Fairtrade Fortnight - Jersey
01 March 2010 to 02 March 2010
The Jersey Fairtrade Island Group, in collaboration with Divine Chocolate, is delighted to announce a special programme of events on 1st and 2nd March to celebrate Fairtrade Fortnight. Two cocoa farmers are travelling over from Ghana to the Channel Islands in honour of the occasion.
The farmers belong to a co-operative in Ghana which consists of 45,000 cocoa farmers and which supplies cocoa to the leading Fairtrade chocolate company Divine Chocolate. They are visiting Jersey and Guernsey to tell a range of audiences how fairer trading is helping to change lives in Ghana. They will also be explaining how the farmers’ co-operative actually owns 45% of Divine itself – and how this pioneering business model means an even better deal for farmers.
The dynamic Jersey Fairtrade Steering Committee has organised events to please everyone – with plenty of chocolate to go around. The farmers will be in Jersey on Monday 1st and Tuesday 2nd March, and then move on to Guernsey on Wednesday 3rd March.
Monday 1st March
Jersey school visits
Venue: Beaulieu Convent School and Hautlieu or Les Quennevais Secondary Schools xxxxxx (address)
Time: 2.00-3.30pm
Laura Blake of Divine Chocolate Ltd and two Ghanaian farmers will address an audience of senior students from two local schools that support Fairtrade, giving examples of the benefits trading fairly has brought to them, their families and communities. They will also talk about their co-operative “Kuapa Kokoo” (which means “the good cocoa growers”), the cocoa harvesting process, and how owning their own chocolate company has given them pride in their jobs and a share of Divine’s profits.
Jersey’s Divine shops host farmers
Time: 4.30-5.30pm
Employees from Divine Chocolate and the two farmers will visit store managers who stock Divine products. There are more than 30 Divine products on the market – from white chocolate bars to dark chocolate after dinner mints and milk chocolate Easter eggs. Shop owners at the Co-op supermarket (of the Channel Islands Co-operative Society) and Leaders Health & Organics will be hosting the farmers and finding out what work goes in to making the chocolate products sold in their shops!
Tuesday 2nd March
Oxfam hosts farmers
Venue: Oxfam shop, 40 New Street, St Helier, JE2
Time: 10.30-12.30pm
The Oxfam shop in New Street, St Helier stocks a large range of Divine chocolate products and shop owner Hazel Forrest is delighted to be meeting the two cocoa famers this Fairtrade Fortnight.
Jersey school visits
Venue: Jersey College for Girls and Les Quennevais or Hautlieu
Time: 2.00-4.00pm
The farmers will be welcomed by Jersey College for Girls where they will be presenting to the students, telling them about the cocoa growing process and how owning a chocolate company has transformed their lives.
A Divine Evening of Chocolate and Wine
Venue: St Pauls Centre, Jersey
Time: 6.30 for 7.00pm. Ends 9.30pm
The Jersey Fairtrade Island Group is hosting a special evening in honour of its special guests. A Divine Evening of Chocolate & Wine is to be held at St Paul’s Centre and is an opportunity for members of the public to meet the two farmers and hear the story of Divine Chocolate. There will be tastings of Divine chocolate and Fairtrade wine as well as presentations by Divine’s employees and the farmers. Certificates will be presented to retailers who are supportive Fairtrade stockists. Admission is free. The event is sponsored by Divine Chocolate and Channel Islands Co-operative Society.
For enquires on all these events please contact Edward Le Quesne