So its kinda been a while since we have put fingers to keyboard, I apologise.
OK cue screaming and cheering in general... Cadbury in the UK have gone Fairtrade! AHHHH
This is a HUGE step in the Fairtrade movement and the Big Chocolate campaign, see past posts. See the article for more information on that one. What it means for the Australian chocolate industry s that there is stacks more pressure put on them to meet the same standards that are being laid on by their international counterparts. Fingers crossed that it pushes then in the right direction. Keep up Cadbury Australia!!!
Keep eyes open for Fairtrade coffee shops around your area, they are popping up everywhere. A gold star to Starbucks who now have a Fairtrade coffee and are selling yummy Fairtrade chocolate in most of their franchises.
Emily
And keep coming back for updates on Fairtrade fortnight in May in Australia. Should be fun =)
Congrats Everyone, Big Chocolate said YES! (Sort of)
I would like to begin by saying that the CMA (Confectionary Manufacturers of Australasia) said “Yes” to World Vision, but on their own terms. To read their official response, go to this website. This is the statement that World Vision and Vision Generation has been anticipating for a very long time, and while the response is not exactly the solution we had in mind, it is pleasing to know that the CMA is looking at changing their production lines. The best case scenario would involve the CMA agreeing to the fully funded action plan designed by World Vision, who is committed to funding US $14 million per year to develop this global strategy and consult with other governments, labour unions and other NGOs for the next ten years. Therefore the CMA’s side of the bargain was to fulfill the following five categories by 2018: -Fair Pricing -Community Wellbeing -Improved Community Services -Sustainable Production -Informed Consumers
(Head to www.donttradelives.com.au for more info on the proposed plan)
Unfortunately the plan was not agreed to, the CMA said YES to address the problems of human exploitation, however on their own terms. So although our action plan is not on the verge of happening, at least we have still rallied our largest confectionary cooperation to make a change and think ETHICALLY. (Click here to read World Vision’s official response to the CMA’s proposal)
Thanks to anyone that showed their support for the campaign by signing a petition card or over the internet. Your voice has helped make a difference in the campaign, and it is appreciated. To anyone that is not living in Australia, and also to those still wanting to fuel a change in the practices of their favourite chocolate brands, I suggest dropping that company an email, letter or phone call. Ask them if they are in cooperation with the CMA; if they are on the move to abolish slavery and release the chains of the thousands of people who need our help. Ask what strategies they are taking to ethically produce their chocolate, and press them towards the goal of eradicating this issue by considering the possibilities of going FairTrade.
-Jemma and Em
“Fair Trade choc-o-late, 1st of December 2008!” 150 campaigning Vgenners on the lawns of parliament house, Canberra.
He’s a teen living in America and is also an abolitionist, and an awesome one at that. The video above is the first indication I got of how much of an impact 1 person can make in the world, and I am continually learning more as I go on.
“It was black history month,” Zach recalls. “I’d been learning about people like Frederick Douglas and Harriet Tubman, and I thought, Man, if I had lived back then, I would’ve done something to help them. I would’ve tried to end slavery and fight injustice. And when I found there was still work to do, I realised I couldn’t stand around and wait for someone else to do something.” (Exert from ‘Do Hard Things Page 185, Alex and Brett Harris)
He was only 12 when confronted by the reality of modern day slavery, and was 15 when he launched Loose Change to Loosen Chains(LC2LC). Through the campaign, he aims to raise money and awareness though asking his peers to gather and hand in loose change they have lying around. It was a good idea too; there is about US$10.5 billion of loose change lying around in American house holds, as estimated by Real Simple magazine.
In the first hurrah of LC2LC, Zach raised nearly $10,000 through his school and church, not a bad effort. And he continues to push the abolitionist movement. He appears on popular news programs such as CNN and CBN. He has written a book titled Be The Change (it is one of my favourite books). He was selected as the student global spokesperson for the Amazing Change campaign in coordination with the film about William Wilberforce called Amazing Grace. And tours not only around America, but in various places overseas, fingers crossed he will come to Australia in the near future. He has inspired thousands of people world wide and has raised about $20,000! If this is what he can achieve while still in High School, imagine what a movement of high schoolers could achieve. His mission is to see the end of slavery in his lifetime, and he is working hard to achieve his goal. To find out more about Zach or LC2LC go to myspace.com/lc2lc.
-Emily
“FREEDOM!” Zach Hunter and fifteen thousand other voices on his signal
Alrighty, so here is the first project of this blog. Yay!
The West African countries of Ghana and then Ivory Coast produce some 70% of the world’s cocoa. Most of the farms operate on the backs of slave labour. People are brought over, or trafficked, from neighbouring countries to work in the Ghana and Ivory Coast cocoa plantations. It is estimated that more than 284,000 children in West African cocoa farms work under the ‘worst forms of child labour’. So these kids work long and hard hours, deal with tools like machetes and they are often exposed to dangerous chemicals and pesticides. The main problem is that world cocoa costs are far below the cost of production, meaning that the farmers have a lot less money. Farmers are often driven to employ trafficked labour and children because they are readily available and a cheap source of labour, if they are paid at all. So who’s to blame? Well the Farmers are at the beginning, they get little pay for their extreme efforts to farm the little land they own. With no way to check global pricings, they are completely at the mercy of their cocoa buyer. The Ghana and Ivory Coast Governments are doing the little they can with the resources and little money that they have. The will to end the slavery and exploited labour in their country is there, they just lack the resources and money they need to do so. The Chocolate Companies ultimately get their massive profits from the kids at the bottom of the chain. They have the money and the power to eradicate slavery from its supply chains, all it lacks is the will. Here is where we, the consumers, step into the picture. The “Big Chocolate, Just Say Yes” Campaign is run by World Vision Australia. It is all about calling on the Chocolate manufactures of Australia to make a genuine attempt to tackle the root causes of child labour in cocoa production by publicly committing to a pre written statement submitted by World Vision. The campaign is trying to get a bunch of signatures from all around Australia, to show that there is a market for ethical alternatives. So jump on board! To get involved there is a number of things that you can do. First of all you can email me (expectchanges@ymail.com) your first and last name, email address and your post code and I will put your name on a petition sheet. If you’re not comfortable with giving me that information over the internet, see me at school, if you go to my school, and I will be able to write it down then. If you do it one of those ways I can present all our signatures as the community at expectchanges.blogspot. If you can’t follow any of those, fill in the survey over the internet at donttradelives.com and follow the links. And finally if you want to get involved in your community, get your community group involved. You could talk to your youth group about slavery in cocoa plantations, or your sporting team, or people at your work. If you want to do that, let us know and we can help with what you should say and how you can get their signatures together. Decide which option suits you the best, and then take action. If you’re still undecided, or want more information head over to donttradelives.com. If you decide to sign the petition over at their site, let us know so we can congratulate you on your first step to abolishing slavery. Haha how formal did that sound?? Ok well thanks for your time, get involved for this awesome cause, and get others involved too, friends and family.
Hi My name is Emily and I am a young teen working to end slavery in my life time. Hey, big call for a teenager I know, but I am following in the steps of others that are redefining the expectations that society throws on our age bracket. People like Zach Hunter, Brett and Alex Harris and the 5 guys that put their heads together and built the organisation Dry Tears, Conner, Logan, Dan, Kyle, and Jared.
So, this is where it all starts. Modern Day slavery is alive and kicking all around the world. It is estimated that there is more slaves around the world now than there was in the 400 years when it was legal. 27 million people are subject to slavery, which is well over the total population of Australia, a tenth of the population of America and over 6 times the population of New Zealand; every man, every woman and every child. Your little sister, the annoying little boy down the road, the quiet kid that sits up the back of your science class, the old couple next door, your youth leaders, coach, your sport heroes, your family.
Slavery these days can take many ugly forms, things like little kids making rugs, or rolling cigars, to teenagers and women sold into the sex industry, and children and adults alike forced to work on plantations. These people are forced to work in horrific conditions for next to nothing or for no pay at all and escape is not an option because of threats of violence or worse. There are many different way that people can become enslaved. It can be parents trusting a family ‘friend’ with their child in a promise to give them an education and a better life, but they end up enslaved. It could be that a family borrowed money for an emergency medical procedure, only to find the whole family stuck as slaves to the lender, working impossible hours and for many years just to pay it off, with stacks of interest. Orphans are often picked on and kidnapped because they are alone. And sometimes it can be as simple as taking a ‘promising’ job, only to find terrible conditions and little or no pay because the employer can’t afford to pay them.
But it is not all doom and gloom, and that is why I have made this blog along with my close friend Jemma, we see the hope for these people, the kids, the adults, the youth our age. There are numerous non government organisations all working together to stop human trafficking around the world, some of them founded by young people, organisations like Loose Change to Loosen Chains (myspace/lc2lc). Through the course of the I plan to explain the hope that we see, let you know what you can do to help, what others have done and will do, and give you an insight to the lives of slaves in their stories. Help us change the expectations that our generation has been given. Or help your son or daughter, family friend or member be the amazing person that they were created to be, don’t bring us down, because we wont be silent, not any more.
Hope to see you sticking around, I would love to hear from you, let us know who you are and how you found yourself here in the comments section of any of the blog posts we do. Any question you may have let us know by email (expectchanges@ymail.com) or post it in the comments section. We'll get back to you =)
Thanks for reading, it means a lot to us, keep checking back, more will be up soon about our first project.
Emily and Jemma
“How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant with the weak and strong. Because some day in life, you will have been all of these.” George Washington Carver
Expectchanges is a blog set up by 2 teens for anyone who wants to impact the world. Our aim is to see the last modern day slave freed in our lifetimes. This is our passion… and we encourage you to find yours… it may be abolitionism, or the war on poverty, the homeless in your city or the provision of water to developing countries. This blog is where we will challenge the low expectations that our generation has been bound with and change them for the better. We will be posting eye opening stories of slaves, the inspirational people that have lead the charge on the change as well as videos and our own projects that we are running. Questions and comments are more than welcome; we’d love to hear from you. Let us know who you are and how you found yourself here. Thanks for the read. We appreciate it. Ps- check out the first post to see where we come from, and click on some of the links on the right of the page for more information.
