International Fair Trade Day Saturday 14th May 2022. Afternoon. Day 2
Continuing the theme ofInternational Fair-Trade Day, Mike and Sheena King were invited to attend a formal welcome to the Municipality of Grecia in a marquee outside the Municipal Building in central Grecia.
From 2.00pm, there were speeches of welcome from the Director of CoopeVictoria, Shirley, the Coordinator of Grecia Fairtrade Town, the Mayor of Grecia, Francisco Murillo, and Nora Suarez, the Deputy Mayor of Grecia, finishing with an exchange of gifts by the Deputy Mayor of Grecia. Mike and Sheena King responded with a bag of gifts for the Grecia Mayors from the Mayors of High Wycombe. Sonia Murillo, representing the Caribbean and Latin American World Fair Trade Organization (CLAC/WFTO), also gave a welcome address. Maria Angela kindly acted as the Spanish to English translator. Mike King, responded in Spanish thanking our gracious hosts on behalf of Wycombe For Fairtrade and the Mayors of High Wycombe.
Caption: Deputy Mayor of Grecia, Nora Suarez, officially welcoming Mike and Sheena King to Grecia in marquee outside the Municipal Building.
Caption: Shirley from the Grecia Fair Trade Group welcoming Mike and Sheena from the partner Fairtrade Town of High Wycombe.
A metal plaque was presented to Mike and Sheena King by Grecia Municipality marking the occasion of the visit and acknowledging the formal friendship and partnership between the two Fairtrade Towns of Grecia and High Wycombe. I thanked our hosts and the Mayor in Spanish and looked forward to further cementing our relationship at Mayoral level, Fairtrade group level, and through uniting two schools, the Colegio Experimental Bilingue de Grecia and Highcrest Academy in Micklefield which had engaged in joint Zoom “A” level Geography classes.
Caption: Welcoming dignitaries, Francisco Murillo nearest, Mayor, Manual Chaves in check shirt, President of CoopeVictoria, and Sonia Murillo, Costa Rica – Panama Small Producers Association, seated far right.
Francisco Murillo, his wife, and sons wining and dining Mike and Sheena King at his home on International Fair Trade Day evening.
Further collaborative work involved researching, compiling, and writing an academic paper on “Systems, Solidarity, and Fairtrade”, as well as endeavouring to encourage a microroaster or an independent coffee roaster in the UK to roast a batch of CoopeVictoria green beans to produce an organic Fairtrade celebration coffee marking the 3-year Grecia – High Wycombe Fairtrade Town Partnership Agreement. The objective was planned to be achieved by International Fair-Trade Day in May 2023.