TOMORROW’S SUNDAY

“Before you finish eating breakfast in the morning, you’ve depended on more than half the world.

We aren’t going to have peace on Earth until we recognize this basic fact of the interrelated structure of all reality.” Martin Luther King, 1967.

At the end of February Churches in Sunderland will take part in events to mark Fairtrade Fortnight, an annual time of thinking about the products we buy, and how they affect the lives of those who produce tea, coffee, bananas and many other staples of our daily life.

This year, the main campaign is called ‘She deserves’ and calls for a fair wage for women involved in the production of chocolate.

The sum of £1.86 is the amount a cocoa farmer in West Africa needs to earn each day in order to achieve a living income.

Currently, a typical cocoa farmer in Cote d’Ivoire lives on around 74p a day. Almost all cocoa farmers in West Africa live in poverty.

For the women the situation is even worse.

They may plant and harvest on the farm, look after children, carry water, collect wood, cook and clean for the family, and transport the cocoa beans to market but often with fewer rights than men.

This is why the Fairtrade foundation is campaigning for a living income to become a reality for cocoa farmers in West Africa.

If we can work together with governments, chocolate companies and retailers to make the commitments and policies necessary, then we can make it happen.

People of all faiths and good will can make a difference to this world by simple choices they make at the supermarket.

Being a ‘good neighbour’ (read Luke chapter 10 from verse 25) begins at the checkout, so check out the campaign at www.fairtrade.org. uk

The Rev Chris Howson,

Chaplain to the University of Sunderland