Once again County Hall was buzzing on a cold Friday in January, as children and their teachers from 18 primary schools across Lancashire arrived, to learn more about Fairtrade and how it affects our food and clothes supplies and the people who produce them. Volunteers dressed as bananas or chocolate helped the children to find their seats, where they were welcomed by Councillor Alan Cullens, Chair of Lancashire County Council, who stressed how pleased he was to see so many children in “their” County Hall. He told them that the County Council had supported Fairtrade for many years, and that everybody could play their part in promoting it.
Joanna Fianu, Chair of Fairtrade Lancashire, then gave a short video presentation on how the climate crisis was affecting all the people who produced food and clothes for us, and how Fairtrade helps them to adapt by finding new ways of growing and maintaining their crops, and keeping their families healthy. The promotion of Fairtrade and action on climate change are thus very closely linked.
The children then divided into 3 groups to attend the workshop sessions. Cotton and chocolate featured in two of the workshop, while a third focused on the benefits to the producers of the “Fairtrade premium”. All children attended all of the workshops.
All About Chocolate led by Bruce Crowther from the Fig Tree and Semmie Fianu from GhanaOver the 3 workshop sessions of the day, the children actually made some chocolate. Semmie spoke about his own experience growing up in a cocoa producing area in Ghana, telling them about the different processes - sowing, harvesting, drying, fermenting, packing, transporting. He said how hard it was to cope with the changing climate, and how they were trying to adapt.
The smell of cocoa baking in a small portable oven soon gave the 1st workshop a good idea of what they would be involved with. The cacao beans which had already been fermented, were soon sufficiently roasted. They were transferred to bowls shared between school groups. Removing the brittle skin from the ‘nib’ of each warm bean was fiddly but the children managed it fine. Apparently, cacao skins are sold in UK as an expensive soil supplement. The 2nd workshop actually made chocolate! Each school group had the use of a strong blender into which nibs were put. Several minutes of grinding were needed before a paste formed. Children then took turns collecting precisely measured amounts of cocoa butter, milk powder and sugar. The addition of these ingredients was so that a ‘milk chocolate’ would result. The liquid was then spooned very carefully into silicone molds. Although the mixture didn’t get ‘conched’ or ‘tempered’ which Bruce explained are additional processes which increase the smoothness of chocolate, the individual chocolates were delicious.
In the 3rd workshop the children had to work out their Ghanaian name according to the day of the week they were born on, then they designed their own chocolate labels with their Ghanaian name, before taking the previously prepared chocolate out of the moulds.
All About Cotton led by Joanna Fianu of Fairtrade Lancashire and Francesca Goodhart from Lancashire Heritage Learning Another very lively session which had children weaving their own mats. Joanna started by showing them pictures of Lancashire children in the 19th century, who had to work in the noise, dirt and danger of the cotton mills for very little money. Many children in cotton producing countries still work in similar conditions, but where Fairtrade cotton was produced conditions and wages were much better. She showed them some examples of plain Fairtrade T-shirts, which had been decorated colourfully and imaginatively. Francesca then took over, leaping into the middle of the circle of children and taking them through the weaving process, so they all had their own bit of craft work to take away with them.
All About the Fairtrade Premium led by Susan Murphy of Fairtrade LancashireThe Fairtrade Premium is the amount paid to communities who are producing Fairtrade, over and above the price paid for their goods. The community is paid a lump sum and they have a meeting to decide on the best way to spend it. So this is not charity imposed on them but a way for people to work out their priorities and to agree together the best way to spend the money.
At this workshop children were divided into groups and were asked to role play communities with varying needs, and discuss how to spend their Premium. They were given background information about the places, with information such as the lack of a water pump, school books, or transport for a health worker, and told what the cost of supplying these might be and how much they had to spend. This is a very good way to reinforce children’s understanding of the importance of Fairtrade, the difference it makes to people’s lives and the fact that they are not passive receivers of charity but active in their own development.
At lunchtime teachers and children could browse the displays of Fairtrade goods from the Co-op and many other sources and find out about the “Let’s Go Zero” campaign and the Shared Interest Foundation, or dress up in Fairtrade costumes (bananas, coffee, tea and chocolate) and have their photographs taken.
In the final session all the participants gathered together again to evaluate the day, prepare their own action plan, and receive certificates. All the schools went home with “goody bags” containing Fairtrade samples, information about becoming a Fairtrade school, and the other information to help them on their Fairtrade journey.
Hopefully the children – and their teachers – will go back to their schools with a deeper understanding of Fairtrade, and carry this forward in their schools and their communities.
Thanks are due to members of Lancashire Fairtrade who planned and organised the conference, ran the workshops, marshalled the volunteers and generally made everything run smoothly. And we are very grateful to County Hall for all their support.
Marjorie Drake/Anne Garsed for Fairtrade Lancashire
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