10th May 2015
World Fair Trade Day at HBPS
On Saturday 9th May we celebrated World Fair Trade Day 2015 at the office and finishing centre of Hathay Bunano. Hathay Bunano are happy and proud to be members of the World Fair Trade Organisation.
The programme started in the afternoon and we invited members of the local community from Notun Bazar, local shopkeepers and other small businesses, as well as members of the Rotary Club and members of the Gulshan Club. It was great to share the story of Fair Trade with such a diverse audience.
Image: The audience eagerly awaiting the fair trade drama
The programme was developed by Rayhan, the Executive Director of Hathay Bunano, along with Yeasmin, Senior sampler and Tahmina, Senior Packing Assistant. Both Yeasmin and Tahmina have been with HBPS for more than 5 years and so they wrote a drama which illustrated all 10 principles of fair trade and then worked with a group of volunteers from the HBPS finishing centre to rehearse the drama ready for the show. Tahmina, came to HBPS from the Centre for the Rehabilitation of the Paralysed, 7 years ago and has been a very lively and active member of our team ever since. We can thank the wonderful staff at the CRP for teaching Tahmina how to write dramas and to prepare the other actors for the stage. She is incredibly talented in getting messages across through drama and in Bangladesh drama for story telling is a very important and embedded part of the culture.
Image: Tahmina and Moyna acting in the drama
It was really wonderful to have the whole event led by the sampling and packing teams at the HBPS finishing centre and for everyone to be able to share their understanding of fair trade with each other and with our outside guests. We were really happy to see women, who had started with HBPS some years ago as shy young women with very quiet voices, find their voices and be able to articulate their role and the importance of women in society as well as discuss the principles of fair trade among a much larger group.
Image: The actors!
Our celebration of Fair Trade ended with drinks and snacks and traditional misti (sweets) and lollipops for all the children.
If you would like to know more about the principles of fair trade then please do check out our earlier blog here and the World Fair Trade Organisation website.
