We LOVE the Memorial Day issue of Lifestyle+Charity Magazine. It features a lot of great fashion, entertaining and decor tips that show your patriotic side while also helping you do good in the world with your purchases. Our Blue Mai Rice Bowls are a featured product on page 27. They’re a perfect hostess gift for your Memorial Day party!

Take a look:

Hope in Times of Crisis: A Mother’s Day Story

By Judith Santiago*

Mee Mee heard that the soldiers were coming.  She took hold of her son and frantically joined the rest of the villagers who were running toward the Thai-Burmese border, where the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) was located. Her husband was in another village running in the opposite direction, Mee later learned.  After the soldiers’ pursuit ended, Mee returned home to her small village in Koechi, Burma.

During 1997-2000, Mee and thousands like her lived under the constant threat of violence from Burmese soldiers. Many people would take temporary refuge in the jungle, and return home to their village after soldiers left the area, just to do it all over again days later.  About once a week, Mee and others would be on the move to avoid capture, rape, or death by soldiers.

During one incident, Mee’s husband ran ahead of his wife to secure food for his family. Her husband was spotted by soldiers and shot. The bullet shattered a portion of his ribcage, leaving him severely wounded and in distress as he journeyed toward the jungle with his family for safety.

For three months, Mee’s husband hid and moved the family with an exasperating wound at his side. He received no medical care, except for Mee’s tending.

“I was afraid to return to Burma,” Mee said through an interpreter. “I feared dying. I cried and cried every day,” she continued.

Mee’s husband eventually drew enough strength to walk five days toward a small village in Thailand where they learned the location of a hospital and a refugee camp.  When Mee and her husband finally arrived at the hospital, he underwent immediate surgery and later recovered.

Symbol of Hope

Life in the jungle for those fleeing Burmese soldiers was indeed terrifying and difficult. Makeshift bamboo tents with only roof and floor coverings became suitable temporary dwellings. Many women including Mee gave birth to children in the jungle.  Mee’s then six-year-old son assisted in the delivery of his sister named Eh Ku Hser. Her name means love – cold – sweet. “Cold” in Burmese culture means so as to not pass through the fire of life, as heat represents troubled times.

“I hoped my daughter would be free from difficult and troubling times,” said Mee. “I did not want her to go through what I had experienced,” she continued.

For Mee, the birth of her daughter in the midst of darkness, torment and fear, was a symbol of hope for a new life to come. Hope in times of crisis, the very premise of the United Methodist Committee on Relief’s (UMCOR) newly co-branded UMCOR-Prosperity Candle, is also the essence of that which candles shed light upon.

A New Beginning

With the help of UNHCR, hope for a new life did indeed materialize for Mee and her family when they resettled in West Springfield, Massachusetts.  There, Mee met Moo Kho Paw, another woman who emigrated from Burma, and who was working at Prosperity Candle in Florence.  The organization helps refugee women who have escaped areas of conflict rebuild their lives through the art of candle making.  Moo Kho recommended that Mee join the organization, and Mee gladly accepted.

“I was excited to be out of the house,” said Mee, “I was raised to believe that because I was a woman, my role was to remain at home and raise my family,” she continued.  “While many Burmese women want to do more for themselves, they are often encouraged to remain homemakers.”

Today, Mee has plans to go into the candle-making business for herself and support her five children, but she expressed the need to learn English first.

“In the Thai refugee camp, we had education, but it was not so good,” said Mee.  “When I was a child, I wanted to go to school, but I was told to stay home because I was a woman.  Now, I have hopes for my daughters to go to college and become doctors or policewomen,” continued Mee.

Mee has struck an even balance in her life that she wishes others would have found—a simple, happy life where work, caring for family members and freedom of choice all have their place.

Support Refugee Women in the US

Share this Mother’s Day story with your loved ones. And, when you purchase handmade candles by Mee, Moo Kho, and Naw, another Burmese refugee woman working at Prosperity Candle , know you are helping to support their livelihood as they rebuild their lives and those of their family members in the US.

Ten percent of each UMCOR-Prosperity Candle  you buy goes to support poverty-alleviation programs through UMCOR’s World Hunger and Poverty program, UMCOR Advance #982920 .

*Judith Santiago is the Media Communications Associate for UMCOR.

There are so many great ways to support Moms around the world while honoring and celebrating your own Mom this Mother’s Day, so we decided to share some of our favorite charitable Mother’s Day gift ideas with you this week:

Women for Women International

Of course, we first thought we’d highlight our partner’s, Women for Women International, Mother’s Day e-cards that support women’s empowerment. As Emily Deschanel notes here, a card for your Mom can change the life of a woman survivor of war who is rebuilding her life. Prosperity Candle partners with Women for Women in Iraq to offer women a candle making business opportunity.

Every Mother Counts

Christy Turlington’s Every Mother Counts campaign works to educate all of us about the dangers that many women face as they become mothers. Not all women safely can become mothers, due to the risks they face during childbirth. Here, Christy Turlington’s team encourages mothers to become silent on Mother’s Day in solidarity with mothers to be who loose their lives. The campaign is called No Mother’s Day. A powerful reminder of what the world would be like without moms.

Oxfam America

Our friends at Oxfam have a fantastic range of gifts that give back available for Mother’s Day. Your donation can give a woman a garden, school supplies, midwife training or more. Imagine how good Mom will feel knowing that her gift changed another woman’s life! A e-card can be sent straight to your Mom letting her know that a donation was made in her name.

Partners In Health

You can save a Mom’s life this Mother’s Day by donating to Partners In Health, an international organization that offers health care to poor women (and men) all around the world. You can feel good knowing that you’ve helped a new Mom have a safe and healthy experience starting her family. Donate now in your Moms name and she’ll be sent a note!

IRC

Like the IRC, we at Prosperity Candle cares deeply about women refugees. Have you purchased a candle made by the Burmese refugees we work with and now want to support an organization that helps provide them with refuge in the aftermath of trauma? We love the IRC’s work and encourage you to think about buying Mom a charitable gift that helps a refugee woman receive maternal health care, access business training, or care for a flock of chickens or a goat that will help her invest in her future. Mom will be sent a note letting her know about her unique gift!

CARE

CARE works hard to ensure the rights of women and girls around the world. For Mother’s Day this year, you can make a donation in your Mom’s name and send her a beautiful, inspiring e-card. CARE ensures that mothers have access to the care they need, clean water, and nutritional food to ensure the safety and health of her family. As CARE says, “Every Child Deserves a 5th Birthday.” Don’t you agree?

We have a big weekend, ahead! Mother’s Day is on Sunday, May 13th, and World Fair Trade Day is on Saturday, May 12th. World Fair Trade Day is a day to celebrate the achievements of the fair trade community to move away from “business as usual” to create more just and equitable ways of trading internationally. This means better pay for producers, less environmental damage, more transparency, engagement of marginalized communities, and long-term trading relationships that help empower instead of exploit.

Learn more about what fair trade is all about here:

Our work was founded on the principles of fair trade and we’re proud to be well on our way to becoming a fair trade member with the World Fair Trade Organization! We’ll keep you posted on our progress – hopefully soon you’ll see the fair trade logo on our homepage, providing us with a 3rd party verification of our practices. Thank you to our partner UMCOR for supporting us as we become a fair trade member.

So how will you celebrate World Fair Trade Day this Saturday? Take a look at this list of events compiled by the Fair Trade Resource Network happening throughout North America for something to do in your community. Also consider taking a look at this World Fair Trade Day website for more information. And if you’re shopping for Mom or taking her out for coffee or tea, consider celebrating World Fair Trade day at the same time with fair trade coffee, tea or chocolate!

We’re proud to be partnering with a number of leading fair trade organizations to create collaborative fair trade gift baskets. Take a look at our gift sets with fair trade leaders like Divine Chocolate, Numi Tea, and SERRV International.

The Women in the World Foundation grew out of the annual Women in the World Summit organized by Tina Brown of Newsweek and the Daily Beast.

Thank you to the fantastic team at Women & Girls Lead, a film project focused on women and girls that sits under the ITVS (Independent Television Services) umbrella, for highlighting the work of Prosperity Candle. Given our shared values in empowering women and girls, they were very interested to learn more about our Siiri Morley’s journey to become a social entrepreneur.

Here in her guest blog she talks about her unusual path to becoming an entrepreneur and why she cares so deeply about empowering women and girls through business. Her unique path includes anthropology classes, the Peace Corps, fair trade, and, now, candles! Read more here.

Every gift we sell is made by women like these Moms pictured below, rebuilding their lives. We’re so honored to have your support this Mother’s Day. By giving a Mom in your life a meaningful gift that helps women around the world, you are showing your Mom how much you care – not just about her, but about women around the world.

Busy Bee Lifestyle is a master of holiday gift guides for those of trying to find unique and meaningful gift ideas for Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Christmas, and so many other gift-giving occasions. We love their new Mother’s Day gift guide with gift ideas for the moms in your life.

In their words, on Prosperity Candle: “This candle is a thoughtful gift that you can give to all of the mothers in your life.  Women who are trying to build lives for themselves and their children, following the effects of war, political unrest or natural disaster, produce the Prosperity candles and this is one gift that can actually change lives!”

Thanks to the Buy with Heart team for creating a shopping platform focused on social enterprise. We joined the platform recently and are honored to be featured in today’s Mother’s Day gift guide. All the products featured make fantastic gifts for Moms of any age. Thank you, Buy with Heart, for sharing the light about Prosperity Candle’s work to empower Moms around the world, one meaningful Mother’s Day gift at a time.

Take a look at our video to see: