Rotary Club of Shrewsbury GUEST SPEAKER – Ken Chippindale
Ken Chippendale with Rotary Club of Shrewsbury President John Siviter At the Rotary Club of Shrewsbury luncheon on 3 February 2016 our speaker was Ken Chippindale, who enlightened us about ‘Shrewsbury as a Fairtrade Town’. He started by explaining unfair trade in the statement, “how do you plan for the future if you don’t know how much you are going to get for the crops you’ve grown”. The middleman might cheat you with unfairly weighted scales, there may be health and safety issues with chemicals used on your crops, and it would be expected that your children would have to work on your land and thus be unable to receive an education. The main benefit from Fairtrade is that it guarantees a fair price for third world producers free from cheating middlemen, it bans dangerous chemicals and child labour, provides some training and encourages the formation of cooperatives between growers. In addition to the fair price, there is an extra premium for community use. Ken gave examples of community projects of a convenient clean water borehole to save long trips to the crocodile infested river, and the supply of electricity for cooking which, in turn, saves trees. But perhaps the main advantage is that the fairer prices provide not only the time but also the funds for their children to receive a better education with the benefits accruing from that education. And finally the Fairtrade logo. It isn’t a parrot. Concentrate on the black bits and you’ll see a person, with a small head, but no neck, waving directly at you. Summary report by Rtn David Pritchard