Accounts - update for May

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One of the things that makes a fair trade organisation different from a typical purely profit-driven company is the concept - and application - of transparency.

We at the Gwangju Fair Trade Movement GIC Fair Trade Cafe are happy to share our accounts from the previous months of this year.

We welcome questions and inspections of our processes
(just as we always welcome advice, guidance, and help with maintaining records and staffing the cafe)!

Please leave comments on this site.
All serious questions, requests for more information or correspondance will be answered.

[Click on image below for larger view.]

The Fair Trade Cafe... is back!

It has been nearly a year since the last posting to this blog.
A lot has happened here in Gwangju, and in the world.
GIC (the Gwangju International Center) offices have had a full make-over; today a professional sign-writer was putting the finishing touches on the new logo inside the office, to match the new paint-job and refurbishing throughout the rooms.

Meanwhile, here in Gwangju, the Gwangju Fair Trade Movement continues with the goal of supporting local fair trade organisations. We are doing this by promoting and supporting fair trade products available within Korea, here on this website, and by continuing with the Fair Trade Cafe where you can also find samples to buy at the same prices as elsewhere in Korea.

The Fair Trade Cafe has been operating at the Saturday afternoon GIC talk sessions since the middle of last year. As GIC has expanded and upgraded, so has the cafe. Two new workers are regularly on hand to staff the cafe, and make you a hot fresh cup of certified Fairtrade tea, coffee or, now newly available hot chocolate. The staff are bi-lingual and so can chat in Korean or English about fair trade with you or friends you bring to GIC before the talk from 2 -2.30pm, or after the talk from 3.30 - 4.40pm.

The cafe now also stocks milk and creamer, and supplies certified Fairtrade sugar for your drinks. But if you really have a sweet tooth check out the certified Fairtrade chocolate or stawberry jam. The chocolate, just like the sugar, tea, coffee and hot chocolate is supplied from our friends at the Seoul-based Ulim Fairtrade Store, and the stawberry jam is from the local Tesco/HomePlus, as is the certified Fairtrade cinnamon and ground ginger.

Also within Gwangju the coffee craze continues, with more specialty and chain espresso stores opening, and diversifying their product lines. A Twosome Place and Holly's coffee shops both now stock three varities of the smaller 45 gram Divine certified Fairtrade chocolate bars.
Beyond Gwangju, the global economy has changed.
Times have become harder for many people suddenly unemployed.
This will be having an impact on demand for luxury items such as many of those provided by fair trade producers.
This means the role of promoting, supporting, and purchasing fair trade products is more important than ever.
Korea remains a priviledged 'newly developed' country, and thus has an important role as a still under-developed market for fair trade products.

The change in global economy brings new opportunities as some traders are discovering, with the influx of Japanese tourists to Seoul and Busan enticed by the cheaper Korean won as against the Japanese yen.
Japanese consumers are generally more used to the high quality associated with fair trade products, and are used to demanding and finding fair trade products available more widely.
Thus, these times are actually potentially ripe with opportunity for fair trade organisations, particularly those in Seoul and Busan.

So, if you want to go ahead and buy your own supplies, please go straight to the source.
If you would like to 'try before you buy,' you are welcome to meet us down town at GIC on a Saturday afternoon.
We hope to see you there!

Asian Youth Cultural Festival

The inaugural UNESCO Asian Youth Cultural Festival

Saturday, June 28th, 2008

9:00 a.m. - 10:00 pm

Theme: Fair Trade

- at Chosun University Middle School from 9am,
- at Geumnam-no Peace Park from 1pm
- and at GIC from 2.30pm

Gwangju International Center (GIC) is hosting
the first UNESCO Asian Youth Cultural Festival on June 28th.

This event is being organized as a part of the 2nd UNESCO Asian Youth Forum (at Chosun University, June 26th - 30th)
to help cultivate and support a substantial Asian youth community network.

We are looking for harmony and unity among all youth in Gwangju
overcoming lingual, cultural or other barriers through activities
including campaigns, talks, performances and a cricket competition
for people from diverse and differing cultural backgrounds.

This will be a unique opportunity for all youth to share their knowledge and thoughts on Asia.

Please come and enjoy it all!

The schedule:

▷ 9:00 - 12:00 "Fair Trade" parade & performance
from Chosun University to Geumnam-no Peace Park

▷ 9:00 - 13:00 Cricket Competition
At Chosun middle school
Sports exchange through learning and competing
- a mixed teams social cricket game at Chosun middle school

▷ 13:00 - 17:00 Asian Food Festival
Students' communities from Bangladesh, China, India, Korea, Mongolia, Nepal, and Vietnam selling their own traditional cuisine

▷ 14:30 - 19:00 Talking About Asia
(at the Gwangju International Center)
'Case Reports: Regional Youth Community Work in Asia'
- by participants from the second UNESCO Asian Forum

▷ 14:00 - 19:00 Asian Market
- Art experiences with local artists (Chalk/ Book/ Folk Art)
- Making group-collaboration art
- Fair trade stall, with information and products provided by Fairtrade Korea Cooperation
- see: www.fairtradekorea.com

[* English speaking volunteers needed for this stall.
If you know a bit about fair trade products and/or issues,
and can spare some time within these hours,
then please see the details below to contact Jiyeon at GIC.]

▷ 16:30 - 21:30 Performance
Peace through performance:
A cappella, Fork, Fusion music, Samulnori, Mongolian band

(062) 226 - 1050 / 2734
Gwangjuic@gmail.com

Fairtrade sales in New Zealand continue to rocket

Thursday 15 May, 2008

Sales of Fairtrade coffee, chocolate and tea have continued to soar over the last year – with total sales exceeding $7.5 million in 2007. Sales of Fairtrade coffee alone have grown by a whopping 3,404% since 2004. ...

... If you were offered a $1 in exchange for a 50 cent coin – would you make the trade?
Check out this surprising Fairtrade clip on Youtube.

World Fair Trade Day was delicious!

Early birds to the events day at GIC on World Fair Trade Day 2008 on Saturday 10th May were treated to free samples of fair trade chocolate. Cups of imported and local fair trade coffee were available for the price of only w500.


















By 2.30 p.m. GIC was full with more than 70 people seated or standing. A speaker explained what fair trade is and how it works in different countries, and where to buy fair trade products in Korea.

After the talk more coffee was sampled, and the winning tickets to the fair trade raffle were drawn. Two prize winners were found, with the second prize (worth nearly w50,000, including a fair trade soccer ball made in Pakistan, Beautiful Coffee from Nepal, and ‘Hummingbird’ fair trade organic coffee) going to Paul Park (Park Seong Jun).

The first prize worth more than w100,000 went to one Mr Shin. The first prize pack contained a jute shopping bag full of fair trade tea, coffee, chocolate, a puzzle, a picture frame, a ring box, a soft toy, and a music CD, all of which came from the reputable New Zealand fair trade store Trade Aid.

Following the raffle people stayed to drink more coffee, read or discuss the information on fair trade, and watch the documentary Black Gold. The DVD is available to borrow from the GIC library.
























Fair trade tea and coffee is now available in GIC for sampling or enjoying.
Drinks cost a suggested donation price of about 500 won
to maintain the supply and promote fair trade around Gwangju.

Fair trade coffee available now in Gwangju

In celebration of World Fair Trade Day 2008,
the Gwangju Fair Trade Movement is glad to announce
the discovery of two local brands of fair trade coffee in Gwangju
(and other cities around Korea),
another brand of coffee available online in Korea,
and then of course, there is always Starbucks' 'Estima'.


1.) The Beautiful Store's Beautiful Coffee has three varieties available:

'Nepal Coffee - A Gift from the Himalayas'

'Peru Coffee - A Gift from the Andes'

'Mountain Blend - Fair trade organic coffee'

















* Available in whole beans, in pre-ground form, or in convenient single-serve coffee bags
* Available from:
- all Beautiful Store shops (eg. to the immediate left of Gwangju Train Station)
- all HomePlus supermarkets, in the 'whole bean' section of the coffee aisle


2.) YMCA's own 'Peace Coffee' imported from East Timor

* Available in whole bean form,
or conveniently packaged into single serve coffee bags
in three boxes of 15 each
(ie. 45 cup servings in one attractive boxed set).


* Available from the YMCA, upstairs on the third floor,
up the stairs to the left of the Tourist Information Office,
just opposite GIC, on Kumnamno.


3.) The long-established French fair trade coffee company Cafes Lobodis,
which is available through the new Korean online store 'Fair Trade Store,'
or at their shop in Apgujung in Seoul.


















Lobodis is the Starbucks of fair trade coffees
in terms of its high profile which it enjoys in Europe
after celebrating its fifteenth year in business
but it is recognised for both quality of taste
and also ethical trading.


4.) Starbucks has one variety of fair trade coffee
which carries the official 'Fairtrade' logo, and is called Cafe Estima.
This is available in all Starbucks cafes in Gwangju and Korea
although only in packaged whole-bean form.
Company information on it is here and here.



It has this label on it:

Fair Trade Coffee Survey

At GIC on Saturday 10th May, World Fair Trade Day 2008
there will be a fair trade coffee taste test sampling session.

There will also be organic fair trade green tea and black tea to try (in tea-bag form),
and there will be at least six different types of fair trade coffee to sample, including two from Korea.

All drinks cost whatever silver coin donation you would like to make. Suggested donation prices are w500 for instant coffees, and a bit more for whole bean varieties.

You are welcome to bring your own favourite cup from home,
or buy a paper cup at GIC
(w10 or coin donation, to discourage use of paper cups)
and try any of the number of coffees available.

Your vote will be sought on which fair trade coffee is best for GIC to offer regularly in the future.

The featured coffee below is the second from a Korean company.

The fourth featured coffee is in two different forms:
























Brand: YMCA Korea, Peace Coffee Timor
Name: Peace Coffee - Coffee Bags; Peace Coffee - Whole Beans

This coffee comes in a unique and distinctive shade of egg-shell blue packaging, both appealing to the Korean sense of colour and reminiscent of the UN flag and peace-keeping force beret.

Despite bearing no official international labels certifying its organic or fair trade status, it does come to Korea via the national YMCA network. Though the colour of the packaging may be the first thing you notice, you will probably remember this single origin coffee for its pure full flavour. It has been taste tested by the GIC volunteer staff who happily endorsed the rich taste with a hint of cheeky bitter after-taste.