Papa Awori is from Kenya, but has permanently lived in Eugene, Oregon for the past sixteen years. He initially moved to Eugene to get away from the Kenyan climate, but Awori quickly found a line of work that he was passionate about: fair trading for the Swahili African Imports company.

Papa Awori works at Swahili African Modern, a fair trade federation member.

Can you please state your name and the name of the business?

My name is Papa Awori and the name of the business is Swahili African Modern.

How did you begin your work here? Why Swahili African Imports/Swahili African Modern?

Well, I’ve been working with Swahili Imports, the company, for about sixteen years now because I wanted a job that relates to things in Africa. I wanted to work with buying and selling goods from my culture and from other African cultures that would be sold in America.

Could you tell me some more about the business?

The store has been around for about nine years. And the reason the store was started is because the main business that we are in is wholesale, and we wanted to find out what the customer feedback was on the items that we sell to other stores around the country. So, that’s why the store was started.

And what’s your relationship with Leslie Mittelberg, the founder of the Swahili Imports company?

I’ve known Leslie ever since I moved to Eugene. We met at tradeshows. I used to work for a different company, and we would bring in things from West Africa. And that’s how I met her, at the tradeshows. Then we started to work together. Now, I’m going to another tradeshow on Monday in New York with her. It is fun.

From what different countries do you guys bring stuff in?

We bring from specifically ten countries in Africa. We try to cover the whole, you know, different regions. West Africa: Ghana, Mali, Burkina Faso, Senegal. And East Africa: Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and a little of bit South Sudan. And then Southern Africa: Mozambique and South Africa.

[Follow-up] And what do you think the overall goal of the store is? Why sell goods from Africa in Eugene? 

Well, like I told you earlier, the goal of the store was just for us to get customer feedback because the main business we sell to stores around the country. That’s the main business. Yeah, so, this was just to be a good idea to have a fair-trade store in Eugene, so we can see what the customers like and that gives us better preparation for bringing things to sell to other stores. Here, people give us their opinions, they are open, and are interested in our goods.