Our Fairtrade advocate Corinne Nash presented this wonderful reflection and reminder to our community in a recent gathering focusing on Fairtrade with the theme: "Do Something"

I know what you’re thinking. What’s she doing up there again? What can she possibly have to say to us about Fairtrade that we don’t already know? But we are a Fairtrade Faith Community and so we do 'go on about it' and remind ourselves why this is so important to us and our faith. And so I have, in essence, three things to say to you today.

Thank you.

Keep going (or start if you haven’t already)

And

It makes a difference. Let’s go further- it is transformative. Whatever you can do, do it.

Just do something!

First things first. Thank you. Over the years I know that many of you sitting here now have done something, in fact in many cases done A LOT to support the work of the Fairtrade movement. You have bought things (maybe even things you didn’t really need) from the Fairtrade stalls we have held. You have sought out Fair Trade products in shops. You have helped at our Fairtrade Fair and some have even joined the Fairtrade Association. Your prayers for the Fairtrade movement have also been a powerful way to show your support. What you have done, and are doing is amazing. It is outside of the church’s four walls and as such it shares the message with others that Fairtrade is our way of showing what we care about.

We care about poverty which is crippling. Did you know that 719 million people live on less than $2.15 a day? We care about children. They should not be working instead of being educated. Around the world currently 168 million children work instead of going to school and we’re not taking about leaving at 15, we are talking 5 and 6 year olds. They should not be sold (unwittingly) into slavery or prostitution. They should be able to glimpse a better future, one where their livelihood can at least provide shelter, daily nutritious food, medicine and education for their own families.

We care about discrimination. Many, many people find it hard to get employment because of their colour, their race, their religion, because they are a woman, because they are a refugee or for some other reason. As humans we are really not good at accepting people who are different to ourselves! We are all children of God, no-one is less, no-one is more. We all deserve the same choices and the same opportunities.

And we care about the environment. Africa is a great example of how using harmful pesticides and outdated farming practices has coupled with climate change, turned into desert whole swathes of land and has resulted in frequent famines. Just because we do not hear about it in the news daily, does not mean that people and animals are not hungry. In fact 738 million people (that’s 1 in every 10) lives, or dies, with chronic hunger.

But with every packet of coffee, bar of chocolate or gift item that you buy with a Fairtrade label you are saying to your family and your neighbours that you believe that we can operate in a better way to help solve these problems. Fairtrade is not the whole answer, but it is a step.

Now to my second point- let’s keep going!

Things are not getting better in the world. Look around you and I doubt that you will feel uplifted or satisfied with the current state of affairs. One of the big drivers of unrest and war is the gap between the rich and the poor. Look back in history. The Parisians rose up and overthrew the French monarchy because they were starving and the king was living an incredibly opulent lifestyle with no apparent care for his subjects. What do we see now? Dictators and power-hungry leaders want more and more yet have no regard for the man (or women) on the street.

There is still a long way to go. Creating fairer trade systems doesn’t just help farmers, it helps whole communities. Trade touches everyone - the delivery workers, the packers, the women who work in needlework, the wood carvers, the metal workers and so on. By targeting the world of business, we change the game. Your purchases work to create a market for Fairtrade goods, which creates more jobs, which creates a viable community. It is Trade not Aid and that is what is so good. No-one is getting rich, but fewer people are slaves, fewer people are starving, fewer people are forced to send their kids out to work. Even if your purchasing behaviour only kept one woman in work and one family out of poverty, I would say that it is worth it. Do something!

So lastly - It makes a difference.

I think that most of us have no idea how good we have it. You know how when you have a bad cold and you finally get over it and wake up feeling normal, refreshed, no achey limbs or thumping headache and you think ‘Ahh, that’s right, that’s what normal feels like, I will never take this feeling for granted again!” Well, imagine the joy, the relief from stress and the hope that we can bring to one, a dozen, hundreds, thousands and indeed millions of people when they gain employment in a Fairtrade enterprise where they are treated like a human, no matter their background, given safe working conditions, paid a living wage and offered a chance at profit sharing, promotion and doing the best possible thing for their land. It is transformative. It puts children back in school. It gives women an independent income (which, let’s face it is less likely to be spent on drinking, smoking and gambling - and if you think I am being sexist look at the statistics around this!) and it is an ongoing cycle of improvement, not a one-off hand out. What a great thing to be involved in. If this is not the work of God, I don’t know what is. In Matthew 25 we read “Truly I say to you, inasmuch as you have done it to one of the least of these, My brothers, you have done it to Me”

So take heart. The work of Fairtrade, which you are a part of, is transformative. If you are sceptical then I urge you to see what the bible says in Romans 12: “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

Thank you.

Keep going.

Do something!

It makes a difference.