Category: Education

Education

Teddies Make a Difference in Schools

Philippa Jeffery

Friends of Rainbow Turtle, Spot, Bruno and Sylvia have been busy making films for young ones, to educate, entertain and inspire on a variety of Fairtrade topics. Spot has been learning about the manufacture and production of Fairly traded footballs in Pakistan, Bruno has been making hot chocolate for his friends and thinking up ideas for a bake off in September for Fair Trade Fortnight, and Sylvia has been looking at fast fashion, taking on the Shein Machine, and trying to understand how the Fairtrade Premium benefits workers and their communities.

The teddies recently made a visit to Newton Mearns Primary School, in Glasgow, where children and teachers are working hard to become a Fairtrade school. The pupils are very keen to organise a Fair Trade football tournament for this Septembers’ Fairtrade Fortnight and they are also planning a Fairtrade community coffee morning at their school this spring. Rainbow Turtle will continue to support them in their efforts and the teddies really look forward to visiting more schools and community groups in the future.

If you would like Spot, Bruno and Sylvia to visit your nursery, school, community or church group please do get in touch with Philippa, who is covering maternity leave for our education officer Linda. Her email is philippa@rainbowturtle.org.uk

Education, Fair trade, Human trafficking, Seasonal, Shop

Rainbow Turtle shop window highlights human trafficking in Scotland

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1000 scarves project that highlights human trafficking in Scotland

Rainbow Turtle education officer, Philippa Jeffery, recently decorated our shop window to publicise the 1,000 scarves project that Survivors of Human Trafficking in Scotland (SOHTIS) is currently running. Many people have been trafficked into Scotland and they have often been overlooked and hidden in plain sight.

The project takes second hand scarves and converts them into weaving kits which can be purchased from SOHTIS. The kits have been taken to schools and community groups so that they can all get involved.

The weavings have been made by people of all ages. Everyone who has made a weaving fills out a little card with a little about themselves. The weavings will become part of bigger artworks that will be publicly displayed in the future in order to raise awareness of human trafficking.

Colourful scarves and pockets

Philippa linked the scarves project with the idea of an advent calendar for our Christmas window. She stitched pockets into her scarves and placed 25 different fair trade products, sold in the shop, into them. Her work was kindly featured in a recent article in the Paisley Daily Express.

Dolls sold in shop

There are close links between promoting fair trade and shining a light on human trafficking. By buying fair trade products we help farmers and producers in developing countries create stable communities. The fair trade premium can be spent by the community on health care, education and clean water supplies. People who live in these villages and communities are less likely to end up being trafficked.

If you would like to know more about the 1,000 scarves project, or the education work that Rainbow Turtle does, you can contact Philippa here. Scarves can be donated at Rainbow Turtle.

Charity, Education

Scottish Fair Trade film about Paisley

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Many of you will be aware of the Scottish Fair Trade Forum’s (SFTF) celebrations marking the 10th anniversary of Scotland as a fair trade nation. As part of their activities they produced a series of 5 films highlighting the work going on in Scotland to support fair trade. Each film was set in a different town in Scotland and we in Paisley were privileged to be chosen for one of them. All of the films can be seen here on the SFTF website, but as we thought ours was the best we have shared it on the page below.

The Paisley film shows the direct links between producers in Africa and our town, from True Origin (formally JTS) and Kilombero Rice, to The Gatehouse Coffee Roasters and Cocagi Coffee in Rwanda. Needless to say, all these products can be purchased in our shop. This for us creates a virtuous circle, where by buying fair trade products in Paisley we can support producers across the world and, not only can we benefit from their quality products, we also employ people in Paisley. True Origin also support the local food banks from their excess stock.

So, make yourself a cup of Cocagi Coffee (or a cup of fair trade tea from our shop), settle yourself down into a comfy chair and watch our film…

Charity, Education, Podcasts

Rachel Farey Interview

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In this episode I am delighted to be talking with Rachel Farey of the One World Shop in Edinburgh. It’s a beautiful shop positioned at the western end of Princes Street in Edinburgh with the historic castle as a backdrop.

Rachel has had an interesting journey that started with working with L’Arche after she left school. L’arche is an international federation of Non-profit organisations working to create networks of community where people with and without intellectual disabilities live and work together. From there she studied theology at Kent University where a friendship took her to Edinburgh and she started volunteering for the fledgling One World Shop. After a few years volunteering and then working for the organisation, she retrained as a religious education teacher and taught for a few years, before finally returning to the shop as manager. 

Rachel was involved setting up the British Association of Fair Trade Shops, was chair of the Edinburgh fair trade group, helped set up the Scottish Fair Trade Forum and was part of the team that helped Scotland become recognised as a fair trade nation.

In addition, Rachel has travelled extensively in the Indian subcontinent meeting producers and understanding the difference that fair trade makes to their lives.

Whilst I was chatting with Rachel I was struck by her knowledge of fair trade, the people involved, and the place that Scotland has played in helping producers and farmers across the world. We are fortunate to have people like her on our side! 

Education, Podcasts, Shop

Interview with Sally Sawaya of Meru Herbs

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Sally Sawaya of Meru Herbs, Kenya

In this episode we play a recording of a talk by Sally Sawaya of Meru Herbs in Kenya that she gave recently to the staff of True Origin and Rainbow Turtle in Paisley, Scotland. Sally is the managing director of Meru Herbs, the Kenyan fair trade company that produces tasty sauces, jams and herbal teas. Meru is a semi arid region of the country where, for many years, water was hard to obtain for farming and domestic use. Things changed just over 30 years ago with a collaboration between the Meru catholic diocese, the Italian government, and the local people which implemented a project to provide water to about 430 families. This change in conditions sparked off the creation of Meru Herbs that went on to improve the lives of many people and empowered women to both work in and run the company.

Sally’s story is one of many of the inspiring ones that have come out of Meru Herbs, where a change in circumstance, combined with fair trade, has transformed their lives. Sally left university with a degree in marketing and started out as an intern with Meru Herbs. Other women have been able to buy land and grow their own food. In rural areas it was often the boys who were sent to school, not the girls, because there wasn’t the money to pay for both. The conventional wisdom was that the family got a better return by educating the boys. 

Charity, Education, Podcasts

Rainbow Turtle Rebooted – Mary Popple interview

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Picture of Mary Popple from her LinkedIn page

In this episode we meet Mary Popple the current chair of JTS, the company that imports fair trade goods into Scotland and distributes them throughout the UK.

Mary grew up in Northern Ireland during the 50s and 60s on the border between the republic and the north. Her father was a church minister who tried not to take sides and, as tensions increased, took his family to Scotland. Those early years in northern Ireland gave Mary a strong sense of the importance of equality and of treating people fairly.

Mary has had an interesting journey to fair trade that has gone via the diamond industry and business management. It was her expertise in managing a business that led her to being invited onto the board of JTS. When she was a member of the St. Andrew’s Fair Trade group they contacted the Royal and Ancient to ask if they would consider using fair trade teas and coffees. A successful relationship was established and now it is written into their procedures to use fair trade products at the Open golf championship.

Mary has a bright and positive outlook on life and it was a real pleasure to listen to her thoughts on how a fair trade business should be run. 

Charity, Education, Fair Trade Fortnight, Podcasts

Rainbow Turtle Rebooted – John Riches Interview – Part 2

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John Riches

In this episode we bring you part 2 of the John Riches interview. (If you’ve not heard it, do check out part 1 where John talks about his early life and influences.)

We join John where he talks about setting up the Balmore Trust and The Coach House, instruments that were used to generate funds for overseas projects. Very quickly they got involved in buying products from people in small communities in Asia when they realised it was better to do that than give them grants. From there it was a small jump to getting involved in fair trade where it’s about supporting the farmers and producers which then benefit their families and creates stable communities.

He’s had about 40 years working in fair trade that includes setting up JTS that got involved in the Scotland Malawi partnership and buying and importing rice from small farmers in a land locked country. For the farmer, selling 90Kg of rice would allow them to send a child to school for a year.  He has a lot of insights into fair trade and I’m sure you’ll enjoy this episode as much as I did.

Charity, Education, Podcasts

Rainbow Turtle Rebooted – John Riches Interview – Part 1

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John Riches of JTS, The Balmore Trust and Gavin’s Mill, talks to Rainbow Turtle about his life and fair trade.

In part 1 of a two part interview, John tells interesting stories of working in a refugee camp in Austria after the 2nd world war, of being a chaplain at Cambridge University at the height of the student protests in the late 60s, of working in the Transkei in South Africa during the apartheid era and meeting anti-apartheid activist, Steve Biko.

He covers his time at Glasgow University teaching about the new testament in the bible and following a student out to Burmah to meet local villagers trying to live under the oppressive regime there. We end this episode in Glasgow during the late 1970s where he is teaching divinity to students and wrestling with the concept of how to help those struggling in developing countries around the world.

Charity, Education, Fair Trade Fortnight, Podcasts

Rainbow Turtle Rebooted Series 2 taster

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We’re in the final stages of preparing series 2 of our podcast, Rainbow Turtle Rebooted. We thought that we’d put out a wee taster as preparation for the start.

In this new series we have interviews with:

  • John Riches, founder of JTS, Professor of Divinity and Episcopal church minister.
  • Mary Popple, member of St. Andrew’s fair trade group and chairperson of JTS.
  • Kiera Wilkins, development officer with the Scottish Fair Trade Forum and one of the founders of the Alternative Coffee Co. A social enterprise set up to link fair trade coffee producers with specialty coffee roasters in the UK.

We hope to have our first episode of this new series out for the beginning of fair trade fortnight 2023 on Monday 27th February.