“People behind the product” inspires Canadian ministry
CALGARY, AB—Making a difference and impacting lives overseas is as simple as purchasing products made by artisans who are paid a fair wage for their work, says Minako Polischuk.
Polischuk and her husband, Darren Polischuk, started Work of Your Hand (WYH) in 2011. The couple believes that “trade not aid” will help alleviate poverty. They purchase Third World products for fair wages, after which they import and sell them in North America.
WYH uses proceeds to purchase more products or equipment the artisans need for production, and helps with education, healthcare, housing and more.
The organization purchases products from the Philippines, Laos, Cambodia and Indonesia.
“For me, it’s not about the product, it’s about the people behind the product,” Minako says. “Every time I see [a product], I see the people who’ve made it. That’s what I want people here [in Canada] to see. These are real people living in horrible situations, and they’re working so hard to get out.”
Minako says that in 2013, WYH sold approximately $50,000-worth of products, which helped more than 400 people. She has numerous stories of people who have turned their lives around as a result of selling their products through WYH, including a woman in the Philippines named Bing who the Polischuks have visited several times.
The Polischuks first met Bing in 2010. She was a battered wife with 10 children, only seven of whom were able to go to school, the other three having to work to help support the family. Bing began making products sold by WYH, and by 2012, her life had changed significantly.
Earning a decent wage had empowered Bing; she left her husband and moved her family into a better house. All of her children were able to go to school, and the Polischuks hardly recognized Bing because she had gained so much weight, a sign that her health had improved dramatically.
“Now she wants to help other women from similar situations,” Minako says.
The Polischuks had the idea for WYH while working under the umbrella of the Christian and Missionary Alliance in Japan from 2004 to 2008. They started a shoebox ministry similar to Operation Christmas Child called Greatest Gift Ministries. While distributing the gift boxes in Cambodia, Philippines, Thailand and Myanmar, the Polischuks were struck by the poverty they witnessed and began dreaming of supporting livelihood projects.
When they returned to Canada, the couple used $6,000 they had saved to buy the first products for WYH.
The Polischuks want WYH to continue to grow, and hope to move to Cambodia in February 2015 and live there for eight months of the year. While there, the couple plans to create a livelihood project for the impoverished. With the remaining four months, the Polischuks would then return to Canada to give presentations raising awareness about the issues that occur in places like Cambodia, as well as sell products made by those impoverished people.
“[It] is an effort to create sustainable and fair employment for them and to help raise dignity, showing them that God loves them and has given them gifts and talents that can be used to support themselves,” Minako says. “It’s to give them hope and help them see that they have worth.”
Minako also wants to impact the lives of Canadians by encouraging them to think about where the products they purchase come from.
“The way we purchase here is making a difference to people overseas,” she says. “We can make a difference. We can impact lives overseas one at a time.”
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