A MasterStoryteller

Doug Dirks has for decades been a visionary leader in the global Fair Trade movement and an impassioned advocate for artisans around the world. A masterful storyteller, many have been riveted by accounts of his early work establishing craft producing groups in some of the world’s most impoverished countries.

He tells of being served the very last chicken in a village in Bangladesh; of the particular challenges involved in working with a government official in communist Vietnam who went on to establish a successful Fair Trade ceramics producer group; and of children who have become doctors and engineers or who have taken on management of Fair Trade producer groups thanks to the opportunities offered to their parents.

Dirks currently serves as Public Relations director and storyteller for Ten Thousand Villages US and served previously as Executive Director for Ten Thousand Villages Canada. A native Canadian and former Auditor General for the Government of British Columbia, Dirks began his international development career with the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) in Bangladesh during the early 1980s, establishing small craft workshops aimed at providing employment opportunities to marginalized women. Their products were exported to Fair Trade organizations such as Ten Thousand Villages and it quickly became clear to Dirks that these sales made a tremendous difference in the lives of the women. He eagerly returned to North America in 1985, ready to promote the sale of Fair Trade products, beginning his more than 20 year tenure with Ten Thousand Villages.

Dirks has visited many of the 37 countries from which Ten Thousand Villages buys and has met many of the artisans, some of them repeatedly, allowing him to collect personal stories that span generations of producers and their families.

Doug Dirks lives in Ephrata, PA with his wife, Joanne, who manages the Ten Thousand Villages US flagship store.

In celebration of its 65th Anniversary Ten Thousand Villages presents An Evening of Stories and Celebrationwith master storyteller Doug Dirks

The evening will include Fair Trade food and drink and a chance to meet Ten Thousand Villages celebrity supporter Gail Vaz-Oxlade

7pm Sunday, October 2ndToronto United Mennonite Church1774 Queen Street East

Admission is free and donations are welcome

For more information contact Ingrid at 905-330-9040