Alaffia Sustainable Skin Care

Alaffia formulates their premium shea butter skin care products using their own handcrafted, shea butter and other indigenous ingredients. The goal of their simple, effective formulations is to preserve the integrity and effectiveness of the shea butter and indigenous ingredients in the final product. They do not use petroleum derived products or parabens, and they do not test on animals. They make all of their shea butter products themselves in small batches at their facility in Olympia, WA.

One of their main goals is to educate others about empowering communities and individuals through fair trade of shea butter. Their shea butter products carry their message, and they also do direct outreach by speaking at high schools, colleges, universities and community centers. They also welcome visitors to their facilities in Washington State and Togo to view how they make their shea butter and their finished products.

Shea ButterFairly trading shea butter places fair monetary value on the unique skills of African women, providing an economic and moral boost which leads to more gender equality in the family institution. Together with their shea butter cooperative and the non-profit organization, Global Alliance for Community Empowerment, they return the proceeds from their sales to communities through projects that serve to enhance self reliance and sustainability. We invite you to visit their website at www.alaffia.com to read more details about this remarkable company.

Alaffia Defines Sustainable Skin Care

Sustainable means making choices and actions that improve current and future living conditions for our communities while maintaining the cultural and bio diversities of our planet, including:

1. Using Sustainably Harvested, Wildcrafted, and Traditionally Extracted, Unrefined Shea Butter for the base of their products.
2. Providing fair wages and prices to their Shea Butter Cooperative members and farmers.
3. Dedicating 10% of sales proceeds to Community Enhancement Projects in Africa and other parts of the World.

The motivation to commit to these principles comes from the hope that their actions will:
1. Improve current living standards and promote gender equality and feelings of self worth for individuals in our communities.
2. Help break the cycle of poverty in Africa and preserve indigenous resources and knowledge for future generations
3. Increase awareness of how individual actions and choices affect communities worldwide

Olowo-n’djo Tchala, founder of Alaffia says,”Today, Africa is considered the poorest continent on Earth. Seventy-seven percent of Africans live on less than $2 per day, and women and children make up the majority of this number. African families must also cope with the impacts of diseases such as AIDS and malaria, high unemployment rates, and increasing problems with air and water pollution, including access to potable water. Africans are still experiencing colonial legacies that impede the wellbeing of the people, such as the systematic exclusion of women from the formal education system and lack of access to adequate market information to trade their products fairly. The discrepancy between the extreme poverty and the natural wealth of the African continent has been a constant puzzlement and source of frustration for my wife Rose and I for many years.”

“Because I grew up in poverty in Togo, I feel morally responsible to dedicate my life to empowering our communities in Africa. I have chosen to promote indigenous African natural resources that are culturally, spiritually, economically and ecologically sustainable. Traditionally handcrafted shea butter fits these criteria. It is a renewable resource of African origin; shea trees are wild, requiring no chemical fertilizers or pesticides. Furthermore, it is an integral part of many savanna communities and, consequently, there is a wealth of local and traditional knowledge of making shea butter. The fair trade of our handcrafted shea butter and shea butter skin care products is bringing income to and empowering our communities in Togo, while making indigenous, sustainable and effective skin care available to the global community.”

“Fairly traded, handcrafted Shea Butter benefits the communities that produce it as well as the communities that purchase it. Members of our Agbanga Karite/Alaffia Shea Butter cooperative gain pride as they are able to use their traditional knowledge and skills to support their families. Our customers benefit because they are receiving an authentic product directly from the source. As part of our Fair Trade philosophy, we use 10% of our sales for community enhancement projects in Togo, West Africa and locally in Washington State.”

“The Alaffia/Agbanga Shea Butter Cooperative is an important part of the greater Sokode community. We provide stable, fair incomes to over 80 families. The Cooperative also provides medical care and other assistance when needed. Our members are proud to be able to use their indigenous knowledge to feed and cloth their families. One of our goals is for the cooperative to be a model for other groups and individuals in Togo and other West African nations to follow.”