When I checked my phone on Thursday, at first I was excited to see a message from one of my Tanzanian co-workers. But my delight quickly turned to horror as I read through the message.

A fire broke out at Mchikichini Market on Thursday night and swept through the entire market. Good news: no one was reported injured. The market was closed for the night so it was largely empty when the fire spread. Bad news: as you can see from the photos everything was destroyed.

The women traders have been campaigning to improve market infrastructure at Mchikichini for the past few months. They cited health risks and fire risks among the reasons to rebuild the market. While many traders were on board, there was a steady resistance from the owners of some of the stalls. You see, the municipal government has committed to a one stall per person rule for any new markets. Which meant that anyone who owned more than one stall was going to loose income. When I left Tanzania in April, women were lobbying for the market committee to approve the rebuild.
Mchikichini Market last fall. The billboard in the background is the one you see burned in the picture above.
Perhaps the best thing that can be said about the situation is that a rebuild has to happen. However, the municipality moves slowly and I would bet that illegal structures will be thrown up as fast as possible. And I would also put money on a fair amount that there will be conflict over stalls, ownership and boundaries. None of these will likely go in women's favour.

But more than the conflict and chaos of rebuild, this event makes me think about how very fragile life is for women traders. These women don't have anything to fall back on. They don't have income saved to cover off a month or more without business. They are going to have to seek income somewhere else, and in truth there isn't an obvious place for them to turn. Most of them had to fight hard to get those spots in the first place. The public markets are already full and spilling into the streets. And if they move somewhere else, they risk loosing their spot when the market is put back together.

These markets are where people go for hope of a better livelihood. They are the step up from selling out of your house or the street. But this shows that there is more to financial security than increased income. We (Canada, UK, USA) take our systems of protection for granted. In fact, we regularly attack them as sheltering the lazy or wasting money. But if your work burned to the ground, you would be okay while they sorted things out. It would take some time, things would be tight but you'd probably manage. The truth is because of these systems, its really hard for us to imagine what having absolutely no where to turn would feel like.

It seems so unfair that these women, who have already shown so much strength, so much determination and worked so hard have yet another hurdle to overcome. I have no doubt that they will rise to the challenge, but I wish they didn't have to. I wish they had the sort of security, however imperfect it might be, that I had.

Kaila is coming on board as a writer!


Some of you maybe aware that this blog has not been an individual effort. Kaila (or @AliaK_) has been my partner in crime... the power behind the throne... the puppet master. She has been the orchestrator of blog design and creative planner of content. After a year of getting me organized, she is finally going to step into the limelight herself (well what little limelight we have thus far at LDNeighbours) and be a regular writer as well.

A little background on our friendship- Kaila is my sister-in-law (for all intents and purposes). When I moved back to Toronto in 2011 we became as thick as thieves. In Toronto we spent much of our free time hunting down great places to eat, obsessing over British television and you-tubers, and hatching many a scheme involving social media, blogs, Etsy stores, and ethical fashion companies. We've got the dreaming down pat, but we always seem to fall slightly short when it comes to start-up capital (if anyone wants to step-up in that regard, please let us know!). We were in the middle of one such scheme (involving a lot of t-shirts, bleach and foam letters as I recall), when I landed my placement in Tanzania.
So putting crafting aside, Kaila gave me a crash course in social media and blogging and LDNeighbours was born.
In the back of my mind, I always wanted this blog to go beyond my internship and transition into an ethical living blog. At first we both assumed this would happen when I returned to Toronto, but it quickly came apparent that I was most likely going to be based in London. Since I have moved, we have had many a skype conference and we've finally reached the oh, so logically conclusion that the joy of a blog is that we don't have to be in the same place to do one together.

If fact, we think it will actually be interesting that we are in two different places. We are both facing a similar challenge. We both would like to live ethically but we live in big metropolitan cities we struggle to live in our budgets. This is especially hard when surrounded by the temptation to eat out, go out and shop the latest trends. Can we live our values, not blow our budgets and still enjoy the wonderful, cities we live in?

So you will now get to read about two people doing this! Its like a really great two for one sale. We will give you at least two posts at a time on the same theme but from different city (and different continents for that matter). This is more ethical living content all in one place! (As I'm writing this I'm imagining it said in the salesman style voice... you should too)

I'm really glad that Kaila will be writing with me. Its been kind of lonely doing this all by myself. And I am also excited to get to read how she's managing and how things are working for her. Even though we aren't together to share adventures and photo shoots, it will be like getting to catch-up with one of my best friends every week. Her first post will be coming up on Wednesday so start getting excited!
This one is cheating a bit, because I was able to swing a free pass, but there were people selling tickets for £5 so I'm counting it.

On Saturday, I went to the Foodies Festival in Clapham Commons. What is a Foodies Festival? Wasn't entirely sure myself, but basically its a bunch of food vendors, food trucks, local food companies where you can sample and buy deliciousness. Here are my top five favourites things from the festival.

1. The minute I entered it quickly became that foodie festival involved about 50% food and 50% alcohol. I think this tells us a lot about the British approach to food. As I'm rapidly learning sunny skies and event a hint of summer weather = Pimm's.

2. A booth all about french goat cheese? Score! Not only did you get to taste a lot of different goat cheese, they gave you wine to taste it with. These are my kind of people. I may have an unholy quantity of goat cheese in my fridge right now.

 3. Sausages... another British staple and star of the Foodie Festival. Sure I could have gone with a fried potatoes on a stick (yes this was a thing), but the amazing 'gourmet hot-dogs' was my option for lunch. I also had the rather shocking experience of finding out the bright yellow mustard container was full of Colman's mustard, not ball-park. This requires very different mustard rationing!


























4. For pure visual points, I would like to acknowledge the amazing racks of roasted meat, whole lambs, hogs and vast quatitites pulled porks. We seem to have gone meat crazy. But given it was sunday afternoon it does make for a rather appropriate Sunday roast lunch.

5. And finally, I can't believe the sheer number of people who are willing to queue up to get into a food festival. Seriously by the time we left the line went half way around the entire enclosure. Talk about enthusiasm.

 There are other foodie events going on this summer, soo if you're in the London area check out their webpage.
Craft markets are often a great place to find small local artisans. Most craft markets are only open to local producers so you're pretty much guaranteed to find ethical items. And now there are a lot of well curated markets so you don't have flash-back to the village craft markets of your childhood full of painted ceramics and crocheted toilet paper covers (just me? oh well lucky you).

Couple weekends ago there was a one-off market in Soho. I passed through and grabbed a bunch of cards for interesting booths. Its great that lots of artisans now have small websites so even if you don't want to buy that day you can contact them later. I also like being able to check-out quaity before I invest in an online purchase.  Here are some of my finds to give you an idea about what you can turn up at this kind of market.


Clothing
www.theenglishteeshop.com
www.zoeboomer.com (for their 'freedom' t-shirt)



Accessories
www.bearabeara.co.uk
www.lostandfound-accessories.com

HouseHold
www.etoile-home.com
www.suchandsuch.co

Prints in all their forms- paper, cards, fabric, phone-covers
www.blankinsidedesign.co.uk
www.eleanorstuart.com
www.cecilyvessey.com
www.lovelyjojos.com
www.katemoby.com





Have fun browsing and watch out for local craft and artisan events in your area to find unique goods!
 If you follow the trends of beauty vloggers (I blame @AliaK_ for my current addiction), balm cleansers will be on your radar. For anyone else, the concept is exactly as it sounds. It is an oil-based balm you use as your cleanser. Why is this appealing, do you ask? Well a) oil is actually the best way to remove make-up so its great for making sure you get a good cleanse and b) if you don't remove oil from your skin, you don't produce as much oil, and thus it actually helps with oily/combination skin. Since my breakouts always go hand in hand with dry skin, I thought this was worth a go.

There are a lot of beauty balms out there and many of them aren't cheap. I looked through the reviews of vloggers to find one that had positive reviews, good price point and included an all natural ingredient list. In the reviews of Fleur de Force, I found the Balance Me Cleansing Balm, which met all the requirements.

I've been using this cleanser every night for the past month. It takes off my make-up. It leaves my skin clean without being either greasy or dry. It has a bit of exfoliation from the oatmeal which is an extra bonus. And I don't know if this is entirely down to the cleanser, but I've also see an end of those annoying deep under the skin spots, which I've been fighting on and off for a couple months. I'm sold!

My only tip with this product (and they say this about all cleansing balms) is to make sure you keep your face-cloth really clean too and change it out regularly.

If a cleansing balm still sounds too scary, I've also been using a sample of their foam face wash in the morning and I've also been really happy with that.

If anyone else has recommendations for other brands of cleansing balms to try, let me know!
I'm one of those people who believes that the word 'ethical' and 'fashion' are equally important in the phrase 'ethical fashion'. Ethical clothing is one thing and ethical fashion is another. There is a lot of ethical clothing.You have your hippie/wood-spirit/outdoors guru eco-clothing (shout out to British Columbia!). There is a certain retro style movement.  And then there is just plan and shapeless. But I like my fashion to be unique without being considered its own style genre. I'll admit finding ethical fashion can be a bit of a challenge but it can definitely be done.

For those who also like ethical fashion, I thought I do some of the leg work for you. For good tips to update your wardrobe, I love the Guardian's style section and it often features ethical options. However, this was not the focus of their summer style recommendation. So I'm going to take their style suggestions and provide you with some ethical and fashionable options.

Here is Guardian's recommendations by Lauren Laverne:

Minimal Column Maxi Dress
The trend is minimal column dresses (though Laura loved the long sleeved floral dress in the pic above). I'm going to redirect you to this maxi column dress by Made&More. Its also has a bit of the eyelet look which goes with the top featured above. However, if you are feeling up for a project, maxi dresses are a great simply sewing project. I've made two with this pattern by mccalls and I get a lot of wear (and compliments) out of them.

Generous-Sized Silk Scarf
The suggestion is to acquire a silk scarf that works as a cover from the sun or protection of over-zealous AC. So many choices in this category! I'm not sold on it having to be silk. I like these basic bamboo scarfs by Aura Que and this amazing water-coloured one is by scout and catalogue (bit of a splurge). However, if you want a silk scarf, I would hunt second-hand and vintage because there are tons available.















 Bermuda Shorts
The Guardian recommends investing in beach bermudas shorts. Well, I don't really go for shorts (I either feel nearly naked or like a camp counselor) But these skorts by Preloved boutique I might be tempted to try and are very on trend (available in a variety of colours). Or if skirts are you thing, Preloved has one in ivory brocade with a bit of denim contrasting trim (I also like the crop top with the skirt).

Update Classic Shirt
Updated classic was what the Guardian suggested you look for in a summer shirt. White shirts are very summery and I like the cut of this cotton blouse from People tree. For something more causal, go DIY and update an old white t-shirt with an ombre look which always feels summery.


  

























Eye-wear
Apparently, eye-wear this summer should be rounded and colourful. I'd definitely check out the vintage shops for something unique but inexpensive. You can always get the lens replaces so look at frames rather than the glasses as a whole. But if you want eco-friendly, while they aren't the 'coolest shape', these wood-frame sunglasses by Proof Eyewear are inspired by wayfarer frames.


Sandals
They don't talk foot-ware in the article (outrageous!). But shoes are in the picture above and I'm adding them to my review. Birkenstock are actually in this year. (So many videos of people raving about how comfortable they are... yes that is why those of us who do a lot of walking have been a fan for years.) If you buy originals and not the knock offs, they are 'made in germany' so you are in the clear and on trend. However, if I wanted something a bit nicer, I would choose these ones from Mohop because they remind me of espadrilles but you can tie them all different ways!


Of course, before you go out and stock up on new items, take a rummage through your closet and see if you have anything that already fits the bill.  Its always surprising what you may turn up that you had forgotten about.

When I said I was working on not shopping all the time, its a bit more like I'm redirecting my shopping energy. Whatever neighbourhood I'm exploring in London, I often take a quick peek around at the charity shops in the area. Over the last month I've found a couple of great finds from Oxfam and FaraShop. So here is my May thrift shop haul!

The pink/watermellon tank is by warehouse and was only £1.50 from Farashop. I don't normally pick up tank-tops and t-shirts second-hand because they are often warped and don't fit well but this one is actually rayon so its hasn't stretched. I don't have a photo of it on but its a nice drapey tank.

The sparkly thing is a skirt by Topshop from Oxfam and was £4.99. It has been purchased in anticipation of roller-disco, which is suppose to exist in my neighbourhood. Stay tuned for future neon and sparkly outfits.

The royal blue top is by Dorothy Perkins from Oxfam. I got it in a pricer section of town so it was £6.99. I love how it drapes. It could be worn to work but I like it for a day shopping in the city with jeans and flats.

The pink scarf cost me £2.99 from Oxfam. Its a classic pashima. I picked up it because it adds a good pop of summer colour to all my black and grey clothes. Given how cold it has been, summery colours might be as close as I get to summer this year!

I went a bit book crazy. I kept finding things on my 'meaning to read list'.  So I picked up Primary Colours, Bel Canto, The Hundred-Year Old Man Who Climbed Out of A Window and Disappeared, The Amber Spyglass, Midnight's Children and The Wind-up Girl. None of these books were more than £1.99. I've already finished Primary Colours and Bel Canto very different from each other but both really good reads. I'm half way through the Wind-Up Girl. Its technically science-fiction but its almost more distopian future and I'm also really enjoying it.

I'm anticipating future thirft hauls, so check back at the end of June for more finds.