I'll be on the radio

Listen to 936am (ABC local radio for southern Tasmania) at about 3:05pm and you should hear me and some students from Friends School being interviewed about fair trade. I'm not sure of the exact time, it will be probably be after the 3 o'clock news. (it will be definitely before 4pm but probably before 3:30pm)

and if all else fails...

Yvonne's cold and flu recommendations

Hi all,

Today i've had an easy day at home, well it's not been completely easy because my immune system is working hard to fight off some very brave bugs. I say brave, because my immune system seems to be quite tough as i rarely get sick. Last year i took off one day's sick leave and this year there's been one. My usual pattern is to start feeling like i'm getting a bug but it usually doesn't develop into the a full blown cold or flu. Ofcourse I can't claim any credit for this. I have wondered if my twice weekly visits to doctors surgeries and health centres for work may help my immune system get a lot of practice over the last few years. Although, ever since leaving home I don't think i've been sick much. I do quite seriously believe that praying makes all the difference. Here's my recommended combination to help avoid cold's/flu, when you first start to feel some symptoms coming on:

1. Ask God to help you not get sick, (he quite wisely invented an immune system, so don't go around saying "I'm getting sick" or "i think i'm getting a cold" and roll over into acceptance of it). And ofcourse being God, it's quite easy for him to keep you well if he'd like to at that time.

2. Get enough sleep. When you feel extra tired it's a message to slow down, rest so you're body can put energy into getting better, lay low and take a break from your work. Powering through the day is likely to cause you to develop the cold/flu or to be sick for longer, so it's not a time saver. Keep warm as well.

3. Eat lots of fruit and vegetables and at least 2-3 pieces of fruit OR 1 glass of good juice per day. Pay extra attention to this. Also limit fatty and sugary foods because they will give you the kilojoules without the nutrients, so go for nutrient-dense foods to help feed your immune system.

4. Drink lots of water, especially when fighting off the bugs because your thirst and hunger sensations can be dulled (well that's what happens to me) and also you may be losing extra fluid.

5. Avoid going to see people with weaker immune systems such as elderly people or to places where they don't need more bugs, like hospitals.

6. Wash your hands more so that you're flatmates are less likely to pick up the bugs from things you touch (colds/flu are transferred by contact and droplets, not air). Even if you don't develop a full on cold/flu you are still carrying the bugs.

I also think that if you do regular exercise in your normal lifestyle that it also helps prevent colds/flu. (30mins of walking on most days).

And if you do get sick, just look after yourself and those around you and do all of the above as well.

cheers
yvonne

How Fairtrade impacts on the lives of cocoa growing communities

Article from the Fair Trade Association of Australia and New Zealand, Winter 2006 newletter:

Cocoa Speaker Tour

Every year in Australia and New Zealand we spend millions indulging in one of our favourite pastimes – eating chocolate! But for many cocoa farmers in the developing world, the reality of the chocolate industry is anything but sweet.

For Fair Trade Fortnight 2006, we invited two representatives from the Kuapa Kokoo cocoa cooperative in Ghana to come to Australia and New Zealand to share with consumers here the reality of life on the cocoa farm and why it is so important to them that consumers here choose Fairtrade chocolate.

Agnes Abrafi and Erica Kyere braved the winter chills (the temperature in Ghana rarely falls below 30 degrees) to talk to school and university students, mayors, chocolate producers, church congregations, journalists and campaign groups around Australia and New Zealand, armed with warm coats and a supply of Fairtrade hot chocolate.

A few years ago, the farmers in Agnes’s village decided to join Kuapa Kokoo, a farmer’s cooperative which sells some cocoa to the Fairtrade market, and Agnes talked about the significant improvements in her life and those of other farmers in her village.

Members of the Kuapa Kokoo cooperative typically earn about NZ$600 per annum – 50% more than other cocoa farmers in Ghana. Kuapa Kokoo is working with farmers to develop alternative income supplies, such as soap making and fabric printing. Through Kuapa, Agnes has received training to breed grasscutters, a West African rodent whose meat is considered a delicacy. Agnes now has 16 grasscutters which she sells for cash to supplement her income from cocoa. Although Agnes herself only ever had access to primary level schooling, the higher income she has received from Fairtrade means she can afford to send her daughter to dressmaking school.

Investing in education has been a priority for the members of Kuapa Kokoo, who have used some of the revenue from Fairtrade to invest in projects such as building schools, educating farmers about fair trade and sending teachers to the more remote villages.

Kuapa Kokoo has also been installing much-needed water wells and toilet facilities in the villages.

But for Agnes, one of the important benefits has been a sense of empowerment. Traditionally in West Africa, women rarely hold positions of power, but one of Kuapa’s aims is to enhance the participation of women in decision making throughout the organisation. Agnes currently holds the elected position of Treasurer in her village society and has also been the village Recorder – probably the most powerful position within a Kuapa Kokoo village society. She has been instrumental in organising the women in her community to supplement their incomes by farming corn and cassava.

Here in Australia and New Zealand, Agnes recognised the important role that she and Erica were playing in raising public awareness about Fairtrade chocolate – audiences at every venue exceeded expectations in both size and enthusiasm and the extensive media coverage of their visit has ensured their message has reached hundreds of thousands of consumers. Agnes has gone back to Ghana inspired and determined to organise the women in her village to secure even more improvements in their lives. “I know now that together we women can do anything.”

Currently, Cocolo (Aust / NZ), Trade Aid (NZ) and Green and Blacks (Aust / NZ) are the brands of Fairtrade certified chocolate available from specialist healthfood shops, selected supermarkets, Trade Aid shops (New Zealand) and Oxfam shops (Australia).

Chocolate and cocoa - what you need to know

"Look! The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty." (Look up James 5:1-6 in the bible to see the rest)


Recently I've been learning about where the cocoa comes from that is used to make the chocolate we eat. 67% of the worlds cocoa is produced in Ghana and the Ivory Coast, it's also produced in some other countries including Indonesia, Malaysia, Dominican Republic and Bolivia.

Unfortunately, from what i've been learning, the people who produce cocoa don't get nearly as much enjoyment out of it as we do when we eat chocolate. Here's some things you need to know:

• 80% of the production (from cocoa to chocolate bar) is done by the farmers, not chocolate companies, but,

• The average income for households in West Africe producing cocoa= US$30-108 per year
• the farmers get about 1-7cents per chocolate bar sold
• about 284,000 children are working on cocoa farms in West Africa, mostly in the Ivory Coast (which produces 43% of the world's cocoa from 600,000 farms)
  
• There is also a big problem of forced labour
• Six chocolate companies control 80%of the chocolate market
  
• After some big publicity in the U.S. in 2001 of the problem of child labour on cocoa farms, susequent public outcry and then being pushed by the U.S Govt, the chocolate industry agreed to take voluntary steps to ends child labour
• However, there has been little progress and nothing done to ensure fair prices are paid by companies for cocoa produced.

The chocolate doesn't taste quite as good anymore....

There is some good news. We can buy chocolate made from cocoa that is produced and sold fairly. Look for the FAIRTRADE label to be sure that the people farming the cocoa were paid a fair price and that the workers had fair conditions. In addition to this, a premium is paid to communities to support social, economic and environmental development.



Two companies sell Fairtrade chocolate in Australia (that I know of), they are Cocolo and Green & Blacks. Both of these are also organic and so are available in organic shops.


You can buy these at Oxfam Shops (although the Hobart one is about to close down), City Organics in Criterion St (Hobart CBD), All Organic Shop (north hobart). Coles are trialling the sale of Cocolo in some NSW & Victoria stores so hopefully this goes well and will eventually in up in Tassie. (We're working on it!)


If you are a coffee drinker, then look out for Fairtrade certified coffee, identifiable by the FAIRTRADE label above. Fairtrade coffee is more widely available than chocolate but sales and availability of Fairtrade products are rapidly increasing.

More info:
Fair Trade Association of Australia and New Zealand
Info about the campaign for fairer chocolate
Report by Anti-slavery International - The Cocoa Industry in West Africa: A history of explotation".
Cocolo
Green & Blacks

Fairtrade standards for Cocoa, for small farmers organisations (includes how fairtrade prices are calculated p.5)

Grandad

I just heard from mum that Grandad is in hospital again. She doesn't often ring me and she was talking in a way that made it sound very serious. He's been bleeding from the bladder again, had an operation to quarterise it to stop the bleeding and will have a transfusion of 3 bags of blood. I don't think I grasped how serious she was trying to indicate it was. He's been through all of the above before. Maybe it's because there's only so much his frail, weight losing, 94 year old body can take? Maybe it's because she saw him and the state he was in and i'm here in hobart distant from him? Granny was also even more worried than before, saying to mum to call Gerald and somebody else and somebody else. (i think Gerald is another relative, i can't remember at the moment).

Cathie (mum's sister) is coming to Launceston next Tuesday. Andrew is coming from Melbourne on Saturday. Dave just left for america today (with a meaningful goodbye from Grandad), I'm going up next weekend. Not sure what Phoebe&Dave are up to.

Mum said Grandad's memoirs are now published. Not sure how many copies they got printed - at least a couple of hundred i think it would be, they way printing costs are. Grandad said he wanted to see them finished before he dies. Now they are. Will he make it til his 95th birthday next Wednesday? I hope so, I hope i can see him when i go up next weekend (if needed i'll go up earlier). But who knows how many days, weeks or months God has for Lindsay C. Powell here on earth.