Wigan Borough is extending a warm welcome to Rosa Helena Lopez de Soto. But she’s been told to bring a jumper just in case!
Rosa is a farmer, growing some of the world’s finest coffee beans in the remote heights of the Andes. She is leaving her native Columbia for the first time to promote fair trade. Here, Rosa will see what’s being done to support those like her in Latin America and beyond who are working for fairer and more sustainable deals with western consumers.
Rosa will be received by the Mayor of Wigan to mark the start of the annual fair trade fortnight. Rosa and Cllr Winkworth are guests of St Paul’s C of E Primary School in Goose Green, where they will see the best designs from a pupils’ fair-trade poster competition, and present the winners with their prizes.
Council sustainability manager James Noakes says,
“Some 4,500 products are available in the UK from fair trade sources. It’s a well established brand and really helps to support farmers and communities in the developing world.”
On Monday, Rosa will meet the budding young designers at St Paul’s, and, through an interpreter, will discuss farming and environmental issues with pupils. Fair trade funding has helped provide her and her colleagues with health services in their remote villages, as well as animals and seeds, and also a training program for some 25 farmers’ children there.
James adds:
“We’re looking forward to meeting Rosa and I’d like to invite everyone to the fair trade stalls in Wigan town centre in a couple of weeks.”
As part of the popular and frequent continental market, fair trade sellers and producers will be setting out their stalls for four days from Wednesday 4 March to Saturday 7 March in Wigan Market Place. Shoppers and visitors will be able to sample and buy a huge range of products supporting overseas workers. The market culminates on the Saturday with activities and a visit from the Mayor as the centrepiece of the borough’s celebrations of fair trade fortnight.
Following on from fair trade fortnight, all eco-schools in Wigan Borough will be encouraged to register as fair trade schools, and the entries from the school poster competition will form a fair trade exhibition in local libraries, as part of a further publicity drive leading up to the Worldwide Fair Trade Day on 9 May.
