A lovely answer to the question 'What is Fair Trade?'

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Right then, I had loads of replies and emails answering the question, 'What is Fair Trade?' Here's one that was sent to me (rachel@rachelwatkyn.com) by a one of my email subscribers , thanks so much Peter

Hi Rachel
About a year ago I attended a meeting of people who were working towards making our town (Dawlish, Devon) a Fair Trade Town. The guest speaker was from CAFOD whose job was to set up and inspect fair trade partners in the poorer countries and had experienced first hand the problems and appalling conditions of people in those countries. In attempting to answer that question "What is Fair Trade" he suggested that it is where the producer sells direct to his neighbours, as under those conditions where each side of the deal know each other and live and work locally then the fairest exchange is arrived at. The more middlemen, the bigger the marker place, the bigger bucks to be made, the unfairer it tends to get. The tea and coffee etc that are currently marketed in this country as "fair trade" are not exactly fair, just fairer than it could be, and so worth supporting if it helps relieve poverty. The speaker whose name I have forgotten if not his message went further, saying it might be better if we in the "West" did not drink these brews and allowed many more poorer people to grow native food crops to trade locally, rather than work in cash crop plantations. This obvioulsy is not always the case, but it throws open the wider ethical debate on world trade. We make jewellery a lot of which is sold to local people, the fact that many keep on coming back suggest we are doing something right and which is appreciated. In order to do this (and compete with imported jewellery like yours (http://www.tinydifference.com) , made where labour is a lot cheaper) we often work longer hours than the Working Time Directive and at the end of the year find we that have earnt less than the National Minimum Wage, however I am quite sure we are still better off than many in the third world. So whats fair?
Peter Vivian Gallery
http://www.viviangallery.co.uk/


Love and peace,

Rachel
Tiny Box and Tiny Difference Founder