In this mini podcast episode, we meet long standing Rainbow Turtle volunteers: Gillian Henry, Roisin Mulholland and Maureen Brough. In it they share why fair trade is important to them and what are their favourite products that they can buy in the shop. Unsurprisingly, chocolate and coffee feature high on their lists!
Michael Gidney, currently the chief executive of the Fairtrade Foundation, has worked for at least 30 years in international development (which corresponds nicely with the 30th anniversary of FT movement in UK). He started out as a teacher in Kenya and then for their children’s services in an orphanage, has worked with Voluntary Services Overseas and with Amnesty International. He joined Traidcraft in 19991 and became Director of Policy, then moved to the Fairtrade Foundation in 2009 as deputy executive director and has been chief executive since 2012. He is also a trustee of Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust.
This was a most interesting interview where we discussed the dangers of commoditisation of products and the importance of fair trade to producers and farmers.
We’re delighted to announced that series 3 of our podcast, Rainbow Turtle Rebooted, is planned to be released during fair trade fortnight 2024 with episode 1 out on Monday 9th September. So if you’d like to listen to it, please subscribe to it in your relevant app. In the meantime, here is a taster…
As part of its celebration for the 30th anniversary of the fair trade mark, Renfrewshire schools ran an artwork competition using this year’s theme for fair trade fortnight of Being The Change. As I took photos of all these fantastic panels outside Paisley’s museum, I couldn’t help but be moved by their inspiring work. Enclosed are the shortlisted and winning entries.
Renfrewshire has a proud history of supporting the Fairtrade movement, with Paisley first becoming a Fairtrade town in 2003. Then in 2007, Fairtrade Zone status was achieved for the whole Renfrewshire area, with Renfrewshire Council working alongside many volunteers, stakeholders and communities across Renfrewshire, many of whom continue these efforts today.
Renfrewshire’s children and young people have always been champions of the Fairtrade movement and are often the catalysts for changing purchasing habits within their own households. Many Renfrewshire schools and nurseries support the Fairtrade movement across their school communities.
The beautiful artwork displayed here has been created by pupils from Mary Russell School in Paisley, Newmains Primary School in Renfrew, and St Peter’s Primary School in Paisley.
The artists’ ages range from Primary 4 up to secondary pupils and the work shows their response to ‘Be the Change, which is the theme for this year’s Fairtrade Fortnight.
We would like to thank all the children and young people, and their teachers, for such fantastic and creative pieces. [Text courtesy of Renfrewshire Council.]
Thanks to Renfrewshire Council for organising and funding this competition.
Fairtrade is an international movement to support the fair, ethical and sustainable production and procurement of goods.
Fairtrade focuses on paying a fair price for products to support low income and disadvantaged farmers, producers and workers in lower income countries.
Fairtrade is often recognised by the Fairtrade mark, which indicates that the production of an item has met agreed standards. ‘Fairtrade Fortnight’ helps to celebrate Fairtrade movement. In 2024, Fairtrade Fortnight runs from Monday 9 September to Sunday 22 September.
Fairtrade closely aligns with efforts to tackle the climate crisis-at the heart of Fairtrade is sustainable farming and empowering smallholder farmers. Fairtrade products also comply with strict environmental standards.
Many Fairtrade producers and farmers are based in the global south, in areas most significantly impacted by the extremes of weather recognised to be caused by climate change.
Find out more at www.fairtrade.org.uk
Friends of Rainbow Turtle, Spot, Bruno and Sylvia have been busy making films for young ones, to educate, entertain and inspire on a variety of Fairtrade topics. Spot has been learning about the manufacture and production of Fairly traded footballs in Pakistan, Bruno has been making hot chocolate for his friends and thinking up ideas for a bake off in September for Fair Trade Fortnight, and Sylvia has been looking at fast fashion, taking on the Shein Machine, and trying to understand how the Fairtrade Premium benefits workers and their communities.
The teddies recently made a visit to Newton Mearns Primary School, in Glasgow, where children and teachers are working hard to become a Fairtrade school. The pupils are very keen to organise a Fair Trade football tournament for this Septembers’ Fairtrade Fortnight and they are also planning a Fairtrade community coffee morning at their school this spring. Rainbow Turtle will continue to support them in their efforts and the teddies really look forward to visiting more schools and community groups in the future.
If you would like Spot, Bruno and Sylvia to visit your nursery, school, community or church group please do get in touch with Philippa, who is covering maternity leave for our education officer Linda. Her email is philippa@rainbowturtle.org.uk
Rainbow Turtle education officer, Philippa Jeffery, recently decorated our shop window to publicise the 1,000 scarves project that Survivors of Human Trafficking in Scotland (SOHTIS) is currently running. Many people have been trafficked into Scotland and they have often been overlooked and hidden in plain sight.
The project takes second hand scarves and converts them into weaving kits which can be purchased from SOHTIS. The kits have been taken to schools and community groups so that they can all get involved.
The weavings have been made by people of all ages. Everyone who has made a weaving fills out a little card with a little about themselves. The weavings will become part of bigger artworks that will be publicly displayed in the future in order to raise awareness of human trafficking.
Philippa linked the scarves project with the idea of an advent calendar for our Christmas window. She stitched pockets into her scarves and placed 25 different fair trade products, sold in the shop, into them. Her work was kindly featured in a recent article in the Paisley Daily Express.
There are close links between promoting fair trade and shining a light on human trafficking. By buying fair trade products we help farmers and producers in developing countries create stable communities. The fair trade premium can be spent by the community on health care, education and clean water supplies. People who live in these villages and communities are less likely to end up being trafficked.
If you would like to know more about the 1,000 scarves project, or the education work that Rainbow Turtle does, you can contact Philippa here. Scarves can be donated at Rainbow Turtle.
Many of you will be aware of the Scottish Fair Trade Forum’s (SFTF) celebrations marking the 10th anniversary of Scotland as a fair trade nation. As part of their activities they produced a series of 5 films highlighting the work going on in Scotland to support fair trade. Each film was set in a different town in Scotland and we in Paisley were privileged to be chosen for one of them. All of the films can be seen here on the SFTF website, but as we thought ours was the best we have shared it on the page below.
The Paisley film shows the direct links between producers in Africa and our town, from True Origin (formally JTS) and Kilombero Rice, to The Gatehouse Coffee Roasters and Cocagi Coffee in Rwanda. Needless to say, all these products can be purchased in our shop. This for us creates a virtuous circle, where by buying fair trade products in Paisley we can support producers across the world and, not only can we benefit from their quality products, we also employ people in Paisley. True Origin also support the local food banks from their excess stock.
So, make yourself a cup of Cocagi Coffee (or a cup of fair trade tea from our shop), settle yourself down into a comfy chair and watch our film…
In this episode I am delighted to be talking with Rachel Farey of the One World Shop in Edinburgh. It’s a beautiful shop positioned at the western end of Princes Street in Edinburgh with the historic castle as a backdrop.
Rachel has had an interesting journey that started with working with L’Arche after she left school. L’arche is an international federation of Non-profit organisations working to create networks of community where people with and without intellectual disabilities live and work together. From there she studied theology at Kent University where a friendship took her to Edinburgh and she started volunteering for the fledgling One World Shop. After a few years volunteering and then working for the organisation, she retrained as a religious education teacher and taught for a few years, before finally returning to the shop as manager.
Rachel was involved setting up the British Association of Fair Trade Shops, was chair of the Edinburgh fair trade group, helped set up the Scottish Fair Trade Forum and was part of the team that helped Scotland become recognised as a fair trade nation.
In addition, Rachel has travelled extensively in the Indian subcontinent meeting producers and understanding the difference that fair trade makes to their lives.
Whilst I was chatting with Rachel I was struck by her knowledge of fair trade, the people involved, and the place that Scotland has played in helping producers and farmers across the world. We are fortunate to have people like her on our side!
In this episode we play a recording of a talk by Sally Sawaya of Meru Herbs in Kenya that she gave recently to the staff of True Origin and Rainbow Turtle in Paisley, Scotland. Sally is the managing director of Meru Herbs, the Kenyan fair trade company that produces tasty sauces, jams and herbal teas. Meru is a semi arid region of the country where, for many years, water was hard to obtain for farming and domestic use. Things changed just over 30 years ago with a collaboration between the Meru catholic diocese, the Italian government, and the local people which implemented a project to provide water to about 430 families. This change in conditions sparked off the creation of Meru Herbs that went on to improve the lives of many people and empowered women to both work in and run the company.
Sally’s story is one of many of the inspiring ones that have come out of Meru Herbs, where a change in circumstance, combined with fair trade, has transformed their lives. Sally left university with a degree in marketing and started out as an intern with Meru Herbs. Other women have been able to buy land and grow their own food. In rural areas it was often the boys who were sent to school, not the girls, because there wasn’t the money to pay for both. The conventional wisdom was that the family got a better return by educating the boys.
In this episode we meet Mary Popple the current chair of JTS, the company that imports fair trade goods into Scotland and distributes them throughout the UK.
Mary grew up in Northern Ireland during the 50s and 60s on the border between the republic and the north. Her father was a church minister who tried not to take sides and, as tensions increased, took his family to Scotland. Those early years in northern Ireland gave Mary a strong sense of the importance of equality and of treating people fairly.
Mary has had an interesting journey to fair trade that has gone via the diamond industry and business management. It was her expertise in managing a business that led her to being invited onto the board of JTS. When she was a member of the St. Andrew’s Fair Trade group they contacted the Royal and Ancient to ask if they would consider using fair trade teas and coffees. A successful relationship was established and now it is written into their procedures to use fair trade products at the Open golf championship.
Mary has a bright and positive outlook on life and it was a real pleasure to listen to her thoughts on how a fair trade business should be run.
