Some of What We Do

If you know us personally, you know what we like to spend most of our time doing. However, most of you don't know about our job. KB will end his language study soon, and we need a visa to stay in this country. People get visas various different ways, but we are taking the job route. Therefore since last year we have been working for a U.S. based trading company. Our division does baskets. We go to factories, look at their products, and when our boss comes from the U.S. we take him to our favorite factories to order. Then we work with getting the order completed in a timely and accurate manner - this can be very difficult and frustrating!

Anyways, we often go visit the new factories to look for something fresh and new to take our boss to. These photos were from one such recent visit. We actually do not search out for these factories. Somehow the owners find us, one way or another. All the baskets we purchase are handmade and are good quality. We took this photo of me holding the basket to get an idea of the size of the basket. AB goes with us to all visits, but she and I skip the parts of the factory where the baskets are painted and fumigated.

By the way, that is real child labor going on behind me. The boy is probably 13 or 14 years old. This may be their summer part-time job, but some of these kids are really young. However, if it is between their family starving and everyone pitching in, then I guess child labor wins. KB and I do have a moral conflict over recommending this factory because of it though. We will probably ask about it before we make any decisions.

The baskets in this warehouse are typical of what we find most factories making in mass - not extremely exciting. However, all the factories have a sample room full of baskets that they can make. These are usually really interesting baskets. One of the factories we regularly visit makes baskets for Target. These baskets were probably custom designed by Target, but copyright laws here are a bit nonexistent. The factory was willing to make those same baskets for us. We declined knowing that it was wrong, but they were cute, and are probably in a Target store near you.