TIMES UNTOLD BY TRADE MONKEY

As many of you know, I left America to travel the world and embark on a journey to learn more about other cultures and ways of the world. For myself, I wanted to do something good, contribute positively in this world, and hopefully be an inspiration for change in others.

Along my travels, I met Mark and Alana who have become close friends of mine here in Chiang Mai. Inspired by their travels in Thailand, they wanted to do one simple idea, MAKE A SMALL CHANGE IN THE WORLD. And in this simple concept they created Trade Monkey, a company to help independent local artists here in Northern Thailand and connect them to the rest of the world to share their handicrafts while creating better living through economic opportunities for them.

In Mark and Alana’s words, “Our overall mission is to enable micro-enterprise businesses to sustain themselves and thrive, while contributing locally to social, economic, and environmental sustainability. We hand select the items we sell to bring you awesome, unique handmade products. You know where, and who your product comes from.”

Let’s face it; aren’t you all tired of lining the pockets of corporations who clearly do not operate fair trade while making huge profits? Then put your money where your mouth is and help support socially responsible business practices in putting the money back into the artists’ pocket. Be a part of the change in this world and help support Trade Monkey’s vision.

To help them off the ground, they have created a Rocket Hub campaign where we can all contribute. As Trade Monkey has said, this is "not an investment or charity. It is an exchange: funds from supporters for Goods from us. "While I know many of you are backpackers on tight budgets and new families with babies and mortgages, I’m asking you all to be a part of the change in this world starting with your spare change at $1, something we all know we can part with. For those of you who can contribute more than $10, expect to find some lovely goods in the mail. This way, you don’t have to buy that plane ticket to Thailand to get some awesome stuff and you can feel good about supporting artists here.

For some of my friends back home, perhaps we didn’t have birthday cocktails/dinner or exchange Christmas gifts this year. For any food, booze, or gifts you might have given me, I’d rather see that money go towards someone and something useful in this world instead of fattening my ass, decaying my liver, or adding another object into my storage unit that I may not see for many years. If you could find yourself on my friends’ Rocket Hub page contributing those dinners, drinks or “things” you might have given me, I would be enormously grateful and we can all feel good about being a system of change.

Please check out their Rocket Hub page here: Trade Money on Rocket Hub

Or their like their Facebook page here: Trade Monkey on Facebook

And yeah, I took the photos...