Well, what a wonderful Fairtrade Fortnight 2021 online festival it was! A true feast of online events that entertained, educated and inspired us all to choose the world we want to see.
The “Fairtrade…the climate…and You” online Festival showed, in so many different ways, how Fairtrade plays a role in helping farmers to cope with climate change, and how farmers selling their produce on Fairtrade terms are embracing farming methods to combat it.
The Koolskools Fairtrade Fortnight Webinar
We wanted to embrace the theme of the Festival in the title of our 3 March webinar “Fairtrade Uniform…the Climate…and Your School”. You can watch the full webinar here.
In the run-up to our webinar we were all very nervous, never having done one before. But as it turned out that we had nothing to worry about! We received tremendous support and contributions from the panelists on the day, who carried us through…
…Ranga, the CEO of our India factory, gave a stirring talk about the social and environmental challenges posed by the global clothing industry……and we saw fantastic presentations from our school panelists and their students: Justine Baldwin (Welshpool CIW Primary, mid-Wales); Monica Malet (St Joseph’s RC Primary, Aberdeen); Janine McGregor (Moorside Primary, Lancaster); Simon Mein (Dalbeattie High School, Dumfries and Galloway); Louise White (Corpus Christi Primary, Glasgow) and Natalie Young (St Columba’s RC Primary, Fife).
We owe all of our wonderful panelists a huge debt of gratitude, THANK YOU!
The Fairtrade and Climate Change Poem Competition
We have managed to keep the terrific buzz surrounding this year’s very important Fairtrade Fortnight theme going through our “Fairtrade and Climate Change” poem competition. We received many excellent entries, and we would like to say a big thank you to all of those students and adults that entered.
It was so fiendishly difficult to pick the winners, to the extent that we also resorted to asking the Koolskools Board of Directors to join in the judging process!
But after much debate, we are delighted to announce the winners, together with their winning poems, below:
Student Competition
1st Prize: Ben Smith, St Columba’s RC Primary, Fife
The Colours of Fairtrade
Fairtrade farmers work really hard
All day long, walking so many yards
I Buy Fairtrade, you should too
Recycle more, that’s what we should do
The Fairtrade logo is Blue, Black and Green
Remember those colours for your shopping scheme
Any products with this you buy
Does good for the farmers and their families
Each one of us needs to try, PLEASE!
2nd Prize: Luca Amato, Southend High School for Boys
In The Undercanopy
In the undercanopy of the Rain forest, Cocoa beans sprout,
Farmers work tirelessly picking them out
In the undercanopy of the Rain forest, the farmers receive little pay,
For the work they produce every day
In the undercanopy of the Rain forest, the climate is far from ideal,
Deforestation effects can’t be concealed
In the undercanopy of the Rain forest, along comes Fairtrade,
The resounding voice for the underpaid
In the undercanopy of the Rain forest, now the hard-working farmers can pay
For school, medication, and food everyday
Yes in the undercanopy of the Rain forest, there is still work to be done,
The climate change fight must be won,
It’s important for all humanity,
To prevent this potential calamity,
And unite and assist as one
3rd Prize: Darcey, Moorside Primary, Lancaster
Fairtrade
Fairtrade makes workers well paid,
Which is why it’s called Fairtrade,
It also let workers be treated fairly,
And the amount I see people hate it is rarely,
It is a bright spark,
And has made me happy in this world so dark,
It helps many lives and should be appreciated,
If not, I would be mighty frustrated,
And the hoodies form this company are amazing,
Their quality is simply dazing,
And owning one is a dream come true,
So I’d like to buy at least another two!
Adult Competition
1st Prize: Kath McDonald, Southend High School for Boys
My Ode to Mr Somji (the very first Fairtrade cotton farmer!)
Choose the world you want they say!
I try to do it each day.
Real geography is about real life.
Mr Somji I hope Fairtrade can minimise your strife
No pity, you rightly say.
Choose the world you want, each day.
Create hope for future generations.
Surely, the responsibility of all nations?
Choose the world you want, for sure.
Buy Fairtrade, even more.
Freedom from poverty, has to be the shout.
Let all of us Fairtrade supporters give this more clout!
Mr Somji urges us to take inspired action.
I hope to inspire, even by a small fraction.
St David said it is the small things that matter.
Kindness, giving and hope, let us focus on the latter.
Rivers start with that raindrop on the mountain top.
Our drive to support Fairtrade and their campaigns must not stop!
Choose the world you want.
It will be clear for everyone to see, on reading those winning poems, just how difficult a judging competition it was. So, thanks again to every single entrant, and well done again to the winners!
The Koolskools Team
18 March 2021