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Photo by Martin Chamberland, The Suburban |
Chamandy: It’s important to promote the creativity of artists. |
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Gift store sells crafts from Africa, South America, Mexico and Canada. |
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It’s hard to imagine that shopping here at home could benefit destitute orphans on the other side of the world.
Vive la Différence, a small gift shop on Monkland Ave. in N.D.G., is a non-profit, volunteer-run store founded and operated by Beaconsfieldresident Tina Chamandy.
Net profits are sent to Families for Children (FFC), a non-profit Canadian organization providing support and care for women and children in two orphanages in India and Bangladesh.
The store, which promotes fair trade and features unique crafts from artists around the world, has been open for about a year.
Chamandy works alone, although sometimes her friends volunteer.
On top of supporting FFC, Chamandy’s goal with Vive la Différence is to promote fair trade.
“I like to provide an alternative to the usual mass-produced items we find everywhere,” Chamandy said at her store last week.
“I’m a strong believer in fair trade. And I think it’s important to promote the creativity of artists all over the world and in Canada, and to enrich the lives of consumers and expose them to the diversity and beauty of the world.”
Fine handcrafted glassware, original ceramics, purses, furniture and costume jewellery from Africa, South America, Mexico and Canada, can be found in Chamandy’s store.
Photos of some of the approximately 225 children from the two FFC orphanages hang on the store’s walls, and pamphlets about the orphans are available at the cash.
Chamandy, a mother of five who opened the store with her husband after they retired, has visited the children at the orphanage in Indiathree times.
“They’re extremely warm. They call you ‘Mommy’ and ‘Daddy,’” she said. “They’re always smiling and they were so excited to see us the first time we came. My heart melts for them.”
The orphanage in India spans a couple of town blocks and includes a small school, a library, and sleeping quarters.
FFC receives children who are abandoned or referred to them by Indian social services.
Occasionally, a family will bring their children to the orphanage if they’re too poor to look after them, but the kids will return home for holidays.
According to Chamandy, some of the orphans have physical disabilities or are infected with H.I.V.
Nonetheless, many of the kids and women who are at the orphanages produce items, like cards and silk purses, to be sold in her store.
Above a shelf holding cards with intricate needlework, Chamandy points to a photograph of a visually impaired boy hard at work on one of the cards that will end up in her store.
She said he didn’t want to wear glasses because he was afraid of how they made him look, so he had to hold the paper really close to his face to perfect his needlepoint.
“It shows that no matter how destitute or badly off they are, they’re still people,” Chamandy said.
Chamandy became involved with FFC when she was trying to adopt a child from Vietnam. (She ended up adopting a girl from Thailand who’s now 26 years-old.)
While going through the adoption process, she met Sandra Simpson, the founder of FFC.
“I’ve known Sandra a very long time and have been a supporter ever since,” said Chamandy.
Simpson, a native of Colombia who has homes in Pointe Claire and Toronto, said she adopted 24 children and has eight biological ones.
Along with her friends Bonnie Cappuccino and Naomi Bronstein, in 1968 Simpson founded FFC when she adopted a child from Vietnam.
“Because of the publicity and requests from other people wanting to do the same, I founded FFC to help people adopt,” she said.
Since then, FFC has developed from an adoption agency to having in-country care centres in India and Bangladesh.
“I believe all of us are born for a reason, and that reason if possible should be to help another. I feel very fortunate in being part of an organization that helps so many,” Simpson said.
“Tina is doing an incredible job,” added Simpson. “She’s working so hard without any staff and she herself does not take pay. Being a small charity that gets very little publicity, awareness is very important to us.”
Vive la Différence is located at 5525 Monkland Ave. Hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday. |