World Fair Trade Day Competition May 12th 2007

The collaboration with NEWS meant we had the first ever World Fair Trade Day Global Campaign: shops in Europe, producers and retailers all over the world including North America participating.

The idea of working with schools worked well and  IFAT received entries in the drawing competition from five countries, two regions with significant competitions happening in India, Nepal, Indonesia and New Zealand

The first prize went to Trade Aid New Zealand

The second prize went to Sahaj India

The third prize went to Fair Trade Group Nepal

There were nine judges who worked carefully and fairly to select the winners:
Arun Raste and Modestus Karunaratne for Asia
Jean Munyaneza and Beatrice M Mwasi for Africa
Kees Van den Burg and Jeremy Piercy representing Europe
Ana Asti and Gabriela Frers for Latin America
Susan Chase for North America and Pacific Rim

*Article provided by IFAT

Sana Haskatala in Nepal conducted an essay competition on this years World Fair Trade Day theme "Kids Need Fair Trade", here are the 1st and 2nd prize winners essays and photos of them receiving their prize and participating in the event.

Master –Ratish Basnyat  , Class –10 , GEMS
1st prize winner

“Little hands Labor band”

Walking down the boulevard of each and every streets of Kathmandu Valley , we can see many little hands  being exploited in hotels and  many other places .Not only in Kathmandu valley , we can witness  such pathetic condition even outskirts and shrubs. Those blameless hands which were to turn the pages of books and acquire knowledge are forced to rub tables, clean the dishes, and wash clothes and lot of physical stress.

This is the burning issue all over the world and many organizations and institutions are working for the welfare of such misfortuned children but still such conditions of child labor is prevailing in many countries, especially in developing countries .There  are many factors that play vital role for influencing and forcing children for such physical labor .One of the major fact is poverty .Due to poor economic condition and large family size of the family , parents cannot fulfill their children’s basic as well as additional needs .Condition is such that parents are not able to fill their children’s stomach completely even twice a day .As a consequence of such condition parents are forced to send their children for working in the city area  so that their children can spend a perfect present and acquire a secured future .
“ Today’s child is the pillar of tomorrow’s nation .It is a well heard and one of the proverbs .Not only popular , this proverb carries a generous truth that all of us should understand and try to make a deep meaning  out if it .If the children are well educated and qualified then it is obvious that the nation will run in the smooth path if development and the nation will be well flourished and developed .But if the today’s children are not given proper education and opportunity  and involve them in difficult physical stress , then the future of those children and the whole nation will appear dark and awful .The nation cannot develop even a little and all the citizens must earn their living in regular  physical labor .If such condition prevails in the nation , then the nation will remain a generation back  in context to other countries .So ,for smooth and parallel running of the nation , child labor must be reduced ,Not only reduced , in fact it must be eradicated from the country .

As the means of communication and awareness have hit each and every corners of the world, people are slowly and gradually running for reducing little hands in larger tasks. There are many institutions and organizations that are working for the welfare of such children .Some of the international organization based on the welfare of trafficked and exploited children are – SOS (Save our Soul ) , UNICEF , UNESCO etc ,There are sme national level organizations as well which are helping those poor and misfortuned children .Some of them are –Paropakar Santha , KAthmandu Jyacees , Amako Maya etc.These institutions are running different effective programs which are really helping those childrem  to uplift their social ,physical  and mental status .Such institutions  are running community based awareness programmes awareness via communication  like tv , radio , internet ect which have played a vital role for influencing people in the eternal eradication of child labor which is praise worthy and should be followed by each and every aware citizen .

In spite of such programmes and trails there are many Judatic natured people who exploit small children for their personal benefit .Not only physical and mental stress, they exploit  such children for sexual pleasure as well .So to abolish such condition from nation and from whole world , all of us must work hand in hand and work for the domination of such culture and punish those who support child labor .though it might be hard to dominate this condition which has set up a culture in our society , it can be done we all  unite together putting our hand on ands and make a stir determination and work to get the goal.
Children are pure hearted and clean minded .They are not at all responsible for their such pathetic condition .It is their little of misfortune and misguidance which left them in that threshold condition of helplessness and awful career .So all of us must help such children and correct their little of the misfortune and guide them properly so that they can lead a proper life and the generation next too can learn from them and the nation can run in the sustainable developed state.

Nobody in this earth are born with blank mind and hollow qualification .it might be that they are little blunt .So it is our responsibility and prime duty to provide them with proper opportunity so that they can sharpen up their hidden qualities and march forward for the bright and shinning future .In order to make this condition possible , first of all children must be set free from household works and hard physical works and they must be given proper education and opportunity .If we are successful in  accomplishing this mission , then we can be grateful to ourselves for providing those helpless children a better future of their occur .So it is high time for us to protect those children’s life from being extirpated and our nation to pass through the worse than the worst nightmare .So we must go forwarded with the bold thinking and clear view of “LITTLE HANDS  LABOUR BAND “
If we are able to do so, then we can see the beautiful morning of golden sunrise in the near future.

Miss RUBINA BOGATI
Class -10
Age –15
School AVM
2nd Prize winner

LITTLE HANDS LABOUR BAND

Almighty blessed over each and very hip polloi with the eccentric thigummy
So called “fortune and destiny “which differs and over rules them through out their entire time on earth .In this ignoramus   process by the extreme ruler if the universe some people settle down in the tail so they need huge effort to reach in the summit of glory where as, some fortunately jumps over the head flourishing ecstasy over their entire pulchritudinous life. Among lots and lots of those settled ones in the bottom one of the physique comprise of “Laborers “

The most worthwhile creation and a magical gift of the creator is what called “birth ” and the very most initial stage of the breathing chain is “childhood “/When  a child not given proper care and furthermore obliged to remain banded with in the hard walls of labor then their pitiful situation is termed as “child labor”

In every nook and corner of the world the strong and deep roots of child labour exists and relating condition of the developing  countries such as “Nepal “ it’s a prodigious  troublesome as it is bold enough to silently  desist in the speedy furthering  hectic world .Whenever you’ll  roam around in the cities like kathmandu you’ll come across lots and lots  of children who have  completely  left the hope of ray to get bliss of happiness .Whenever your eyes dwindle around and finally tuck in their eyes then you‘ll realize and understand the question if their  inner soul ringing around in their heart  and mind i.e. WHY? Why their bellow goes vanished within them? Why VIP‘s whisper becomes louder than their yell? Why their happiness never shows its existence? Why their life fades before blooming?

Perhaps answering their anxiousness we would fit in their condition in a single line i.e. “ their birth is simply to die untimely but not to leave their footprints in this earth” or “ for  their life - god made a fun of their “destiny ” people make fun of their “ lifestyle” and they themselves “ live in fun to “die “ in extreme fun “ .This is al their life consists of “tearful eyes” “fearful heart ” and staring and gnashing of the masters .Their life started with a need of survival and will end with the ever most bitter test the survival .Without  tasting the perfect and real taste if happiness or life ,they will hug the strongest truth i.e. “death “ or “the end of their breathing chain “
 
Heading towards the cause of this pitiful and forever controversial issue of the world “child labor” Would it always be the “destiny”? feasibly “No”, the superiority feel of the high class people, the unstable every poverty against political situation of the country lack of unity among all the mortal and the corrupt no conscious govern head of the country could be paid responsible for those child who are the entire responsible one of their heart’s lup dup to go on and mind’s trigger to run.

Paying a hawk eye in the life of those poor child laborers you‘ll realize the tragic of god that wakes them always against their happy life fantasy.

“Child –Labor” is also one o the major causes of the unable ness of the country to ebb and flow in the greatest hood of development .Each and every able citizen also should concentrate in this issue as, children are the future builder  and perfect garnishee of the dream developed categorized nation from the steady developing  nation such as “ Nepal ”  .All the hoi polloi should concentrate and pay their attention from the deepest nook  of their heart in dreaming of the eradication of the “child labor” from every home , every city , each and every country and the unabridged globe .As dream is the initial stage of invention all mortal should “Dare to Dream “ and step in all possible field of the eradication of the child labor and bestowing  freedom in the child’s tender  age from killing the burden of labor .

Finally, all the people should get united to bring the ray of sun really hopeful but not the one which has existed a la mode   i.e. every day   a brand new sun rises   becomes modish shines all day long, provides them lost and lots of rays but with our hope to somersaults their epoch and lastly hides among the hills to make truly meaningful that the rising sun will bring a better new accustom in the viability.

We should try hard to make their life bright, luminary and stationary star from the one which is falling and falling to “infinity”

Ultimately, the present condition of the labors children could be perfectly described as “their life is a flower which came into existence unfortunately between the masses of thorns so, people can only show their empathy but can’t move their hands further to tend and care them hence, -- and trying hard to bloom also they have to fade rotting.