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Fair Trade Eyewitness Delegations
The LRC's third Fair Trade Eyewitness Delegation returned from Nicaragua on February 20. View an essay about the trip, "Help bring children out FROM THE DUMPS" [PDF version here] by Lee Cutler published in the March 4 issue of New York Teacher.
The preliminary materials that participants receive before traveling with the Coalition help them to better understand what they experience. International Project Coordinator Maureen Casey recommends these two Web sites "to unravel the mysteries of coffee from plant to cup"— The Coffee FAQ and coffeeresearch.org, a comprehensive education site with sections on brewing, roasting, coffee agriculture, coffee science, coffee politics and coffee markets. Also available are the February group's tentative daily schedule [PDF]. and our Feb. 8, 2010 news release, "Students & teachers travel to Nicaragua to learn about Fair Trade" [PDF] The group of 18 included six students and five teachers on their school vacation.
Interested in joining a future delegation? The next group will travel to Dominican Republic Fair Trade cocoa cooperatives just after school is out, from June 27-July 3, 2010. Click here for a delegation flyer or scroll down.
Like the Fair Trade Project itself, the idea for an Eyewitness Delegation evolved from the Coalition's experience leading Border Witness trips to the U.S./ Mexico Border where the human and environmental costs of corporate globalization are clearly visible. Participants in a Fair Trade Eyewitness Delegation will see an economic model which places people before profits. Click here for background information about Fair Trade Eyewitness Delegations. In addition to the Dominican Republic trip (June 27-July 3, 2010), there will be a Fair Trade or Border delegation in February 2011 and a Fair Trade delegation at the beginning of summer, 2011. June 2010 delegation flyer >>
Several teachers beginning their summer away from the classroom were part of the Labor-Religion Coalition's second delegation. In 2009, the group visited Nicaragua. A stirring First Person essay, "Why are you sweeping?" [PDF] by participant Kathleen L. Martin was published in the Oct. 15, 2009 issue of New York Teacher.
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MEET cocoa farmers and other amazing people COST: $1,100 plus AIRFARE Includes in-country transportation, housing, food, guides, donations to hosts and families, translation, entry fees and preparatory materials. Air travel arrangements to be made by individuals. The delegation is organized by the Labor-Religion Coalition of New York State and Equal Exchange. For more information, call Maureen Casey, International Project Coordinator at 518/ 213-6000, ext. 6294 or click here to send an email message. |
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AN EYEWITNESS DELEGATION SNAPSHOT, JANUARY 12, 2009
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| To pick this bag of coffee beans, six inexperienced delegation members spent more than an hour! Usually, one person picks five times this amount in a day. A full bag weighs more than 100 pounds. Fair Trade Eyewitness Delegation members shown here are Jordan Wells, Nancy Close, Veronica Foley, Maureen Casey and Gloria Herman. |
© Labor-Religion Coalition of New York State
