Divine Chocolate tour Exeter

Paul and Kojo outside Exeter Cathedral

Paul with Exeter school children

Paul and Kojo proudly holding up a fabric painting from the school children

Kojo and Paul fuelled up for the day on a hearty fry-up (with extra mushrooms and bacon) before we all headed off on the bus to our first destination – ‘The West of England School and College for Children with Little or No Sight’ in Exeter.

Three different groups of students enjoyed a day of learning, cooking and painting. Kojo and Paul took us through the ‘bean to bar’ story, and introduced students to cocoa pods, fermenting and dried cocoa beans. Touch, smell and taste all helped to familiarise unsuspecting participants to the surprising origins of their Divine and Dubble Fairtrade chocolate.

It was a great morning and we were rewarded with delicious chocolate dipped bananas and pineapples (all Fairtrade of course!) At the end of the workshops Kojo and Paul were presented with a wonderful ‘bean to bar’ fabric painting that the students had worked on during the day. The scene depicted each stage of the bean to bar story and included seeds and beads to give the pods a great textured finish. We thanked all the students and organisers with Dubble bars and ‘Stock the Choc’ postcards before leaving for the next destination - Exeter FM radio station!

Following Kojo and Paul’s interview we were taken (via a delicious Fairtrade Café!) to Exeter’s Global Centre, where we got the opportunity to meet Martin Odoch, Field Manager for the Mpanga Growers Tea Factory in Uganda. Kojo, Paul and Martin talked to Plymouth University students about Fairtrade and how its benefits are experienced by cocoa and tea farmers. Following the talks, the celebrations begun for the evening and we were treated to farmer presentations, songs, role plays and, of course, some delicious Fairtrade food and wine! (Devon Fairtrade campaign)

Fairtrade Fortnight Tour

image by kim naylor

Welcome to the Divine Chocolate Fairtrade Fortnight blog.

Divine Chocolate is inviting two cocoa farmers from Ghana to join them here for Fairtrade Fortnight 2008 (25th February – 9th March). Throughout the tour Divine Chocolate and the two farmers will be regulary updating this blog with stories of their journey. This year Divine Chocolate’s tour will include visits to Ireland and Wales, as well as several events in England.

Throughout the two weeks Divine Chocolate and the two Kuapa farmers will be attending a variety of Fairtrade-inspired events and talking to schoolchildren, shoppers and retailers, church groups and local businesses, government officials and Fairtrade steering committees. They will be telling their stories of how Fairtrade, and owning a chocolate company, has changed their lives – and in turn discovering how much we love chocolate here in the UK – and why ‘chocolate makes the world go round’!

The current schedule includes England events in London, Exeter and the Eden Project in Cornwall. In Wales the tour includes Bangor, Powys, Cardiff and Aberystwyth. Then on to Ireland where visits to Dublin, Cork and Belfast are planned.

Divine Chocolate has toured every year for the past six years with cocoa farmers during Fairtrade Fortnight, and 2008 will be the first time the farmers who come will be men! Their roles as Recorders are key to the structure and organisation of Kuapa Kokoo – they are elected as trusted fellow-farmers to weigh the cocoa accurately and pay farmers the right price accordingly. Each year thousands of people in the UK have had the chance to hear farmers speak and hear firsthand the impact of Fairtrade, and hundreds of them have had the chance to speak to the farmers in person. This direct connection with the farmers behind the food we love is key to the appeal of Fairtrade.