Fair Trade for the Stomach and the Soul

Some of my colleagues groaned when they heard the “stomach and soul” title of my talk at the National Catholic Educators Association meeting today in Indianapolis. As regular blog readers know, I try to think of “catchy” titles to attract your attention, and the same principle holds true for workshops I give. Here at the NCEA, we have an estimated 8,000 parochial school educators walking around choosing from hundreds of workshops, so I have to reel them in with something unusual.

The reality is, though, that what appeals to people on basic levels about Fair Trade does lead to more profound understandings. On the exhibit floor people have been drawn to the smell of coffee samples we’ve been handing out, thanks to our Indiana-based partners, Beans for a Better Life. When a person pauses to take a free sample, we can engage them in a conversation about how CRS Fair Trade has just updated our website with new educational resources created by colleague agencies and the winners of the Raise Money Right 2007 contest. Teachers are hungry, if you will, for good resources and fun ways to bring economic justice into the classroom. We may tempt them with coffee and chocolate, but their deeper desires for ways to convey Catholic Social Teaching is what gets them to stop and consider Fair Trade.

This is about my third year at the NCEA conference, and I always find it a great mixture of getting the word out about CRS Fair Trade but also listening to what is going on schools across the country. I used to be an elementary school teacher, and so I have a special place of reverence for folks who have stayed in the classroom, day in and day out, working to shape young hearts and minds. Talk about needing to grab attention! Teachers are competing with the internet, television and other influences of modern life. While they deal with incorporating testing requirements and extra-curricular activities into the daily mix, they have to impart important foundations of learning. Students for their part have to begin exploring their own place in a world that seems to get more complicated with each new day or new technological gadget. It is a tall order, and if CRS can help out a bit with unique approaches to justice through Fair Trade, I’ll risk sounding a little silly!

If your classroom has done a good (and fun!) job of bringing solidarity into the mix of required activities and objectives, comment here on the blog to share ideas. Or just give a shout out to a special student or educator who has made learning fun and meaningful. Whether it be at the campus level (see Cabrini students in this photo playing “Wallyball,” whatever that is!) or kindergarten, we’d like to know how Fair Trade really does speak to the body, mind or spirit!

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 27th, 2008 and is filed under Chocolate, Coffee, Events, Fair Trade, Resources . You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

4 Responses to “Fair Trade for the Stomach and the Soul”

1. Charlie A. Roy Says:
   March 27th, 2008 at 9:39 pm

   @Jacqueline
   Loved your presentation today at the NCEA conference. Some thoughts on my end. As a high school principal i find fair trade to be a natural fit into economics. I’m co-teaching a unit on futures trading next week with an econ class and we will be capping the unit with a mock trading exercise.

   After that we are going to ask the question about pricing and fair trade. I’ve creates a blog site for the class and I’ll be posting links to the “black gold” movie about Ethiopian coffee market.

   After the students watch Black Gold they will watch a TED talk by Elina Gabri-Mahdin who is seeking to establish a regional commodity exchange in Addis Ababa Ethiopia to help bring profits back to the farmers in coffee co-ops not into the hands of the multi nationals that have traditionally exploited the coffee growers.

   Another idea we might toy with in our student government is starting a coffee bar in the morning for staff and students that sells fair trade coffee.

   CAFOD also has a banana trading game on their website but it needs some development. I’ve played a commodity game with a class in the past but can’t remember how i did it.
   Thanks for all you do.

2. James / Providence Coffee Says:
   April 1st, 2008 at 10:46 am

   Hi Charlie - as a recovering (former) commodities trader and current fair trade coffee company owner - I very much understand the need to educate on the futures market effect on commodity prices and what that means to coffee farmers (and other traded FT products such as cocoa, sugar, rice). Thus I commend your efforts! Most of the exchanges where these commodities are traded has some great education tools on how the markets work - thus, I would recommend checking with them. Keep up the good work! Pax, James

3. Scott James Says:
   April 3rd, 2008 at 8:12 pm

   “Wallyball” is volleyball played inside a racquetball court. The Cabrini students were playing in the first-ever Fair Trade Wallyball Tournament using a eco-certified Fair Trade volleyball that we produce.

   See more Cabrini photos on our blog from the CRS-sponsored “Play Fair - Trade Fair” campus event.

   - Scott James
   Founder, Fair Trade Sports
   Fair Trade soccer balls and more!

4. terry edward Says:
   April 25th, 2008 at 6:25 pm

   Good article!

   I’ve been an environmentalist most of my life, and it surprises me
   that even eco-types will run out to Target when a holiday slips up
   on them and buy some toxic-laden product that’s made with child
   labor! Okay, so a lot of us do make the effort to either make something
   nice, or find a fair trade shop, etc., but I’m thinking we need to log
   websites and shops nearby where we can reliably get a socially
   responsible gift at the last minute. I’ve found a few. One of my
   favorites is http://www.idealistgifts.com. The reason is, they’re focused
   exclusively on gifts, so I don’t have to click a bunch of links for
   wholesalers before I find a retailer AND more importantly they
   screen their companies to make sure they’re socially responsible.
   With all the greenwashing out there, I want to make sure I’m supporting
   real green companies and real fair trade companies instead of McBigBox
   in disguise. Anyway, idealistgifts.com has organic flowers, fair trade
   chocolates, all sorts of nice gifts for Mother’s Day.

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