While many Americans are snuggled tight in their warm homes spending the holidays with family and friends and opening an overabundance of gifts, people in Third World countries are struggling to get by.

Christmas gift shoppers can help relieve the struggles of Third World citizens while finding one-of-a-kind, meaningful gifts by getting out of the malls and shopping at alternative markets, such as the Simpson College Ten Thousand Villages Alternative Gift Market.

The market will be from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Dec. 5 to 8 in Smith Chapel and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Dec. 9 in Brenton Student Center, both on the college’s Indianola campus.

Ten Thousand Villages, an organization that began in 1946, markets unique crafts created by people in India, Pakistan, the Philippines, Peru, Kenya, Bangladesh and Vietnam, among other places.

During Simpson’s alternative gift market, shoppers can purchase jewelry, baskets, musical instruments, linens, holiday decorations and ornaments, all painstakingly made by hand by citizens in small villages in some of the poorest countries in the world.

The collection of gifts and home décor are handcrafted with natural products, such as bamboo, stone, wood and natural fibers. Each distinctive item is labeled telling the diverse area of the world where it was made.

Craftspeople in these countries often do not have a large enough group of consumers to purchase their unique crafts, leaving them unemployed or underemployed. Ten Thousand Villages purchases their goods at decent prices to provide them with vital and fair incomes.

The goods are then shipped to North America where they are sold by organizations, such as Simpson’s Religious Life Community (RLC). The Simpson market is coordinated by the RLC group, Students Embracing Responsible Volunteer Experiences (S.E.R.V.E.).

The market is a way for the group to share the extraordinary stories of the people who created the crafts, and raise justice issues about fair wages and housing throughout the world.

The extra income the craftspeople receive for their goods pays for food, education, health care and housing, what most Americans take for granted. The craftspeople are not the only ones to benefit from the sale — 10 percent of the money from the items sold goes to S.E.R.V.E. for a campus project.

Simpson’s Ten Thousand Villages market is only one of a few offered in Iowa. For more information on Ten Thousand Villages, visit www.tenthousandvillages.com. For more information on Simpson’s Ten Thousand Villages Alternative Gift Market, call (515) 961-1610.

Written by Emily A. Roush

Emily A. Roush is the news services manager/public relations specialist for Simpson College.