Marlborough is hosting a special guest from Kenya on Saturday, March 4 to celebrate Fairtrade Fortnight (27 February-13 March) and to hear a producer’s perspective on the difference Fairtrade makes around the world.
Patrick Kaberia Muthaura from the Michimikuru Tea Company, Kenya, will be attending a Town Hall reception. He will be accompanied by Harriet Gurney Hill from the Fairtrade Foundation.
Patrick, who is aged 45 and is married with three children, has been a tea and coffee farmer for 24 years. The Michimikuru tea estate – which became Fairtrade certified in 2007 – is in the Nyambene hills of eastern Kenya. Their tea is sold in the United Kingdom by Cafedirect.
Fairtrade has made a huge difference to the lives of the tea farmers of the Michimikuru Tea Company – as well as to their families and local communities. The scheme has enabled them to earn a stable income.
Patrick sits on the Michimikuru co-operativer’s Fairtrade Premium committee. They use profits from the premium to sponsor children so they can attend school and technical college. And they are currently building a maternity unit.
The Company is also implementing programmes to help farmers adapt to climate change which is affecting their crops and is becoming a threat to their food security.
The Fairtrade Fortnight 2017 campaign aims to shine a light on the struggles farmers face to feed themselves and their families.
Despite working hard every day to grow the food many of us take for granted – coffee, tea, bananas and cocoa – millions of the global economy’s farmers don’t earn enough to know where their next meal is coming from.
NOTE: Patrick Kaberia Muthaura will be speaking in the Town Hall at 6.30pm on Saturday, 4 March. Numbers are limited – so anyone wanting to hear him and Harriet Gurney Hill should contact Dr Nick Maurice as soon as possible – drnickmaurice@gmail.com
Hockey: Marlborough ladies on the front foot with a valuable home win