Charity, Education, Podcasts

Rachel Farey Interview

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! 

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World Fair Trade Day

World Fair Trade Day is approaching on Saturday 9th May, but of course with the current lockdown most of the planned events will not be going ahead or will be taking a different form. There are, however, lots of activities and events that you can take part in from home:

The Scottish Fair Trade Forum are running a poster or video competition for school aged children, which might be a good activity to include in your home learning in the coming weeks. The submission deadline is 31st May, and you can find more information, and some other activity ideas, here.

This year the focus for World Fair Trade Day is #PlanetFairTrade, a very relevant theme as the World Fair Trade Organisation state:

Fair Trade Enterprises are a vision of hope and perseverance. In good days and in bad, they stand with their producers, workers and trading partners. They work in solidarity to get through the lockdown and pandemic. Now, more than ever, we can see why we need a world full of Fair Trade Enterprises. This is #PlanetFairTrade.

The global economy was already broken. A climate and ecological crisis was already brewing, alongside spiralling inequality and entrenched poverty. The pandemic has shaken the economic system, and we can together create a better world. Fair Trade Enterprises are helping create an economy based on human and planetary well-being, a world where no one is left behind. Join us to make planet Fair Trade a reality.

The WFTO have lots of ideas for activities for everyone, young and old, here, including a campaign to #StayHomeLiveFair and post your support to social media. The WFTO’s Instagram will be broadcasting live chats and Q&A sessions with experts in fair trade and sustainability.