Schools working together
I visited India to spend some time with the people who grow the cotton for our Fairtrade Polo shirts and T shirts for schools. It started out as an adventure and was fascinating from the moment we touched down in Ahmedabad.
There were two highlights. The first was a surprise. We were talking to spinners at the large Mahima Factory when they hurried us along. We were told to hurry or the children would have already gone home. Puzzled we did indeed hurry. We were whisked away and taken to the Swayan Academy.
We were able to briefly visit each class. The children were predominantly from families who would not normally be able to send their children to school. The pupils were from the rural cotton growing communities and the school was supported by Mahima Purespun. The children were so polite, seemed a little in awe, but clearly happy. It was one of those moments in life that I will remember. As we left the school we both looked at each other and said that the whole trip was worth that one visit. The knowledge that by manufacturing Fairtrade and organic school uniform we were directly in the circle that contributed to this school and their future.
Next we squeezed again into the car and were taken by mostly bumpy tracks to a cotton farm co-operative. We had no idea what to expect and had been told the harvest had taken place. I will wite about that experience in my next blog.