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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

rainbowturtle2002

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.

Charity, Education, Podcasts

Rainbow Turtle Rebooted – Series 2

rainbowturtle2002

We’re excited to announce that we’ve started planning the 2nd series of our podcast, Rainbow Turtle Rebooted. We hope to have the first episode out for the beginning of Fair Trade Fortnight 2023. Look out for our taster episode that will be coming out in the next couple of weeks.

If you’d like to be notified when our next episode is published please subscribe to our series through your favourite podcast provider.

For those of you who are new to our podcast, you can find all our previous episodes here.

Charity, Fair Trade Fortnight

Fair Trade Fortnight Ceilidh

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After the great success of our anniversary ceilidh last year, we’d like to give you an early warning of our upcoming ceilidh on Saturday 11th March from 7 to 11pm at the Methodist Central Hall in Paisley. We’re delighted to announce that Tuesday International will be our band for that evening. The cost has still to be confirmed, but we’d like to make it family friendly and open to as many as we can.

As usual refreshments will be provided along with a raffle. BYOB, no alcohol, please!

This ceilidh will be a fund raiser for Rainbow Turtle’s charitable work.

Tickets are now available from our Paisley shop in Gauze Street, or from Eventbrite. Tickets cost £6 for adults and £3 per child plus Eventbrite’s booking fees if buying online.

Scan the QR code for Eventbrite link
Charity, Education, Fair Trade Fortnight

Fair Trade Coffee Morning

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As part of our celebration of fair trade fortnight, and in conjunction with The Alternative Coffee Co. and The Gatehouse Coffee Roasters, we’d like to invite you to our fair trade coffee morning on Saturday 4th March, 10:30am, at The Life Church, Moss Street, Paisley.

Nate from The Gatehouse Coffee Roasters will pour you a cup of freshly brewed, single origin, speciality coffee. The coffee is sustainable and grown and produced with respect for the environment and the farmers. It tastes great and it feels great!

Kiera from Scottish Fair Trade Forum will talk to us about a different way of shaping trade relations across the globe based upon the example of The Alternative Coffee Company. This new coffee supplier is changing business locally and globally by making it more personal and fair.

We will also have delicious fresh baking (available for small donations), which will pair nicely with the coffee and set you up for the rest of the day.

Rainbow Turtle will also provide a stall with a selection of fairly traded and environmentally sustainable goods. Both cash and cards are accepted.

The event is free, but donations will be welcome to help us cover the cost of the hall hire and to organise future events. Book your place with this EventBrite link.