12 mins
Fairtrade plea for cocoa farmers
THIS year’s Fairtrade Fortnight is continuing to focus on the people – in particular the women – who grow the cocoa in our chocolate.
The annual celebration of Fairtrade, which this year takes place from Monday February 24 to Sunday March 8, is continuing the campaign for a living income for cocoa farmers in West Africa.
The Fairtrade Foundation says that the average cocoa farmer in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana earns less than 75p per day – well below the extreme poverty line of around £1.40 a day. The situation, they say, is even worse for women, who often do the majority of the work while having fewer rights and bringing in less money than men.
And to make matters worse, the climate crisis is bringing with it less predictable seasons, more extreme weather events and more plant diseases, so life is even harder for poor farmers.
The organisers say that in 2019 Fairtrade Fortnight events reached a million people, and that since there have been notable successes. On August 7, Fairtrade campaigners and staff handed in a signature with more than 50,000 signatures calling for the UK government to back cocoa farmers fighting for a fairer deal.
In October, the Fairtrade Minimum Price for conventional cocoa was raised from $2,000 to $2,400 per tonne, marking a 20 percent increase. For organically farmed cocoa, the Fairtrade Minimum Price will be $2,700. And the Fairtrade Premium increased from $200 to $240 per metric ton, the highest fixed premium of any certification.
Meanwhile, Fairtrade welcomed announcements by the governments of Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana that they will increase the farm gate price of cocoa for all farmers in October 2020, by requiring companies to pay an extra Living Income Differential on all cocoa exports.
This year’s Fairtrade Fortnight, it is hoped, will help continue that momentum towards a fairer deal for all cocoa farmers.
The materials for the Fortnight focus on the stories of cocoa growers in Côte d’Ivoire and Sierra Leone: Therese, who is supporting her eight children through education so they will have opportunities she missed out on; Edith, who has teamed up with other women to create a community farm; and Lucia, who wants to protect her forest home at the same time as earning a living.
The Fairtrade Foundation is hoping that supporters will share these stories with their communities, through storytelling events, through their local radio stations or podcasts, and by working with local artists to find a creative way of telling a story in a public space.
They have also created ‘storybombs’ which can be hidden in envelopes around public areas, with the idea that they will be found and read by people who may not otherwise have been reached – suggestions include cafes and shops, on public transport, hairdressers, bars and libraries.
Another suggestion is that Fairtrade stories could be incorporated into events for World Book Day (March 5) and International Women’s Day (March 8), which both fall within the Fortnight.
Fairtrade Fortnight 2020 physical and online resources, including storybombing kits, posters, leaflets and postcards, can be ordered or downloaded from the action guide at www.fairtrade.org.uk/fortnight.
NEW WOMEN’S AID PARTNERSHIP
Scottish Churches Housing Action (SCHA) has launched a new partnership supporting survivors of domestic abuse moving in to their new homes.
SCHA, which brings together the major Scottish Christian denominations and organisations to help fight homelessness, signed a two-year partnership with Women’s Aid South Lanarkshire and East Renfrewshire (WASLER).
The partnership will support and encourage the contribution of local churches in establishing and sustaining a Starter Pack project, helping women who are moving on from WASLER refuges into their own tenancies.
Heather Zajac, SCHA development manager, said: “When someone gets a house from the council or a housing association after they have been homeless, it is empty. They don’t get furniture, bedding, cooking essentials or cleaning equipment. And they don’t generally have extra money to furnish their new home outwith essential items such as plates, pots, bedding and cutlery. Families may help, but often people are cut off from family.
“Churches are a crucial part of helping the community. We are encouraged and inspired by the response; we would welcome support from any local churches or communities.”
Lynsey Queen, WASLER Refuge Manager, said: “Having the support from the local churches to provide starter packs for families moving on from refuge into their own tenancies will make a huge difference. This can be very costly for women, and by having the funds donated this will enable women to not only purchase essential items for their new home but allows them to choose the items they want to buy.
“Having this support will enable families to move into their new home and sustain their tenancy. The Refuge Service at Women’s Aid South Lanarkshire are very excited to be working in partnership with SCHA and the local community and we thank everyone for their continued support.”
CALL FOR POST-ELECTION HEALING
The Church of Scotland has called on the new UK government to work for ‘healing, justice and fairness for all’
In the aftermath of the Conservatives’ victory in the election on December 12, and the SNP’s success in Scotland, the Rev Richard Frazer, convener of the Church’s then Church and Society Council, also said it would need both political will and ‘the renewal of our spiritual values’ to tackle the climate emergency.
The full statement reads: “This General Election has been one of the most challenging of modern times, with the UK poised on the brink of exiting from the EU. The political log jam of the last few years has not been so much a failure of parliament to move forward, but more of a reflection of the way in which the country has been divided almost down the middle over the issue of Brexit.
“Now that there is a clear path forward and an opportunity for the process of Brexit to begin, it will take many more months of negotiation and disentangling properly to ‘get Brexit done’.
“In the process, we believe that the polarisation of the country over the last few years will not be readily healed and many people throughout the UK will feel that their voice has not been heard. The patterns of voting we have seen across the country reflect the reality that many people feel let down and frustrated that a country of such wealth as ours still has poverty and many struggle to make ends meet. With the country so closely split, and the people of Scotland having voted so very differently, much remains unresolved.
“It will require considerable grace, generosity and humility on the part of the government to bring the nation together.
“But more importantly, our world is facing the threat of climate change. It will require not just an act of political will but the renewal of our spiritual values to address this. And we call on the new government to work for healing, justice and fairness for all, especially the poorest in our own communities and throughout the world, who always suffer the most. The Church is about hope and we will work with all who seek to nourish hope.”
ISLAND CONGREGATION RECEIVES £10K FROM RC NEIGHBOURS
The minister of a Western Isles parish church said her congregation was left ‘speechless and overwhelmed’ by a £10,000 donation from their Roman Catholic neighbours.
Howmore Church on South Uist received the donation from St Michael’s in Ardkenneth and St Mary’s in Bornais, towards Howmore’s successful renovation appeal. The formal presentation was made at an ecumenical carol service in St Mary’s before Christmas.
Howmore, part of the Church of Scotland parish of South Uist, sits on a site that has a Christian presence going back to the 6th century and was a centre of learning during the Medieval period. The present building was built in 1858, and is significant as one of only a handful in Scotland to have retained a central communion table.
However, its exposed position and 160 years of Atlantic winter storms have taken their toll on the fabric of the building. The Rev Lindsay Schluter, minister of Barra linked with South Uist, said: “The congregation, led by treasurer Mrs Isabel Macdonald, managed to raise most of the funding required for renovation and refurbishment work through applications to various trust funds, but then was left speechless and overwhelmed by the overflowing generosity of their two Roman Catholic neighbours.”
“It needs about £230,000, which with the help of the Catholic churches we have now reached.”
Pictured: Seonaid Crabtree and Isabel Macdonald, respectively session clerk and treasurer of South Uist Parish Church, with Father Michael Macdonald and Angus MacIntyre, priest and treasurer for St Michael’s and St Mary’s, at the presentation.
CROSSES IN MEMORY OF DRUGS VICTIMS
Hundreds of wooden crosses were planted in a Glasgow church garden in December, in memory of people whose deaths were drugs-related.
The white crosses, which are around seven inches tall and made by former addicts in recovery, were planted at Springburn Parish Church ahead of a candlelit march.
The cross memorial was the centrepiece of a day of action organised by Springburn Parish Church and Faces and Voices of Recovery (Favor), a UK charity that campaigns for change.
Church minister, the Rev Brian Casey, a former police officer, estimated that around a third of the 500 funerals he has conducted over the last five years were drugs-related. He said: “The time has come to break the stigma that drugs related deaths are always self-inflicted.
“Addiction can affect anyone and most families will have experience of it.
“The walk will show that we all want change and improvement that leads to a drop in drug deaths and more understanding and facilities to help those who are living with addiction.”
CHURCH CONCERN OVER NEW US SETTLEMENTS POLICY
A decision taken by the United States to change its position on Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank is a matter of “great concern”, the Church of Scotland has said.
The Rev Dr Richard Frazer, then convener of the Church and Society Council, urged the Americans to reverse a new policy which states they are no longer viewed as inconsistent with international law.
He said the Church feared the position could “imperil” any hope for a two state solution and lasting peace in the region.
In a statement, Dr Frazer said: “The decision by the US Administration to ignore established international law, as enshrined in Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention and reiterated in repeated UN resolutions, to depart from the longstanding global consensus that Israeli settlements within the Occupied Palestinian Territory are illegal, is a matter of great concern.
“The entrenchment and expansion of Israeli settlements, accelerated during the current administration, is widely recognised as one of the major impediments to a just resolution of the Israel/Palestine conflict.”
ARCHITECTURE ENGAGEMENT
Logie and St John’s (Cross) Parish Church in Dundee has again partnered with a local art and design college to challenge students to ‘finish the tower’.
The project involves inviting students from Duncan of Jordanstone College (part of the University of Dundee) to come up with designs for completing the church’s tower, which was left unfinished when it opened in 1914.
The students are invited to a presentation by the ‘client’ and given the chance to engage with the church congregation over a five-week period, before coming up with designs helping the church to reflect and represent the Christian faith relevantly in the community.
The project first ran in late 2015 and was the idea of the church minister, the Rev David Gray, who was an architect before being called to the ministry. The college has already expressed an interest in repeating the collaboration next year, and it is hoped that the local high school, Harris Academy, will also take part.
Mr Gray is pictured with the students and some of their designs. Picture: DC Thomson
VINE TRUST PROJECT
The Rev Alex Currie, minister of Glasserton and Isle of Whithorn linked with Whithorn Priory, is pictured planting trees as part of the Vine Trust’s project building a new village at Kazunzu, Tanzania. He is pictured with Mussa Magwasela, Archbishop of Tanzania.
INTERFAITH EVENT
Greenhills Parish Church, East Kilbride, joined with the Methodist and United Reformed Churches for an interfaith event which included representatives from the Sikh and Baha’i communities and the local MSP and MP. There was a sharing of foods as they followed the national Interfaith Week theme ‘Eat, Share, Love’, and the parish minister, the Rev John Brewster gave a reflection on food poverty.
ECO FAIR
Hope Park and Martyrs Church in St Andrews hosted a successful Eco Fair in November.
The event brought together various local churches and organisations. Students and church members ran stalls selling donated vintage clothes and pre-loved jewellery. Windfall apples, home-made preserves and hand knitted cotton dishcloths were available at another stall and St Andrews University Student Voluntary Service environmental volunteers brought along an eco pledge tree (pictured).
Other stalls included Fair Trade hosted by St Leonard’s Parish Church, information on the Wonderbox (a well insulated beanbag which serves as a slow cooker) from Lochee Parish Church, energy advice from the St Andrews Environmental Network organisation, and recycling information from Fife Council.
The fair was well attended and provided opportunities to share ideas and information, get to know each other and purchase eco friendly goods. It was well received in the community and proved a valuable method of networking with others as part of the church’s Eco Congregation activities.
FUNDRAISING FOR ULTRA RUNNER
The Border Kirk, Carlisle hosted a fundraising quiz event for Mark Calder of Embrace the Middle East, whose ultra runs along pilgrimage routes in Scotland and the north of England have been raising money to help Iraqi refugees return to their homeland (see profile, p22).
Having just completed St Bega’s run, the 13th of his 14 pilgrimages this year, Mark talked of his passion for the Middle East, his desire to foster the small green shoots of peace, to rebuild lives, and of the importance of God to him in the pressures of running and life. Singing as well, Mark chanted the Lord’s prayer in Syriac Aramaic, the language of Jesus, reminding us all that Jesus was a Middle Eastern man, whose life had been beset by danger and whose world was affected by resettlement and war.
NEW ELDERS
Arbroath: St Andrew’s Church ordained eight new elders, four of them in their twenties, on December 1. Minister, the Rev Dr Martin Fair, said: “The time had come to freshen up the Kirk Session and what better way to do that than by ordaining some of the younger people in whom we have invested through many years – half of the new elders being in their twenties. We’re reminded that ‘elder’ doesn’t necessarily mean ‘elderly’ and are much blessed to have younger people, fully committed in their faith and ready to commit themselves to leadership and to building up the church.”
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This article appears in the February 2020 Issue of Life and Work
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