The show consisted of a series of vignettes following the family down through the generations (all female) and across continents (slavery, then freedom in America, a flight north to Canada, coming to the UK to fight in the Great War) until the eighth or ninth generation, when “Arabella” married a male descendant of the medicine man, finding their joy together, breaking the curse and achieving success…..

Andrea Carnegie (who plays two characters in the journey – including Arabella) has a wonderful voice and commands the stage.  She is pretty and incredibly slim, which leaves you puzzling about the bustle arrangement that she wears as “Freedom”, which gives her a most peculiar shape. 

Other performers sing very well also, notably Amantha Edmaud as a “Spirit of the Ancestors”, and April Brown, one of the “children” that connect parts of the story together.  The show featured some Twi, and made reference to traditional culture.

It was connecting the story together that created the problems for the evening as a piece of entertainment.  Nine separate vignettes, mostly monologues as the “mother” passes on the family song to the daughter.  There was a blackout at the end of each scene, while one or two items of scenery were struck and placed – which created a long hiatus in the flow.  The show needs to fade out on one scene and come up on another elsewhere on the stage.

Most disappointing feature of the evening however was the audience, about 20-30 rattling around in the Ashcroft Theatre.  Admittedly, I have been to a one-man show in the USA which very nearly started with the company outnumbering the audience, but this was not good.  At least the majority of the audience were from the African/ Afro-Caribbean  community, which suggests that theatre-going is growing in popularity among that demographic.

The point about Just Trading being “Fair Trade” and not “Fairtrade”, is that they have not yet achieved certification for their supply chain.  They have applied for certification both to COFTA (Co-operation for Fairtrade in Africa) and FLO (Fairtrade Licensing Organisation).  FLO certification faces a number of hurdles, firstly, FLO has not set a Fairtrade price for rice in Malawi, and secondly the annual inspections cost Euro 3,000, plus in-country travel costs, which can be quite high in the north of Malawi.  Nevertheless, they adopt Fairtrade principles – paying a sustainable price for the agricultural products of their partners, and a premium to the co-operative groups – and are recognised as a Fairtrade importer by the British Association of Fairtrade Shops.

For various reasons, the prices of Eswatini products are increasing by 16% – partly due to the weakness of sterling!  Curious to know what currency sterling has shown weakness against – possibly the Euro, but certainly not the US Dollar, and I don’t think the South African Rand.  Just Trading also report that their container of Malawian rice took two weeks to clear customs at Grangemouth – two weeks when storage charges are incurred, and sales are not made.  This is another factor that increases the costs for a small producer.

If you want to learn more about Just Trading, do visit their website at http://www.justtradingscotland.co.uk/

The vulture funds have bought the rights to certain assets in developing countries that were nationalised in the first flush of independence bravado in the late 50s and early 60s, some up to the 70s.  International law (i.e. largely American law) declares that nationalisation without compensation is illegal, (of course it is silent on the subject of the original expropriation with no or inadequate compensation), so the vulture funds begin legal action against the governments of countries such as Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia to get “fair value” compensation.  It appears that Nestle may be on a kind of “profit-share” on some of these deals.

Having said that, KitKat, the flagship Nestle brand in the UK and the second highest-selling chocolate snack, is now a Fairtrade product – at least in its four-finger version, and they are producing a special flavour chunky version for Christmas.  So they are taking steps in the right direction.  You are still left asking the fundamental question – if Nestle can get their people on the ground to ensure that the quality of the product is appropriate, why can they not do a similar audit of the working and living conditions of their suppliers.

All of this as a long introduction to the news that Nestle may be moving out of its Croydon Head Office.  They say “our current offices and the deteriorating environment around them do not provide a suitable base for our business or our employees in the medium term”.  Which again reflects not terribly well on Nestle’s status as corporate citizens.  Admittedly the St George’s Walk area is pretty decrepit – the whole failed Minerva redevelopment plan, which caused most of the tenants to pack up.  Which raises interesting questions.  Why are Nestle still there?  Were they holding out for higher compensation?  Surely as good corporate citizens they have a responsibility to maintain the environment around them.  Could they not support the Minerva re-development plan?

It might seem a little strange to have the UK headquarters of a multi-national company in Croydon – rather than the West End of London, though Paynes Chocolate Company (makers of Payne’s Poppets) were based in Croydon on the Beddington Road until a few years ago.  But certainly as a Fairtrade campaigner, it is good to have the target company where they can be seen.

Workshops include working with schools, getting Fairtrade supplies into hotels and restaurants, and fundraising (presented by members of the Croydon Fairtrade Network).  There will also be a talk from a Fairtrade business about Fairtrade cotton – which is the flagship product of Fairtrade Fortnight 2010.

If you are a Fairtrade Campaigner interested in learning more about plans for Fairtrade Fortnight 2010, you can book your place at the London Campaign Day by clicking http://fairtradelondonworkshops2010.eventbrite.com.

There is a short form to fill in, but the event is free, with some delicious Fairtrade comestibles – last year featured tasting of Fairtrade vodka!

The Foundation is inviting questions for Alan Duncan MP.  As you may be aware, the coalition government has guaranteed to protect the foreign aid budget, but that does not mean that nothing will change.  The previous government was moving to a policy of concentrating aid on populous countries – Nigeria and Democratic Republic of Congo – to the disadvantage of smaller countries such as Malawi, Ghana etc.  There is also a move to withdraw aid from countries whose economic might is such that we might very well wonder why we are giving aid at all, e.g. India and China. 

There is a vexed question of what to do about disaster aid.  What proportion of assistance is spent on responding to the consequences of natural disasters – e.g. the Haiti earthquake and the Pakistan floods – and how much is spent on building up capacity within developing countries so that they can respond with their own internal resources?

If you have any question that you want asked, please post it as a response to this post – before Sunday 26th September – and it will be passed on to the relevant parties.

All this as an introduction to the New Peckham Experiment, Incredible Edible Todmorden.  This project is designed to increase the amount of food grown and consumed locally.  There will be a conference about urban food growing at: 

John Donne school Peckham.
Woods Road
Peckham
LONDON
SE15 2SW 

on Saturday October 9th from 9am to 4pm. 

Speakers will include Professor Tim Lang, professor of Food Policy at City University, and workshops on subjects as diverse as Learning inside and outside the classroom, Developing incredible building designs, Community networks. How to get the most out of them and Growing,  the skills you need.

Booking form and conference programmes can be downloaded from the Incredible Edible website.  Fees are £5 for individuals, £50 for groups, groups, Housing Associations, statutory organisations etc.

It came in second at 11-4 joint favourite (which is pretty good for a Today programme tip).

Fairtrade campaigners are in for the long haul!

Of course, in Fairtrade terms, Ghana is a top-flight country.  The Kuapa Kokoo co-operative supplies all the Fairtrade cocoa for Divine Chocolate, and Co-op own-brand chocolate, and has been instrumental in certifying the Fairtrade status of cocoa for Cadbury’s Dairy Milk.  And Volta River Estates grow Fairtrade bananas and pineapples.  Tens of thousands of Ghanaian farmers benefit from Fairtrade.

Is it making a difference?  Certainly prosperity in Ghana is spreading.  Accra has lots of prestige projects – Western style shopping malls, and lots of district infrastructure stuff – drains, street-lighting, car parking does not attract the same kind of attention (but Zoomlion, with its bands of blue-uniformed street cleaners is working hard).  Fairtrade enables the rural population to participate in the growth, and make their voices heard.

Whatever – as Marcel Desailly, the first Ghanaian to win a World Cup winners’ medal (as a member of the France team in 1998) says, every Ghanaian and their goat will be watching the quarter final tonight, gathered round their televisions either at home or in public bars.  Let’s give a cheer to the only African team still in the competition.

These were the stirring words of Adam Ethuru, Producer representative Director of Cafedirect at the AGM held yesterday at Friends Meeting House, Euston Road.  The recession has hit hard, so the “snake” is a loss of sales, and brand loyalty from some Cafedirect purchasers.  Now that Fairtrade is more mainstream, supermarket “Fairtrade” sales are cannibalising the Fairtrade purchases to branded Fairtrade lines such as Cafedirect.

Much of the AGM was given over to complex financial issues.  Cafedirect may shortly need to raise more capital in order to grow and develop, but this will create tax liabilities for at least one of our “guardian” shareholders (I write here as a shareholder, and hence member of the Cafedirect company).  The presence of guardian shareholders may also prove to be a stumbling block when trying to raise capital from other investors – investors who purchase shares have some expectation of control that goes along with the ownership, but the guardian shareholders have ultimate control of Cafedirect to ensure that the company’s dealings have the highest ethical and environmental standards.

A major concern now is what might be termed “Fairtrade-lite” whereby supermarkets and major manufacturers are paying Fairtrade prices, and Fairtrade premiums, but not really involving producers democratically in the commercial processes.  Anne MacCaig, Chief Executive, pointed out that Sainsburys are selling Fairtrade Basics Teabags at 29p for 80, which is less than the Fairtrade price of the tea they contain.  This is possible because the cost of  the teabags is subsidized by other, more profitable lines.

This is a problem facing many producers supplying into Fairtrade products – how can you maintain the transparency?  If Sainsburys are selling Fairtrade teabags at below cost in order to attract customers to their stores, how much of the extra profit that is generated rightly belongs to the tea growers?  Ideally, the tea growers need to be on the board of Sainsburys to make their voice heard.  As a step along the way, we can buy a share for the producers and allow them to go to the shareholders meetings of the large supermarkets and make their voices heard.

Meanwhile, you too could be a shareholder in Cafedirect.  Following the votes at the AGM, there will be a rights issue and open offer of shares at 85p per share, but you don’t have to wait until then, you can buy shares on a matched bargain basis from the brokers, Brewin Doplphin

This does not in any way constitute an invitation or recommendation to purchase Cafedirect shares – always take independent advice

Nestle are investing £65m in the Ivoirean cocoa industry, which, previous surveys have found, is most badly affected by child and slave labour.  The Nestle head office is in Croydon, though the change to Fairtrade is largely the result of campaigning by our friends in the Fairtrade network in York where the bars are made.