Local artisans, handicrafts makers, and small village level producers from 11 of Timor’s 13 districts turned out with their finest products for the country’s first Christmas Fair, organized by the Alola Foundation, with support from USAID’s Small Grants Program and Private Sector Development project. The result was a mixture of the old—traditional weaving or tais and miniature sacred house or uma lulik, among others—and the new--virgin coconut oil, coconut soap, dried fruits, silk items—all of them products proudly made in “the land of the sleepy crocodile”.

The Fair attracted a huge number of internationals looking for unique Christmas gifts especially for their families and friends back home.

“This is the first market fair I have attended. Our group was happy to have so many internationals learning about and buying our products,” said Luisa Dos Santos of Atauro about the Christmas Fair. Luisa is among a group of women from the off-island of Atauro who have been making tais-wearing rag-dolls for a few years now. Her group certainly came home happy from the Christmas Fair, having sold almost $1,000-worth of dolls at the end of the day!

The Fair marked Luisa and most of the other producers’ debut as serious vendors. To prepare Luisa and many other small producers like her for the activity, USAID provided them with basic business skills training. The day before the big day, USAID trained the participants on basic business costing and pricing concepts, and, more importantly, how to communicate and sell their product to the customer with whom they may not share a common language. “I found the training very useful. I used what I learned at the Fair, and now have new skills I can use even after the Christmas Fair,” Luisa said.

More than an occasion and a marketplace, the Christmas Fair served as a way of linking rural producers to buyers (the expatriate market in Dili). The diversity and quality of contemporary Timorese products on sale made the Christmas Fair a worthwhile experience for the foreigners. And the vendors earned a total of $9,866 in sales, allowing them to reinvest in their businesses, in addition to providing them a much needed extra income during the holiday season.