1. Introduction: say who you are and if you are not from the school, say where you are from
Note to teacher/deliverer – this assembly takes mins to deliver. However, it is possible to remove slides to make it shorter, without losing too much of the overall story 1

2. What did you have for breakfast this morning?
Ask for a volunteer.
What did you have for breakfast this morning? (list the things they mention)
Where did your breakfast come from? (ask them to guess)
Things like milk, bread, eggs or bacon will have been produced locally by farmers in this country.
But what about cereal, juice, tea, coffee, or bananas? 2

3. You Are Here Tea: India Bananas: Dominican Republic; Windward Isles
Cereal (Nuts): Bolivia
Oranges: Cuba
Coffee: Uganda
Now, what you might notice is that all of these products come from Countries which are in the South (developing countries who have less money than us). Farmers in these countries have been encouraged by more wealthy Countries in the North, such as the United Kingdom and America, to grow ‘cash crops’. What is a cash crop? Before they may have grown food they needed to eat but now they grow food to sell (for cash). It is a crop which we cannot grow in our country but they can grow and sell them. We can trade with them, we give them money and they give us exotic foods. 3

4. Africa
Why does lots of our food come from other countries? Many things only grow in hotter climates, in places such as Africa, South America, India etc. They need very hot sun to grow. 4

5. No Bananas!
Without these countries, there would be NO BANANAS!

6. No tea!
No tea!

7. No Chocolate!
And no chocolate! Hands up here how many people have eaten chocolate before? Did you know it comes from Africa? We rely on other countries for a lot of our food!

8. But it’s not just food Clothes too!
But it’s not just food, it’s clothes too.

9. Where. Hold up a pair of jeans
Where? *Hold up a pair of jeans* How many countries do you think this pair of jeans has come from?
Answer: It could be even 10 or more. 9

10. As you can see just one pair of jeans journeyed through many countries.
Cotton grown in Uzbekistan, and spun in china. Thread is then dyed in the Philippines and jeans woven in Poland into one large roll of fabric. The labels are made in Portugal and the buttons are from Australia. The fabric and all parts are then sent to India to be sewn together. The jeans are then sent to the wholesaler in the UK and sold in the shops there. They’re then likely to be reused in Ghana as second hand clothes sent from Europe!
If you have a pair an old pair of jeans you can cut into different segments. Ask for 10 volunteers and give them different parts of the jeans to hold up. You could also write the names of the different countries on paper and stick them to the front of each child. E.g I am China and I spin the cotton.

11. What do we usually think about when we buy clothes?
Cotton growing, India ©Simon Rawles (see
We’ll now look at the first step. What is this crop? Cotton. Everyone in the room is likely to be wearing an item of clothing which is entirely made of cotton or has cotton in it. But has anyone ever thought about where that cotton has come from.
What do we usually think about when we buy clothes?
What they look like? What they cost? How well they fit?
Usually we have no idea of where they have come from, or how they are produced. 11

12. Spot the Difference!
Ask the audience ‘What is the difference between these two t-shirts? If you can, take in two t-shirts as props (one Fairtrade and one non Fairtrade). If you can’t you can use the ones pictured. Ask for two groups of volunteers to come up and ‘spot the difference’. Ask them to comment on the size, shape, weight and colour. These are all things they can see, but what about the things they can’t see? Suggest thinking about who produced the t-shirts, where did the cotton come from? Who are the workers that picked the cotton?
The two groups of volunteers now represent farmers. One group represents the cotton farmers who grew the cotton which went to make the t shirt ‘A’ (Farmers Group A), the other, t-shirt ‘B’ (Farmer Group B). 12

13. Who worked hardest? Farmer group A Farmer group B
Tell each group you have a report which tells us how hard they are working to produce the cotton. Give each group an envelope with the report in and ask them to open it and hold the report. In both envelopes is the same sentence ‘Work Very Hard’. They have to plant the seeds, make sure the crops have enough water (cotton needs lots of water), at harvest they pick the cotton which is very heavy, take out the seeds (called ginning). They both worked hard.
Another option here (more interactive) would be to bring in two heavy sacks full of clothes (representing cotton). Ask them both to carry the sacks from one side of the stage to another, and carry them back again (they could do it as a relay). They can go back and forth across the stage until they feel tired, and the audience have got the point. The main point is that the bags should be very heavy to lift, so it’s not a race but it should be difficult just getting across the stage. Then announced ‘Who worked the hardest? They both did!’

14. Who earned the most? Farmer group A Farmer group B
Give Farmer group A a Fairtrade Chocolate bar, and Farmer group B only half a Fairtrade chocolate bar for the work they’ve done. Farmer group A earned the most, even though they did the same amount of work. This is because Farmer group A sell their cotton to a Fairtrade organisation, Farmer B sell their cotton to the main market (non Fairtrade).
Teachers notes: Fairtrade provide 30% more to cotton producers

15. Fair ?
Is it FAIR that both farmer groups work hard but only one group gets fair pay?

16. Occupation: Cotton Farmer
Case Study: Bakary
What happens when farmers don’t get paid enough money? They face problems. This is Bakary, he is a cotton farmer in Mali. Mali is one of the world’s poorest countries. Despite working long hours in the fields, each year he and his family earn less and less from their cotton. He struggles to pay for the basics of life, like healthcare and education for his children. He fears he will not be able to buy clothes for his family. He says, "If we don't earn money from cotton we won't be able to buy food. If any of our family members fall ill we won't be able to take care of them.”
Name: Bakary
Location: Mali
Occupation: Cotton Farmer 16

17. Children working in the fields
I pick cotton all day. It’s a very long day. We are treated
like slaves. I am tired, and would like to go home. Our
teachers bring us here, they are ordered to by the state.
If I complain I will get expelled from my school. I work 13
hours a day and it is very hard and heavy work. No one
can speak out.
In Uzbekestan children often work in the cotton fields. Ask the children how old they are. Ask them to stand up if they’re older than 7. All those standing up would be working in cotton fields for 13 hours a day, picking cotton! You might only get paid 25p per day (which would barely cover your food). You might get shouted at if you complain. You have to work hard and you are not treated very well.
Notes to teacher/deliverer: In Uzbekistan the state orders schools to close and children to pick cotton during harvest. This is child slavery and denies children of their basic rights.

18. What does it mean?
But lets think about Farmer group A, who did get enough money. Hands up who has seen this Mark before? Does anyone know what it means?

19. Fairtrade Guarantees 1) A fair wage 2) No child slavery
3) Safe working conditions
4) Looks after the environment
5) Money for the community
The Fairtrade Mark means:
Farmers receive a fair and stable price for their products
No Child Slavery is used for Fairtrade products
Farmers are given protective clothes so they don’t harm themselves when working with crops.
A greater respect for the environment. The fairtrade mark is only given to farmers who look after the environment.
Farmers receive extra money for their community to help build more schools, dig wells for water and build medical centres.

20. Narmaben
Fairtrade is changing the lives of farmers, it is helping them achieve a better life. Narmaben is able to send her grandson to school. She can afford to do this because of the good and FAIR price she receives for her cotton. She is now able to afford to feed her family, and can look forward to the future. She works hard and receives a good price. She works under good conditions and is not subjected to dangerous pesticides.

21. Life changing community projects
Build Schools
The extra money for the community received by Fairtrade farmers is spent on community projects such as schools, building wells, providing medical centres etc. The community decide as a group where the money should go. So Fairtrade helps individual farmers, but it also helps the community as a whole.
Build Wells 21

22. What can you do? What can we do?
Lets think back to the two Tshirts. They may have seemed the same, but if we see the Fairtrade Mark on one of them it means it has had a really positive impact on the cotton farmers who picked the cotton for it. Our choice of what we buy has a direct impact on farmers across the world – we are very powerful individuals, we can change the lives of others! 22

23. Hands up who doesn’t wear clothes?
What has all this got to do with me?
We all wear clothes, hands up if anyone doesn’t wear clothes?
(note to teacher/deliverer, there will always be as few pupils who put their hands up)
What we wear can be fair! Is your school uniform FAIR? If not, ask if it can be.

24. Fairtrade!
And it’s not only cotton, the Fairtrade Mark is on over 4,500 products: bananas, fruit juice, tea, coffee, cereal, even footballs!
It’s not all about products you can also help by joining a Fairtrade steering group in your school and help your school become a Fairtrade school. You can hold Fairtrade events, design Fairtrade posters, have a Fairtrade day etc. Be proud to support Fairtrade! 24

25. The End.
Thank you for listening! 25