The Scottish Fair Trade Forum’s crowdfunding campaign to help Fair Trade suppliers in Scotland (like us!) survive these difficult times is about to go into its final week and still has a bit to go to meet their goal. Can you help at all? Fair Trade suppliers in Scotland play a critical role for justice, equity and sustainability in trade and even the smallest of donations will help us all to continue supporting producers in need.
We were asked by the Scottish Fair Trade Forum to choose a photo that represents why we’re so commited to Fair Trade, and why their crowdfunding appeal is so important to us. This picture is from Fairtrade Fortnight 2020, and shows the day Colum (our Director), Gemma (our Shop Manager and Education Officer), and Clotilde (one of our enthusiastic volunteers) had the pleasure of meeting Ndiuzayani Zaya and Aubrey Meki Chilenje from the Fairtrade Certified Kasinthula Cane Growers Association in Malawi. Ndiuzayani spoke about her mother’s work as a farmer with the Fair Trade sugar association; thanks to its certification, all of Ndiuzayani’s education was funded by the Fairtrade Premium. Aubrey also talked about his membership with the Association, their work with Fairtrade and what it had done to help improve livelihoods in the community through healthcare, clean water and other projects to alleviate poverty. Both of them did not shy away from speaking of the challenges of making a profitable living from sugar, though. It was an incredibly powerful experience to meet them and hear their stories, and we’re proud of Rainbow Turtle’s commitment to selling Divine Chocolate who buy their sugar from Kasinthula.
The Scottish Fair Trade Forum have today launched a Crowdfunder to raise money for Fair Trade suppliers and retailers, ourselves included, to give us a better chance of surviving the Coronavirus pandemic. As most of you will know, we’ve had to close the shop entirely during these worrying times and so we’ve lost a lot of money and our future is currently insecure. The SFTF say:
Fair Trade suppliers across Scotland are the backbone of our campaign for justice, equity and sustainability in trade. Today, we are launching a fundraising appeal to support them through these difficult times. Can you help us support them? Any contribution, no matter how small, will make real differences to keeping Fair Trade shops and suppliers alive in our communities.
To donate, visit the Crowdfunder page here. We know that finances are tight for most of us right now, but a contribution of any size will help us, and other Fair Trade shops and suppliers like us in Scotland, to come out the other side of this in a better position. In doing so we’ll also be able to do more to support the producers – the real reason that we do any of this – by placing orders for goods like we normally would. Even just sharing the Crowdfunder will help a great deal. Thank you!
We thought you’d like to make a “leap” into Fairtrade Fortnight this year with a fundraising ceilidh for Rainbow Turtle. Starring the renowned ceilidh band, Haud Yer Lugs, this year’s ceilidh will be held in the Wynd Centre in Paisley on Saturday 29th February at 7pm. Tickets will be on sale in the Rainbow Turtle shop, priced £5 or £20 for a family. Tea and coffee will be provided.
