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Contact Us
Fifth Street Public Market
296 East Fifth Avenue
Eugene, Oregon 97401
(541) 484-0383
Swahili
Store Directory » Home, Gifts and Specialty » Swahili
296 East Fifth Avenue Suite 222
Eugene, Oregon 97401
T/F: 541-868-1598
http://www.swahili-imports.com/
HOURS: 10am - 7pm, Monday - Saturday
11am - 5pm, Sunday
Swahili's vibrant collection of contemporary African art and crafts represents a broad network of artisans in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Ghana, South Africa, Mozambique, Mali, Senegal, Rwanda, and Ethiopia. As a Fair Trade Federation member, Swahili provides fairly sourced items crafted from renewable and recycled materials. Plus, through the Partners in African Prosperity program, Swahili donates to organizations improving health, education and micro-enterprise in Africa.
JUST VISITING? Out-of-town visitors can take advantage of Swahili's convenient shipping option. Make a purchase and we'll ship it to your home or business!
Join us for
KENYAN TEA TASTING
every Wednesday
A warm cup of Kenyan tea is the perfect pick-me-up during a day of shopping, dining and making memories with friends at the Fifth Street Public Market.
SUSTAINABILITY AT SWAHILI
Swahili in the Fifth Street Public Market gives you year-round access to a wealth of unique creations from Eugene's own African design, import and distribution company, Swahili Imports.
As a major supplier of modern fair trade African gifts and home decor to the U.S. retail market, Swahili Imports promotes projects in Africa that allow rural and urban artisans to earn income while conserving their local environments.
With hundreds of items crafted from recycled or sustainably harvested materials, Swahili's catalog celebrates Earth Day year round. Swahili uses recycled packing materials for product distribution and designs and orders products in such a way that every inch of container or pallet space is utilized to reduce the number of sea and air shipments needed.
Here are a few of our current GREEN products and projects:
Through the socially responsible entrepreneurship UniquEco,
Kenyan artisans are turning disaster into dollars.
Two major ocean currents meet near the coast of Kenya and wash up thousands of flip flops from around the world onto sea turtle nesting sites. Collecting this unsightly debris and converting the flip flops into truly unique gifts and home decor allows Swahili islanders to take an active role in preserving their environment while earning a vital supplemental income to purchase vegetables, which aren't readily available on the island.
With the beaches free of flip flops and other trash, sea turtles are able to nest, and the world gains insight in the need for marine conservation with every piece of vibrant UniquEco flip flop art and jewelry purchased.
IMPACT: UniqueEco currently maintains a close working relationship with over 100 women and 20 teens in the Kiungu National Reserve Area in Lamu. Together, the workers and principles of UniqueEco create beautiful gifts while cleaning up one of Kenya's most beautiful shorelines.
So come check out our UniquEco gifts and help the women and teens of Kenya clean up their coast!
Pamper your skin and support the industry of 800 women
in South Sudan with Lulu Life nilotica shea butter skin care.
Crafted from the nut of the Vitellaria nilotica tree (called lulu in Arabic), LULU LIFE all-natural soap, body butter, sugar scrub and lip balms bring fair trade income to the women guardians of Sudan's essential natural resource.
Treasured through the centuries by Egyptian and Nubian women, lulu trees bear their fruit at the peak of Sudan's dry season, so this "tree of life" sustains entire populations after other food sources disappear.
LULU LIFE products are cold crafted, require no bleaching or deodorization, and can be used on skin of all ages and sensitivities. The butter's high olein content and vital nutrients are perfect for stretch marks, pregnant bellies, road rash and eczema, and its creamy texture makes lulu butter a great all-natural massage aid.
THE IMPACT: "I used to walk all day or all night to get to a market and sell my harvest, for very little money. I didn't even have enough money for clothes or shoes. My children could never go to school. Now all my children go to school. With this work, the women in our village have been bringing a lot more money in the family than the husbands, so much that the husbands now come to beg the group to employ their women." -Elprida Gamba
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
Swahili is currently selling cards for the Lane County Darfur Coalition. The cards will feature images captured by Eugene photojournalist Paul Jeffrey while he was in Darfur. Proceeds benefit displaced Darfur residents in Sudan. You can learn more about the Lane County Darfur Coalition by visiting lcdarfurcoalition.org