Fair trade should be child's play
A very successful day of workshops was held at Coombe Road Primary School in Brighton on Wednesday 22nd March, linking in with the children's work on Fairtrade.
An assembly for the whole school highlighted the problems faced by producers in the developing world who have to contend with unfair trading practices. A display of fair trade products and a 'shopping bag' gave the children an idea of the choices they could make when shopping.
The BPEC staff then led workshops for the Year 5 and 6 children. They had the opportunity to taste fair trade chocolate,participate in a quiz, enter a competition to design a T-shirt to promote fair trade and to make a global cake (a purposely impossible task to demonstrate the difficulties of international trade!).
Finally, the highlight of the day was a giant human mural in the playground where the children spelt out the words 'Make Trade Fair'. Each class had been practising a letter in PE lessons for several weeks. Some of the children were as young as four but they all behaved brilliantly and managed to keep still while the photograph (above) was taken.
BPEC's aim was to work with the children to show that small changes in their buying habits can make a real difference in tackling poverty and generate a sense of responsibility to create a fairer and more sustainable world.
Thanks to DFID, Co-op, Ininity Foods, and Day Chocolate Company for your support.