Sojourns

Sojourns is a store and gallery located in the Atrium Building at 1910 3rd Avenue North featuring crafts, decorative objects, baskets, food, musical instruments, toys, jewelry and textiles created by fairly compensated artisans in Vietnam, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Burkina Faso, Kenya, Peru, Guatemala and other countries.

The 600 square foot store sells objects imported under the certification of the Fair Trade Federation, which insures a living wage paid to the artisans, and also supports projects that improve education and environmental protection. Sojourns is the first 100% Fair Trade store in Alabama. In addition to regular hours, it hosts special events in concert with the Birmingham International Festival and the Foundation for Sustainable Travel.

It was opened in October 2005 by Melissa Kendrick. The stores slogan "Adventure-Art-Peace" is derived from the "five qualities of civilization" described by English mathematician and philosopher Alfred North Whitehead.

References

• Sepsas, Niki (2005) "The Sojourn Story: Adventure-Art-Peace" [1] - accessed April 15, 2005

External link

• Sojourns website