The children at Our Lady of the Missions Primary School will be lending a ‘Helping Hand’ to secondary school children in Malawi over the next few weeks, as they participate in the JTS (Just Trading Scotland) ’90kg Rice Challenge’. Malawi is one of the poorest countries in Africa and as a result, secondary education, unlike primary, is not free. JTS works directly with smallholder farmers in Karonga Malawi to develop sustainable markets for long grain ‘Kilombero’ rice and it is the sale of just 90kg of this rice that covers the fees for one child to attend secondary school for a year.
In order to help the rice farmers in Malawi Our Lady of the Missions will hold a House Competition to see which house is able to sell the most Kilombero rice. This will allow the pupils to work together in their houses and also help children in poorer parts of the world access education. Throughout the challenge pupils will explore the similarities and differences between the U.K. and Malawi, the equality of Fair Trade and the importance of sustainability.
JTS believe in helping small holder farmers working together to develop cooperatives, improve farming techniques and introduce them to markets where they can obtain a fair and just price for their produce.
By providing farmers with a regular source of income we help empower them to:
- Be self sufficient
- Feed their families
- Enable their children to attend school
- Contribute to the development of their community, thus providing a sustainable route out of poverty. The white long grain Kilombero rice will be available to purchase at £3 per kilo bag. This is more expensive than a leading supermarket brand but by buying the JTS rice you will know that the farmer who has grown the rice is getting a fair price for their product.
