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Alex Katona's Application
DELAY THE REAL WORLD FELLOWSHIP
Application Submitted: April 5, 2005
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I. GENERAL INFORMATION
Name: Alexandra Katona
Title of your proposed adventure (be creative):
Fair Trade for a Just World
Educational background:
College
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI. Graduated in December of 2004 with a degree in Environmental Studies (concentration in Sustainable Development) and a minor in Spanish
What are you currently doing?
I am currently working at an organization called the Center for International Policy in Washington, DC. My work focuses on illegal logging in Honduras and creating an institute in Honduras that links human rights and the environment. I also provide support to a sustainable coffee business that I Co-Founded and Co-Directed during my junior and senior year of college.
How did you hear about this fellowship?
FastWeb
II. PROPOSAL QUESTIONS
A) How would you like to delay the real world?
My passion is Fair Trade, an innovative approach to sustainable development. I deeply believe that Fair Trade is a way to help marginalized and impoverished farmers around the world receive fair wages for their work, ultimately providing livable and decent wages that contribute to health, environmental and educational benefits. I Co-Founded and Co-Created Brewing Hope, a sustainable coffee business that only sells Fair Trade coffee.
Due to my previous experiences, I would like to work with a cooperative in Ecuador, Kallari (www.kallari.com), that is currently working to market Fair Trade products, including crafts, coffee and cocoa, from over 360 families. The cooperative began in 1997 and has been very successful. I wish to work with the cooperative in order to understand their successes and failures. After this fellowship, I will bring my newfound knowledge to Central America, where numerous cooperatives are struggling for survival.
I am currently in the process of writing a research proposal to begin in January that examines marketing techniques and producer relations within Fair Trade cooperatives. I believe that this fellowship will better prepare me for future studies in Fair Trade.
B) What can you tell us about where your adventure will take place? Why did you pick this specific region/city/country? How familiar are you with it?
My adventure will take place in Ecuador (Quito and other remote areas). I chose this region because of the Kallari Cooperative and their rich history with Fair Trade. I am relatively familiar with the region because my mother was born in Quito and I have a plethora of family living in Quito and Cuenca. I am also very familiar with traveling around Latin America because I had the opportunity to stay with our partner cooperative from Brewing Hope in Chiapas, Mexico.
C) What is the time frame of your proposal? (When can you begin it? How long do you plan on committing to it?)
I will be interning with the Fair Trade Federation over the summer. Therefore, my adventure can begin in late August and conclude around mid-late November.
D) Will you be working with any organizations/non-profits/companies to carry out your proposal?
I plan on coordinating with the Fair Trade Federation who is in charge of the Fair Trade certification of all the products of the Kallari Cooperative. Additionally, I have numerous contacts around the nation who work directly with coffee and other Fair Trade cooperatives who have provided me with support and help. Ivette Perfecto, an argoecologist at the University of Michigan, Robert Rice from the Smithsonian Institution (develops "bird-friendly" coffee), and Dean Cycon from Dean's Beans are some of my contacts.
E) Will you be embarking on your adventure solo or with colleagues?
I will be embarking on my adventure alone.
F) What is your budget? (please list major expenses such as plane fare and transportation costs, room and board, activities, health insurance). If you will need additional funding outside of the DTRW fellowship, how do plan on obtaining it?
My budget is as follows:
Plane fare: $800 (round-trip)
Room and board: around $300/month
Transportation within the country: around $400
Travel Health Insurance: $300-400
I do not believe that I will need additional funding, but in the case of an emergency, I will contact my family in Ecuador.
G) If your proposed adventure will take place in a foreign country, what paperwork/visas will you need to obtain? What other logistics will you need to take care of?
I will not need a visa or a work permit because the duration of my trip is not over three months. I will need to take care of room and board, and the Kallari Cooperative has agreed to help. I may also need to take care of immunization requirements if I lack the proper vaccines, etc...
H) Name something that could go wrong and how you would handle it.
Let's say that my housing arrangements fall through when I arrive in Ecuador. I would first speak with the person in charge of organizing my housing arrangements. If they did not have an answer or could not help me, I would call my family in Ecuador to help me find another housing option. I definitely have a great support group because my family would be willing to help me out with anything, if they need to.
I) Tell us if you've had any past adventures and how you developed your appetite for them.
I will expand upon my adventure in Chiapas, Mexico. I stayed with Brewing Hope's partner cooperative, Yachil Xojobal Chulchan, for a duration of the time, and the rest was spent understanding coffee production and indigenous rights within the region. However, I was only in Chiapas for about two weeks, which is why I am interested in working with a cooperative for a longer period of time.
Chiapas has a history full of struggle and pain, but they are slowly gaining a better quality of life due to Fair Trade and other similar projects. I was able to experience their struggle, socially, economically and environmentally. Later in the trip, I was able to meet with La Junta de Buen Gobierno, a group of Zapatistas who are in charge of the region. It was an intense and amazing experience because I was able to personally meet the Zapatistas, whose name carries a stigma, for the most part, in many areas of the world.
As a child, I have always been fascinated with other cultures and places, and my appetite never ceased. Now that I am older, I have channeled my passion into social justice and traveling.
J) Which adventurer in DELAYING THE REAL WORLD did you find the most inspiring and why?
I enjoyed all of the stories, but I particularly liked Michelle Lapoint's "How I Tossed My Job Offer to the Winds, and Lived to Tell About It" and David Schacht's "Following your Gut". I especially enjoyed Michelle's story because I can easily relate. She left home to work in Costa Rica, where she experienced self-doubt and criticism from her parents. However, she continued to work through these issues and is now fighting for social justice. I highly admire her continued dedication for what she believed in.
Lastly, I liked David's story because he, and in the hopes of not sounding too cheesy, truly followed his heart. He was unhappy with his 80-hour weeks as an investment banker and decided to pursue a better life in Paris, which ultimately took him to Chile and transformed his life. I currently have a friend in New York who is working as an investment banker and works 100-hour weeks, and I would love to see him follow his “gut.”
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