Some pics from the Fairtrade tasting sessions at both COOP FORUM and ICA Maxi.

 
 
 
 
Some pics from Rättviseakademin on the 15th of October.

Some pics from the gig at Söderport on the 13th of Oct.

Fairtrade Fokus in Kalmar - summary

Over the last two weeks I have helped to organiser a whole load of events in Kalmar as volunteer campaign coordinator for Fairtrade Fokus - Fairtrade Swedens campaign to improve awareness about Fairtrade and improve sales of Fairtrade-certified products. Overall I am very happy with the campaign which has meant that we have met 100s more residents in Kalmar and spread the word about Fairtrade.

The first event was a gig at Söderport café, Kalmars best cafés if you ask me. Anes, the owner, was kind enough to let us use his place and he bought in Fairtrade wine and coffee especially for the event. Elisabeth and I were there early to set up our table, then came the artists to sound check, then the audience started filtering in. I opened the evening at 7pm and handed over to Jonas Löhnn from the local Green Party who handed over a Fairtrade football to Angelica who had won a Fairtrade competition that they'd had earlier in the year. Then Kim Stranne, the first artist of the evening, got up on stage and help a brilliant 45 min set with really funny and entertaining chat in between songs. Kim always buys fairtrade coffee and can't survive without a cup of coffee first thing in the morning. He performed, amongst others, his song "Svarta diamanten" (trans. black diamond) about the coffee industry which he did with feeling and warmth. Next up was young artist Leo who performed a number of acoustic songs and the final band was a trio called Electric Alice who played four songs plus an encore. All bands were well appreciated by the audience which managed to fill Söderport café almost to capacity. The local newspaper Östran came and took photos and reported on the gig and the campaign which was great.

Next up we had a visit from a group of young enthusiasts from Stockholm who had prepared a evening of lectures, workshops, competitions and had even made a short film all about fair trade, but even touched on the climate issue. Those of us who were there had a really nice evening, just a shame that not more people came to enjoy the evening.

We had a rest over the weekend, but the following Tuesday was Nordic Fairtrade Challenge, a coffee-break competition to see which of the Nordic countries could get as many people as possible to consume at least one Fairtrade product at an organised coffee break. Sweden came out champions with over 130 000 people taking part which was great news. At our coffee break at the students' union in Kalmar, we had a visit from the TV company TV4 who spent about a half an hour filming us and asking us questions. It was a bit nervous to be in front of the camera, but fun to see myself on TV the next day! At our coffee break, we managed to get 71 people to try Fairtrade which was great and it was great to hear how many other people had participated in coffee breaks all over Kalmar.

On Wednesday we organised a lecture/discussion with Emma Rung who had come down from Stockholm to talk about Fairtrade. Emma told us about her latest visit to producers in Peru and how, at one farm, they had invested in a pack-horse to help transport their goods whereas at another, they had invested in a high-wire which they used to transport the harvested bananas downt the hillside, taking the weight off their backs. I also had the chance to present some slides from PhD student Lina Lindells research which was also about the human impact of organic and fair trade farming on local farmers. We were a fair-sized group who attended the lecture with people from the university, students and personnel, as well as other from the municipality and the World Shop.

The campaign was nicely rounded off with free tasting sessions both at the supermarket COOP FORUM on Friday and today at ICA MAXI. I had help from 8 other volunteers in total which meant that we could do loads more that I otherwise could have done. We managed to give out all over free samples of icing-sugar and herbal tea. Yesterday the newspaper Östran came to report and the article, with a nice colour photo, was in today's paper which is great.

Thanks to all those volunteers, companies and organisation that took part in Kalmars campaign and helped it to be a great success.

Sam Edgecombe
Campaign Coordinate for Fairtrade Fokus 2009 in Kalmar

Abigail Victoria Squirrell

Taken on the 5th of Jan when I went to visit for the day. She had just done a massive poo and is looking rather contented.

Pictures in the local newspaper

Today some pictures of me in the student theatre production were published in the local newspaper here in Kalmar called Barometern www.barometern.se . To read the article (in Swedish) go to http://www.barometern.se/studieliv/grongolingar-bakom-galet-sagomedley(623503).gm and for the Picture Reel follow the link under "Bildspel".

Take it easy

TV Star?

About a month ago I applied online to be Sweden's next TV presenter star....and yesterday I got an email saying that I had be chosen to do an audition in Stockholm!!!! Still not sure that I will take up the challenge. Who knows, I could be on the TV!!!! More info in Swedish http://svt.se/svt/jsp/Crosslink.jsp?d=62242&a=934105&lid=puff_886165&lpos=extra_0

Thesis

Front cover of thesis :)
Got 200 of the beggers back from the printers on Thursday. Now it's just the defence left!

Making Change Happen

Bit of a plug for an event happening in Lund on 2nd of November. The event's aim is to promote Sustainable Development and Solidarity between the Generations.

Go to Making Change Happen's homepage

Friday 20th July 2007: back to Lund

Arrived in Munich in the early morning. Found a nice café with a good view over the train station and sat an read "The Guardian Weekly" before getting the train to Hamburg.

Went to the toilets (very clean cost 1.1 euros) and bought some wine for Elin before catching the ICE train to Hamburg. The journey was long and uneventful. Tried to sleep a bit and almost read all of my newspaper.

Arrived in Hamburg with only a few minutes to spare before the train was to leave to Copenhagen. The train to Copenhagen was only 3 coaches long and was full! After two hours, the train drove onto the ferry at Rodby and during the hour long crossing I ate fish and chips, walked out on deck and had a coffee and chocolate bar. It was really windy out on deck and I had to stop my paper cup from blowing away.

Arrived in Copenhagen and ran to buy a ticket to Lund and caught a very crowded train to Lund. Had to stand after moving seat twice. Arrived in Lund at ~21:30 and got back to the flat at 10pm. The interrail tour was over!

(picture is of a wind farm on the danish side taken from the ferry)

Thursday 19th July 2007

Woke at 7:40 to find I was sharing my cubicle with three girls! Showered, cooked breakfast of poached eggs and yoghurt before packing my stuff, taking out money from the cashpoint and checking out. Left my luggage and valuables at the hostel.

Left hostel at 9 for the public baths in Budapest in order to escape the heat of the day. Arrived at the baths (Széchenyi) and paid the 2400 florint entry. Got dressed into my swimwear and entered the baths.

The first bath was freezing cold (13 degrees C), but the next one was gorgeous at 36 degrees! Explored the rest of the indoor pools before discovering the outdoor pools. I preferred the indoor pools because they were out of the sun. I tried the steam room (which was too hot) and the sauna (which was ok). After the sauna took a dip in the really cold pool which is a really strange experience.

Spent the rest of the day (until 6pm) reading my book in the shade, popping in and out of the baths (hot then cold) and taking short naps. Had something to eat at the pool (chips and bread with raw onion on it).

Got back to the hostel and went the internet for 20 minutes before eating two of my rolls that I'd made and finishing my book.

Got bus number 7 to the station and bought a bottle of wine and had a glass of beer before getting on the train to Munich (which was a little late). I shared a luxury two-bed cabin with an architecture student, Seth, from New Orleans, Louisiana, who I talked with for a couple of hours and he showed me his drawings from a long tour of Europe that he's done as a part of his architecture course.

Wednesday 18th July 2007

Woke at 7am, got dressed and went to have breakfast. Managed to sneak free breakfast from a group of church youths from Solihull who'd just been to Romania.

Met György Hantal (a student of physical chemistry who'd just been on the student conference) at 8am who gave me a great tour of his city including the Elizabeth square, the Basilika, Andrassy Avenue and the Millenium square and the Parliament buildings. I took lots of pictures and didn't feel at all like a tourist(?).

After looking at the parliament buildings sat for ~1 hour an had a cappucino with György in a café opposite a building site. György had just finished his Master's thesis and was going to start a PhD between France and Hungary. We then took the tram to his University. György explained that the Tram cost too much money and that people suspect that some dodgy dealing had been going on. He proudly showed me round his university included an ancient particle accelerator from the '50s. Left György before lunch and headed back to the hostel and had lunch of cheese sandwiches bought from Kaiser's and got ready to got to Marghit island to a swimming pool complex to cool off.

On leaving the hostel bumped into three English guys from Shrewsbury who were also going to the same place. Even though we caught different trams, I caught up with them at the island and we found the "strand" place thanks to my broken German. (In Hungary people learn German before English). We spent 4-5 hours there and enjoyed the pools and flumes. Talked to Dave about Harry Potter books etc.

Took the tram back at 6ish rather sunburnt by this time although I had tried to stay in the shade as much as possible. Made a mushroom omelette and chilled a few beers that I'd bought from Kaiser's. Met the guys at 8:30 and had a couple of beers before getting a great bar-tip from the girl at reception. On the roof of Kaiser's was an outdoor bar with good views, ok-priced drinks and table football.

Tuesday 17th July 2007

Awoke when the South-Koreans got off in Vienna and spent the next couple of hours watching the world go by. Had my passport checked by 2 passport controllers. Had breakfast from the train guard.

Arrived in Budapest and the guard warned us for pickpockets. Was met by some people in YHA tee-shirts, but had to wait too long to get a ride so decided to walk to the hostel (only took 15 minutes). The weather was already very hot and it was only very early! Left my luggage at the hostel and bought lunch from the nearest supermarket "Kaiser's". Ate lunch in a small park 15 minutes walk from the hostel which the girl at reception had reccomended.

Went back to the hostel to check-in, checked emails at a local internet café (200 florint per hour) and had a much-needed shower. Went to bed for a siesta before taking the Metro to the west of the city. Walked along a park and up a hill to get to the castle which where there we virtually no tourists. The late evening sun lit up Budapest in such an amazing way and the views were quite simply stunning.

Caught bus back to the city, on which two american tourists were caught out for not having the right ticket. The American man protested his innocence loudly and repeatedly.

Arrived back at the hostel, bought ingredients to make leek and potato soup which I shared wit ha guy from Nottingham.

(photo of the Danube and the Parliament taken from the Palace area)

Monday 16th July

Arrived in Strasbourg in the very early morning needing to do a number 2, but all the toilets were closed, so nipped on to an awaiting TGV to do my business and then jumped off again. As I was getting on the TGV saw a french girl I recognised (can't remember where from). Her train was just leaving, but I asked her mum where I knew her from, she said the chantier in Labrousse in 1997.

Walked quickly into Strasbourg's desserted town centre and took some snaps of the cathedral and the streets before heading back to the station (which was being renovated).

Caught the train to Munich and ate breakfast on the train for 6 euros. The rest of the journey was uneventful.

Arrived in munich on-time and went straight to the ticket office where the very competent assistent did in one minute what the SNCF guy tried to do in one hour. I'd ordered a ticket to Budapest return, on a sleeper! Now I had ~12 hours to kill in Munich. Started by storing my bag in the left luggage at Munich station, the set off for the YHA to book room in Budapest. Took a while to find the YHA, getting lost once along the way (found a nice swimming area near the Zoo in doing so). Became a member on the spot and reserved a room at Marco-Polo hostel in Budapest.

Went back into the town centre and went to the Deutsches museum (Science museum) where I wondered around looking a lots of scientific apparatus etc. Most of the sings were in German which didn't help.

Bought some picnic food from a shop then went to Hofgarten to eat it on the lawn. Walked through to the English gardens where hundreds of young people were lapping up the sun, playing games, swimming in the water and generally having a good time. There was also a group of guys who were surfing in the wake left by a sluice gate (or something similar).

Had a beer and a soda from a small beergarden at the edge of the part, on the university side, before heading back to the station.

Had a few beers at a backpackers hostel (beer 3 euro) with some English and American guys before getting the sleeper to Budapest, sharing a cabin with 5 south korean students.

Sunday 15th July 2007

Awoke at 9am after having a good nights sleep in Francheville, apart from being awoken at 3am by Jeremie who had to get something from the cupboard in the guest room.

Opened the shutters to a glorious sunny day, although it was very blowy, which caused lots of small flower petals to be blown into the house during the day. Ambroise and his friend were not to surface until 2am so I had breakfast on my own.

Had a shower then decided to clear up the dirty glasses and dishes that were left from the previous day and loaded up the dishwasher.

Walked into the small town centre to find a stamp for the postcard to Charlotte, but had no luck. Everything was closed apart from one café and a boulangerie where I bought 2 chocolate brioche and a baguette.

Back at the house, started to read my book, but got the urge to pick plums from the plum tree before they all got blown down (it was very blowy and one could hear the plop of plums falling occasionally). Make a couli of plums and had it as a desert along with a goats cheese baguette.

Went for a siesta from 1-3pm by which time the boys were up. Asked for a stamp from Ambroise who kindly found one, then checked internet again for emails and train times.

Got bus to Lyon at 16:40 and tried to buy Munich-prague tickets but with no success. Checked in luggage and walked around aimlessly for half and hour before buying an all-day metro card and got the metro then tram to the waterside near the Rhône where the sun shone with some strength, surprisingly for this late hour. Sat and read book whilst, walkers, cyclists and joggers passed by.

Took the tram then metro back to Vieux Lyon and found "Café scandinave" to sit and have a pint at. Got talking to the irish barman, Brian, who was Irish, but had been living in Lyon for almost 10 years. He told me about how he got into the business (MBA with Guiness) and a few tricks of the trade. Very interesting indeed.

Bought another half-a-pint and was given one free by the owner, Brian, and got a lift to the station by another guy at the bar.

Saturday 14th July 2007

Awoke at 5am and packed things before walking to Lille Europe where Riquier's parents were already waiting to catch the train to Lyon. Train to Lyon was already delayed and ended up departing 20 mins late. Slept most of the journey (remember I'd only had 3 hours sleep) and arrived in Lyon where Anne's sister was waiting to pick them up.

Had nice breakfast in their garden (where I am writing this diary from) and briefly discussed politics (the right-wing Sarkozy had just been elected as president) before we called a timeout. Got an offer to stay in Lyon by Riquier's cousin, Jeremie, which I gladly took up.

Riquier, his parents and his aunt left at around 12 and I was left with Jeremie and Ambroise. Jeremie gave me a great introduction to Lyon's history and geography and pointed out the places of interest on a map.

Had a shower, the something to eat and checked out train times on the internet and got a lift in to town from Jeremie who showed me some great lookouts in order to get a view of the city, drove on past the Roman amphitheatre and then showed me the Basilika (Fourviere). Jeremie left me at the Basilika to go a write his report. I had a close look at the Roman remains, then wandered down the hill into town. Wandered around the streets near rue St-Paul and back along the river Soâne towards the main square.

Caught the metro to Perrache station and spent an hour trying to book the train tickets that I wanted. The man at the ticket office was very helpful, but I did not get the tickets that I wanted, but we managed to book a ticket from Lyon-Munich and Munich-Copenhagen. Got the funicular back up the hill and had a bite to eat before getting bus 30 back to the house. Spent the evening in front of the bbq and didn't have the energy to go back into town to see the July 14th fireworks.

Friday 13th July 2007

Woke early and got dropped off at Lille Europe by Riquier. Booked a train to Brussels (12 euro!!!) and arrived in Brussels at 9:40. Walked aimlessly around Brussels for 30 minutes before dashing to catch the train to Amsterdam. The train to Amsterdam was full of backpacking Americans and talked loudly about their lives etc.

Got to Amsterdam at around 1:30pm and set off for a wander around the town. Saw dozen of coffee shops, but avoided the red light district. Had lunch in a very serene spot by a canal.
Walked through the market on Marketplein when it started to rain quite heavily. Walked on the the Rijksmuseum at paid 10 euro to see a lot of paintings by Rembrant et al.

Got back to the train station to book a ticket on the Thalys, but the train was full, so caught the slow train back to Lille. The train was jam-packed with people.

Arrived in Lille at 9:40 and Riquier came by bike to meet me at the station. We then took the metro to his friend Christine's birthday for one hour before going on back into town to meet 17 cyclists from Nantes University who'd just finished a 10-day cycle trip from Lille to Amsterdam and back again. To celebrate the completion of the trip we sat and drank beer and ate chips under the arches next to Lille Europe until 2am. Got back to Riquier's flat where 4 cyclists were to stay and quickly packed before the next day's early departure.

(Photo of a bike in Amsterdam)

Thursday 12th July 2007

Woke and ate breakfast with Riquier. Decided to spend the morning just walking around Lille. The weather wasn't great, so I went to the Natural history museum which was mainly filled with stuffed animals, but had an interesting section on geology.


Walked on to the museum of fine arts, but did not go in (no more than to use their facilities). Got the metro back to Riquier's place. Bought bread and goat's cheese from Riquier's local market (Place Caulier). Riquier and his Dad had lunch at the flat (friend spaghetti, omelette) which I partly helped to prepare.

Got a lift with Emmanuel (Riquier's dad) after lunch to Riquier's grandmother's place to pick up his bike. Rode around Lille a little, although the weather wasn't the best (drizzle/rain). Rode to the fortress area of the city (Citadel) which still seemed to be in use by the artillery. Otherwise it seemed that the nearby fairground attracted mostly kids on holiday.

Tried to find the fair-trade shop that Riquier talked about, but couldn't find it (in the Wazemmes area) so decided to bike home in the rain.

At 5pm a lady from the gas board came round and turned on Riquier's gas, but we couldn't get the boiler to light. Shortly after we sprinted round town so that Riquier could talk to his letting agency about the problems, buy a new exhaust for his car (we didn't find the place) and buy some organic washing powder.

On our return we took the washing machine out of the car, managed to set it up (with some difficulty) and Riquier did his first wash at his own home which made him very happy!

(Photo of Riquier's flat: drying the washing)

Wednesday 11th July 2007

Woke with Riquier who drove me to Tournai and showed me his office and let me check my emails and make some calls. Drove into Tournai town centre and said hi to one of his friends from his former Lycée. Walked to the train station where I caught the train to Ghent to meet Pieter Saveyn whom I was to call on unexpectedly (see a theme here). Got a text from him once on the train with a meeting place and time. Walked to the town centre which took little more than 20 mins. Walked around the main square a little, where they were just setting up for a big festival. It started to rain and I found shelter before Pieter came by bike .

Walked to find a restaurant which Pieter normally goes to, but it was closed so we went to a Pitta restaurant and talked over lunch (which cost 9 euros). Had a Belgium beer in a small bar in the centre surrounded by canals before we parted company.

Got the tram back to the station (Gint St Pieters), bought some fair-trade chocolate and bananas from an Oxfam store near the station and got to Lille at around 4pm.

Got back to Riquier's and had a quick nap before setting off for Lille Europe where I was to meet Riquier to order tickets to Lyon at the weekend. Directly after reserving the tickets we drove to Méteren and to their farm. We had a nice dinner which Anne had cooked and during the apperatif I showed them photos of Charlotte's wedding. Emmanuel also showed us some photos from a run he'd just taken part in (very muddy).

After dinner we messed around trying to get an old washing machine to work which Riquier was to have. Later Riquier called his girlfriend, Sara, and I had fun chasing the 5 small kittens out of the house.

(Picture of Anne and Riquier Thevenin)

Tuesday 10th July 2007

Arrived in Dursbury where Mark and the others were going to change to go to Amsterdam and just awoke to say goodbye. Couldn't sleep much more so sat at watched the world go by before arrived in Köln at 6:56!

Walked rather aimlessly around Köln for half an hour snapping the impressive Cathedral before catching the train to Aachen at 7:47 only to find it stopping in the middle of nowhere at 8:00 due to train-driver strike action! The strike action (fortunately for me) ended at 8:40 (it was meant to last until 11) and I arrived in Aachen just after 10.

Walked around Aachen trying to find the lab of Steffi Schneider, a former colleague at fkem1. I completely surprised her at her lab at around 11:00 and gave her a bottle of organic wine as compensation. Had lunch with her and her lab at 11:00 and then set off again for lille.

Took the train at 14:30 to Lille changing in Liege and Tournai, but didn't have to make a reservation.

Found Riquier in "Café Citoyen" in Lille where we'd arranged to meet. He was having a meeting with an environmental group about a book chapter that he was writing about alternative energy sources.

Drove back to Riquier's new appartment "41 rue Christoph Colomb", had supper, talked, before getting the metro to the bohemian part of Lille for a little folk music before going to bed.

(picture of the train trivers on Strike in Germany)