ALVA Academy pupils and staff joined together last week to celebrate Fairtrade fortnight as they continued their bid to help third world producers get a better deal.

 

Members of the school’s charity committee held a Mad Hatters Tea Party during the morning interval with all teachers displaying their most outrageous head gear.

Naturally all the products on offer were Fairtrade including chocolate bars, teas, coffees and dried fruits.

 

The motto for this year’s fortnight is The Big Swap and the school’s Fairtrade committee have persuaded the Home Economics department to change exclusively to Fairtrade sugar. The school currently uses 240kg per year and the committee have organised a number of fundraising events to help raise funds.

 

Betsy Reed from the Scottish Fairtrade Forum and two special visitors were on hand to make a presentation first and second year classes.

 

Mahmoud al Qadi is an olive farmer from the village of Beni Zeid and became Fairtrade certified in 2008.

 

As a guest of the forum he spoke about the difference Fairtrade makes to the lives of small scale farmers like him, saying: “Because of Fairtrade we are thinking collectively in this cooperative.

 

“We’re not just developing ourselves, we’re developing a community.”

 

Jamil Hijazin represents the Fairtrade Development Centre in Bethlehem. The centre has been a key partner with local cooperatives, supporting them in making the applications required to gain Fairtrade certification.

 

He gave his insightful perspective on the importance of growing demand for fairly traded products in places like Scotland to enable farmers like him to sell more products for a fair price.

 

The school were awarded Fairtrade school status last year and are required to raise awareness and take part in promotions on a yearly basis to maintain the accolade.

 

Next Wednesday the group will screen a feature film based on the slave revolt in Haiti, a major supplier of goods, in order to raise funds for victims of the recent earthquake.