In this mini podcast episode we meet our education officer, Linda Okhuoya Ologe. Linda has been on maternity leave for this past year and, just before fair trade fortnight, I popped round to Linda’s house to interview her and to hold her new baby, Zoraya!
As well as talking about fair trade, Linda spoke about an interesting project that she’d been involved in to bring fair trade coffee beans from Rwanda and Uganda to Paisley. She linked a new social enterprise, The Alternative Coffee Company, that imported the green beans from the cooperatives, with a small, high quality coffee roaster in the town, called The Gatehouse Coffee Roasters. With this venture she has created a beautiful connection between Paisley and farmers in Uganda and Rwanda.
We’re delighted to announce our charity’s AGM on Tuesday 29th October at 7pm at the Methodist Central Halls, Paisley (Smithhills Street entrance). Tea and coffee provided, all welcome. Please email info@rainbowturtle.org.uk if you plan to attend.
The business section will be followed by a talk by Margaret Foggie of Olive Tree, the charity that sells products from Palestine and supports schools in Palestine.
Enclosed are the papers for the meeting (please click on the link to open the relevant paper):
In episode 6 of our current series we meet 3 more volunteers from Rainbow Turtle.
First up is Kitty McEachen, an escapee from Glasgow who, to her surprise, found that Paisley wasn’t such a bad place to live in, especially when she came upon Rainbow Turtle and some of the committed volunteers, including the inspiring founder, Liz Cotton.
Next we have Duncan Macintosh, a long term supporter of fair trade, and early stall holder, who became a volunteer in the shop when he retired in 2009.
Finally we meet Marianne Sermanni, volunteer and trustee of the charity who, though her friendship with Roisin Mulholland (we spoke to Roisin in episode 2), started working in the shop in 2017.
Just to give you an early heads up, Rainbow Turtle charity will be holding its annual general meeting on Tuesday 29th October at Paisley Methodist Halls at 7pm.
Following the business part of our meeting, Margaret Foggie of Olive Tree, we will be giving us a talk about the work that they do in Palestine.
In this edition of our podcast, Rainbow Turtle Rebooted, we introduce you to Joyce Jackson who started out as a fair trade stall holder in her local church before being inveigled into volunteering at the shop by Liz Cotton when she retired 7 or 8 years ago.
Following Joyce we have Clotilde Raydon, who 6 years ago came into the shop to get some refills for cleaning products. After a couple of visits, Liz Cotton, the then manager and director of the shop, invited Clotilde to become a volunteer.
Finally, we hear from Chris Johnstone, volunteer, director of the shop and chair of the charity trustees. He started out in fair trade when his GP’s practice became the first fair trade practice in Scotland.
In this mini podcast episode, we meet long standing Rainbow Turtle volunteers: Gillian Henry, Roisin Mulholland and Maureen Brough. In it they share why fair trade is important to them and what are their favourite products that they can buy in the shop. Unsurprisingly, chocolate and coffee feature high on their lists!
As part of its celebration for the 30th anniversary of the fair trade mark, Renfrewshire schools ran an artwork competition using this year’s theme for fair trade fortnight of Being The Change. As I took photos of all these fantastic panels outside Paisley’s museum, I couldn’t help but be moved by their inspiring work. Enclosed are the shortlisted and winning entries.
Sample of pupils’ artwork
Renfrewshire has a proud history of supporting the Fairtrade movement, with Paisley first becoming a Fairtrade town in 2003. Then in 2007, Fairtrade Zone status was achieved for the whole Renfrewshire area, with Renfrewshire Council working alongside many volunteers, stakeholders and communities across Renfrewshire, many of whom continue these efforts today.
Renfrewshire’s children and young people have always been champions of the Fairtrade movement and are often the catalysts for changing purchasing habits within their own households. Many Renfrewshire schools and nurseries support the Fairtrade movement across their school communities.
The beautiful artwork displayed here has been created by pupils from Mary Russell School in Paisley, Newmains Primary School in Renfrew, and St Peter’s Primary School in Paisley.
The artists’ ages range from Primary 4 up to secondary pupils and the work shows their response to ‘Be the Change, which is the theme for this year’s Fairtrade Fortnight.
We would like to thank all the children and young people, and their teachers, for such fantastic and creative pieces. [Text courtesy of Renfrewshire Council.]
Thanks to Renfrewshire Council for organising and funding this competition.
Age group winnerAge group winnerAge group winnerHighly commended
Fairtrade is an international movement to support the fair, ethical and sustainable production and procurement of goods.
Fairtrade focuses on paying a fair price for products to support low income and disadvantaged farmers, producers and workers in lower income countries.
Fairtrade is often recognised by the Fairtrade mark, which indicates that the production of an item has met agreed standards. ‘Fairtrade Fortnight’ helps to celebrate Fairtrade movement. In 2024, Fairtrade Fortnight runs from Monday 9 September to Sunday 22 September.
Fairtrade closely aligns with efforts to tackle the climate crisis-at the heart of Fairtrade is sustainable farming and empowering smallholder farmers. Fairtrade products also comply with strict environmental standards.
Many Fairtrade producers and farmers are based in the global south, in areas most significantly impacted by the extremes of weather recognised to be caused by climate change.
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.
Left to right: Shop manager Elise Kelly with retiring volunteers Jim and Fiona Rutherford
Rainbow Turtle volunteers gathered recently to say goodbye to Fiona and Jim Rutherford. They started helping out at the shop at its beginning over 20 years ago! They are a bright friendly couple who were always welcoming to people coming in to browse or to shop.
Rainbow Turtle ceilidh 2017 with band Dlù.
They were passionate about fair trade and got involved our events. For many years they served on the board of trustees, with Jim as chairperson and Fiona as treasurer.
Volunteers’ gathering 2018
They are a talented couple both having worked many years as social workers in Inverclyde. Jim was also a beautiful singer and had organised many shows and musical events in Renfrewshire. He was probably best known as the creator of the play for the famous Renfrewshire Witch Project that remembered the Paisley witch hunt in 1697. The show was performed a number of times across Paisley town centre.
Jim and Fiona will be sorely missed, though I’m sure we’ll see them in the shop or at our events in the future.
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.
