Discussion Board page added

Hi All,

I have added a page on my blog as a means of tracking my conversations that I am involved in on the discussion board.

To give it some legs and context I am putting the orginal posting with the blog address of that person, and then followed by my response.
Karen

Discussion Board Week 9 Chocolate- The Bitter Truth

This week I had decided to begin to support another community action after watching Four Corners on Monday night http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/content/2010/s2885745.htm..

I will confess I love chocolate and eat it often, so to make this decision was going to be a personal sacrifice as it is both limiting and costly action. None the less the program has spurred me into taking a personal stand on the issue.

The story follows the easy with which coco beans which have been farmed by slave labour in Ghana, mostly by children, including children who have been kidnapped and enslaved on these farms.

The story follows the claims of the major Europe chocolate makers who have signed up to Fairtrade programs. The claim is that some of their products (these are labelled as fair trade) only has coco from farms without abusive labour practices.

The practice of selling coco beans is a complicated process and has many points of selling, and once sold to a company that can on sell this legitimizes the coco beans as it now has documentation.

After this story I made the decision only to purchase free trade chocolate as a contribution to the community action that is needed to support the children and communities in Africa. It is this kind of community action that can contribute to significant changes within their community.

I am but one person- but I have begun telling all my friends and family- and now this group in the hope that others will also make the choice to be involved in the community action.

In keeping with this theme I have recently finished reading an article by Bob Manteaw (Community Development Journal Vol 43 No 4 October 2008 pp. 428–443) http://cdj.oxfordjournals.org/  on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). The article was written in 2008 and discuss how corporations are more and more not just recognising but committing to the practice of contributing in meaningful ways with their communities.

Cadbury (Australia) has committed to build on the Cadbury Cocoa Partnership (CCP) that was launched just over a year ago. They committed to investing AU$100m over ten years to help improve the lives of cocoa farmers in Ghana and other parts of the world. Cadbury had also committed to paying producer organisations the internationally agreed Fairtrade minimum price, as well as an additional Fairtrade premium that is to be used as part of a collective investment in both business and community projects which aim to improve their lives in the future

http://www.fta.org.au/cadbury-announcement/cadbury-fairtrade-q.

Given last years World Financial Crisis (WFC) and yesterdays stunning crash on the stock markets, I am wondering how committed organisations are right now to contributing to their communities. The commitment by the individuals to support community action, even in hard financial times will go a long way to show large corporations the value of remaining committed to community development. So let us keep fighting the fight long after this semester ends for community action.

Something for you to think about. Bye for today. Karen.

Email reply to Bump in the road

Hi Bron,

I understand the busy week thing. Not sure what the issue is about the money. I haven't heard from your head of arts dept. I will call her on Monday and follow up.
Thanks for all that.
Karen

Email Bump in the road

Hey Karen,

I talked to Kerrie  (our head of arts department) and she is just concerned about the money involved and what is going to happen with it all.
She said that she will get in contact with you to see what she can organise, but i was thinking that if she hasn't already, you could maybe contact our school and talk to her!
Sorry it has taken me awhile, school has just been fairly busy this week!
Hope I haven't inconvenienced you too much with taking so long! and that everything is going well for you!
Bron

Email- Christian is Back Yah!

Just got back to Bris,
Will call you tomorrow (Tues) to discuss in more detail.
Christian.

A Little help from my Friend

Hi All,
Wow I have done so much on my blog in the last two days, as well as catching up on all those people blogs from our class that I am following- leaving comments and finding articles that relate to what they are doing.

So a new addition that I am actually very proud of- I have added some photos that I have on my computer of Christian's art work that is in my office.

Also I thought I would do something a bit creative for my blog to explain my journal, so I have added a page that I have used pictures to help explain my journey- please have a look.

But like all things that are good you don't usually do it alone- so I need to say a massive thank you to Theresa . Theresa not only helped me get it started, but last night spent hours whilst we added and moved things on my blog, and again has stretched my skills further than I imagined I could go.
Thanks again Theresa
Bye for today Karen

Email follow up with Artist

Hi Christian,
Not sure if you are checking your emails, I know that you are posting on your web page saw the photos.

I have heard from Bron and she is saying it in this coming Sunday full day is the only possibility for the workshop or alternatively she has suggested:

The other idea was do we maybe have Christian there on the day (23rd May) showing what he does and have people sign up for it then, and then just have another day when we get together and have a stall to sell these?

Let me know asap so I can let her know.
http://www.aerograffix.com.au/
Karen