We have a new site www.g-lish.org where you can read all articles from This is Ghana in a much more organised fashion. Read World Fair Trade Day there.
There is so much happening in fair trade right now. It's World Fair Trade Day on May 9 this year.
In the UK it will go something like this:
BIG BANG!! A WAKE-UP CALL FOR THE PLANET. the WOrld Fair Trade ORGANIZATION presents 110 million artisans, farmers, producers and THEIR supporters including Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Annie Lennox, Eddie Izzard, STOMP, Sigur Ros, Dudu Sarr, SUZANNA OWIYO, CARLOU D, THE ZAWOSE FAMILY AND ISMAEL LO in BIG BANG!! - A WAKE UP CALL FOR THE PLANET ON WORLD FAIR TRADE DAY 09 MAY 09.
Check out the huge number of events you can get involved in by clicking here: "Find an Event".
In Ghana, there is a fair trade event in Bolgatanga (where I happen to be right now) educating the public about fair trade.
Maker Faire Africa: Ghana
We have a new site www.g-lish.org where you can read all articles from This is Ghana in a much more organised fashion. Read Maker Faire Africa: Ghana there.
Make a date for this in your Accra calendar:
Make a date for this in your Accra calendar:
"Maker Faire Africa (MFA) is a new event celebrating the innovation, ingenuity and invention within Africa - happening August 13-15 of this year in Accra, Ghana."
Up there that is a recycled metal crocodile, by the way. Check out Simon Mwangi's story: Where the World Sees Junk, Africa Recycles.
Fair trade series: Why bother?
We have a new site www.g-lish.org where you can read all articles from This is Ghana in a much more organised fashion. Read Fair trade series: Why bother? there.
If no one had clued on to the idea of fair trade sixty years ago, we wouldn’t have over 1 million small producers around the world engaged in fair trade today. According to WFTO there are more than 3000 organisations spanning more than 50 countries.
One billion people around the world live in “extreme poverty”. Another 2.5 billion live in “poverty”. Our affluent western lifestyle is the global exception, not the norm.
The reason to bother is because by buying fair trade you can be assured that you’re assisting someone out of poverty and towards a future where they have options.
It’s hard to describe the difference one more dollar makes to someone who earns a dollar a day in a few words. It’s the difference between getting medical treatment and not. It’s the difference between subsistence and saving. It’s the difference between being able to send your kids to school and not, even if they can’t afford shoes. As my Ghanaian fiancé said of his impoverished childhood: “my head was learning, not my feet; I could still attend school without shoes”.
Campaigns like World Vision’s dollar a day to help needy children are clichés these days, but they’re not kidding; it really does make a difference.
But, imagine if those communities had the opportunity to earn the money legitimately, themselves, instead of relying on foreign aid organizations for "handouts".
I think these are persuasive arguments for bothering with fair trade.
If no one had clued on to the idea of fair trade sixty years ago, we wouldn’t have over 1 million small producers around the world engaged in fair trade today. According to WFTO there are more than 3000 organisations spanning more than 50 countries.
One billion people around the world live in “extreme poverty”. Another 2.5 billion live in “poverty”. Our affluent western lifestyle is the global exception, not the norm.
The reason to bother is because by buying fair trade you can be assured that you’re assisting someone out of poverty and towards a future where they have options.
It’s hard to describe the difference one more dollar makes to someone who earns a dollar a day in a few words. It’s the difference between getting medical treatment and not. It’s the difference between subsistence and saving. It’s the difference between being able to send your kids to school and not, even if they can’t afford shoes. As my Ghanaian fiancé said of his impoverished childhood: “my head was learning, not my feet; I could still attend school without shoes”.
Campaigns like World Vision’s dollar a day to help needy children are clichés these days, but they’re not kidding; it really does make a difference.
But, imagine if those communities had the opportunity to earn the money legitimately, themselves, instead of relying on foreign aid organizations for "handouts".
I think these are persuasive arguments for bothering with fair trade.
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