers training to those in need. To get an overview of all the projects Solid International is involved in, take a look at their website.

With the Ayacucho Christmas balls, Solid International aims to help not only teenage moms and other vulnerable women, but also the women in need living in Ayacucho. Indeed, the women who work in the Solid International workplace were not the only ones to have handcrafted the knitted Ayacucho Christmas balls. To really help the Ayacucho region, the women working on its fields were also offered the opportunity to earn a fair living by engaging in this project.

There are thus many reasons one can think of to make a trip to A.S. Adventure and to buy the very unique knitted Christmas balls made by and for Ayacucho and women. By trying to make Christmas sustainable in this way, one is (re)turning to one of the key values of Christmas: thinking of others and doing something for them. Whether it is buying a gift for a loved one sitting next to you on Christmas Eve or a gift hanging in your tree for a woman out there in the world.

If you want to make Christmas even more sustainable, try and make your own Eco Christmas Tree and share all your ideas on our Twitter page (#SustainableChristmas) or post your photos on our facebookpage!

Ayacucho Christmas Balls at A.S. Adventure

Image: http://www.asadventure.com/benl/ayacucho-gadget-christmas-balls-4-pack-2h41d52004?id_colour=1594

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