Tracy Mitchell is a Shared Interest ambassador and the views expressed herein are her own and do not necessarily represent the views of Shared Interest Society.

When I wrote my last blog I was getting on pretty well with the Fairtrade Fortnight Member Challenge list – six down, eight to go!

So what have I been up to since then? Well Monday evening saw me in Edinburgh for the Lord Provost’s reception – it was good to meet Ruth for the first time and fantastic to hear from Towera Jalakasi from Malawi who has extensive experience working to empower small businesses and promoting fair trade amongst a wider range of producers in Malawi. She is on the Board of COFTA and is touring Scotland over the next two weeks, hosted by the Scottish Fair Trade Forum – the group that is working to make Scotland a Fair Trade Nation. I am on the Board of the SFTF representing East Dunbartonshire Fairtrade Steering group – and on Tuesday I went to the latest Fairtrade Steering group meeting. The steering group has agreed to upload the Shared Interest Schools pack to their schools intranet which will mean it will be available to all 22 primary and 8 secondary schools in the area. Existing F14 activity, done (although there are events to follow) and Schools involvement – tick!

On Tuesday evening I had friends round for a pancake party – as well as using Fairtrade sugar, we enjoyed pancakes with melted Fairtrade chocolate and chopped Fairtrade bananas – yum!! Followed by Fairtrade tea and coffee. Fairtrade Cuisine – tick! (hardly complex cuisine but I think it counts don’t you?!)

So that brings my total so far to 9 completed challenges. The weekend is busy – with an Ambassador commitment in Balerno on Saturday morning and then the Fair Trade Experience on Saturday and Sunday. I’m looking forward to seeing Sarah and Patrick there! Meanwhile had better get the camera out for the photo challenge!

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