The following is from Andrea Wilkinson’s travel blog.

Well after a long four-month process, the final results of Swaziland’s elections were announced and it seems the Vote for Women campaign has had little success.

You may remember Tholiwe Tsela from my previous blogs. (Revisit ‘Shining a Light on Swaziland Struggles to refresh your memory.) Tholiwe was only one of 19 women out of 175 chiefdoms to make it through to the secondary level of elections.

Still, she has been unsuccessful in her dream (and fight) to make it as a female MP.

Unfortunately she may see this as the end of the road in her crusade to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS and encouragement of female empowerment across the kingdom.

You see, there has been a significant need for gender empowerment in Swaziland for many years, and still little progress has been made.

For instance, Swaziland is currently the only Southern African country that has not endorsed the Convention for the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). Continue reading →

Click here to learn how you can invest in fair trade. Click here to donate to the Shared Interest Foundation

The following is from Andrea Wilkinson’s travel blog.

A celebration took place in one of the world’s last remaining kingdoms last week.
And what a celebration it was!

After all, we’re talking about King Mwasti III’s 40th birthday as well as the 40th year of independence for Swaziland.

Of course, it may feel slightly bizarre to be talking in terms of independence when a lot of people living in Swaziland don’t even have the freedom to earn a fair living.

While King Mswati spent £4 million to celebrate his milestone – with President Mugabe as one of his VIP guests – hundreds of thousands of Swazi’s will endure another year of extreme poverty.

Being driven in one of the 20 brand spanking new BMW’s bought especially for the occasion, King Mswati arrived with his 13 wives who had just returned from a shopping trip in Dubai.

The country is divided in their thoughts towards this event. Some do place their trust in the King, believing that he has their best interests at heart. However, it is the majority who agree that the money spent on shopping trips, cars, marching bands and garden parties could have been better spent on addressing the country’s ever increasing HIV/AIDS.

After all, around 40% of Swaziland’s population have the disease, while only one in four people live to see their 40th birthday.

Quite ironic then that the King’s celebration was named the 40/40 event.

Swazi Trade Union leader Jan Stilole stated: “People feel strongly because this is a plundering of the country’s resources in the height of grinding poverty for most the Swazi masses. They feel that their money is being wasted with arrogance.”

And the sad truth is that as the king, his wives and friends all tuck into a lavish banquet, the majority of the country doesn’t even know where their next meal is coming from.

Click here to learn how you can invest in fair trade. Click here to donate to the Shared Interest Foundation

The following is from Andrea Wilkinson’s travel blog.

As is usually the case, what I expected to be the most daunting part of my trip has turned out to be the best bit. I must remember this next time something challenging comes my way!

Ok, so I’ve now trained 100 people from three different countries: Botswana, Namibia and South Africa.
No matter how many times I say it, it still doesn’t feel quite real.

But the difference made by greater fair trade awareness is very real indeed. In fact, at times it is overwhelming.

Over and over again in the past week I have discovered firsthand the impact fair trade makes – not just on individual lives but entire communities.

With the extra money made from the Fairtrade Premium, communities have done some amazing stuff.
Making every decision as a group, they debate what is top priority for the workers. This ranges from creches to training facilities.

We could learn a lot from this community approach. Perhaps it is no mistake that ‘unity’ makes up the latter part of the word?

Robin, one of the guys that I trained this week told me:

“The difference Fairtrade makes to businesses, family and friends is second to none.

“What I like is that the community is empowered to make a decision that will help everyone. We now have a new creche for our children to play in and stay safe while we are working.

“As many of us have up to six children, this has made a massive difference to our lives.

“I am so happy that you are here today to tell more people about Fairtrade as i want everyone to benefit just like I have.”

So here I am yer again, reflecting on an amazing trip; something that will hopefully help lift thousands of farmers, handicraft makers and their families out of poverty.

This is why I have to cram in as much as I can before my journey home. Time is of the essence.

Before I get to the airport, several craft businesses want to find out more about Shared Interest, and there’s that NGO looking to create a long term project with us in the region… and there’s also one more producer to call…..

Oh and my packing of course

Next time you hear from me, I may be back on British soil. Just a 22 hour flight in between!

Click here to learn how you can invest in fair trade. Click here to donate to the Shared Interest Foundation