Did you know its fairtrade fortnight?

Last week at the morning service in church we heard and saw the impact that being a fairtrade farm can make. We were focusing on tea plantations and the difference between the living conditions in both places was more than a gulf, it was an abyss. A chasm.

The 'normal' plantation saw people barely scraping a living. There was no sanitation. no water, no power. The families were so poor they could not afford to educate their children.

Conversely those who were fortunate enough to work on the fairtrade plantation had significantly better living quarters and access to schools and medical care. There was no comparison.

Yes, we like to seek out a bargain but we must understand what the consequences of those actions are... Our supermarkets drive down prices to ensure they can be competitive but the majority of us have sufficient 'wealth' to be able pay that bit extra so that the workers can have a living wage.

And its not just farmers in developing countries that are being squeezed - our own farmers here in the UK can suffer just the same treatment... We must be prepared to pay what it costs; its an issue of justice