What Is Fairtrade Fortnight?
25 February – 10 March 2019
This event happens every year to celebrate the people who grow our food. These are the people who live in the poorest countries of the world and are often exploited and poorly paid. This year the big focus is on the people especially the women. These are the women who grow the cocoa in the chocolate that we enjoy.
How Much Money Do You Think She Deserves?
Currently most cocoa farmers are living on 74p a day. Can you imagine living on that amount of money to feed you children? It is £1.86 that each of these farmers needs to earn a day to achieve a living income. When you are buying your chocolate or cocoa look for the Fairtrade label to help these farmers achieve this living wage. This doesn’t solve all the problems, but it does mean the farmers can sell the product at a decent price and therefore increasing their income.
What Is A Living Income?
A living income means enough money to live a simple but dignified life. These farmers want to be able to pay for essentials such as clothing, medicine and school. We believe this is not a luxury but a human right!
What Do We Do At Spark?
Here at Spark Academy when possible we like to buy fair trade products such as Fairtrade coffee, Fairtrade tea bags, Fairtrade bananas and when it is needed after a long day of teaching – the essential Fairtrade chocolate bar. The next time you are out and about doing your weekly shop, look out for those Fairtrade products that you could swap for and think of the difference you will be making. In lessons such as Primary English we have looked at a Fairtrade non-fiction reading comprehension. The children have had to read the text carefully to be able to answer the questions. They also enjoyed reading the leaflet, locating key information and producing a Fairtrade poster. We believe at Spark that learning should be relevant, kept up to date with ongoing issues and promoting compassion, humanity and kindness which are just some of our Six Core Values.