27 January 2012

Oxford Diocese are gearing up to support Christians who want to share the Easter story through the Real Easter Egg, a Fairtrade Easter egg with a message.
Introduced for the first time last year, the Real Easter Egg this year features redesigned packaging that includes a colourful account of the events surrounding Easter as well as a Bible quote on the lid. There is also an eight page story book, “The Real Meaning of Easter,” inside the box.

“We have a generation of children and young people and maybe adults who don’t know the Easter story,” said Elizabeth Whitwick, a member of Holy Trinity Church, Headington Quarry, and manager of the Windmill Fair Trade shop in Headington. For her, the Fairtrade egg has the merit of being an easy way to engage children with the story. And, she adds, “it tastes good!”

Elizabeth also emphasises that the egg benefits others. The chocolate’s Fairtrade certification guarantees that the farmers who produced the cocoa and sugar received a fair deal for the products, that environmental standards were met, and that there was no child labour involved.
And because the manufacturers donate 15p to Traidcraft Exchange for every egg sold, it’s making a difference to communities in places like Bangladesh and Tanzania, where Traidcraft helps small producers to gain sustainable livelihoods. “Here we are in this very unequal world and this is doing a bit to redress the balance,” said Elizabeth, who is quadrupling her order.
The donation to charity was also one of the things that appealed to the manager of the Mustard Seed Christian shop in Faringdon, Anthony Fecher. “That’s the way we work,” he said.

The Mustard Seed was one of many shops last year that sold out of the egg. “We had no idea that they would sell as well as they did,” Anthony said. “We shall order more this year, certainly 50 per cent more.”

Win Kennedy, who buys Fairtrade products for the church shop at Christ the Cornerstone in Milton Keynes, said: “They sold well,” she said. “The Milton Keynes Christian Council even took the decision to donate them to the local food bank.”

By contrast supermarkets, despite selling out last year, have not significantly increased their orders this year, the Real Chocolate Company, the Manchester-based manufacturers of the egg said.

The Bishop of Oxford, the Rt Revd John Pritchard said, “It is vitally important that our children are not cheated of the chance to hear the Easter story” and encouraged people to “continue to campaign to establish The Real Easter Egg by placing orders online or supporting independent retailers” as well as asking their supermarkets for the product.

The Diocese of Oxford has also produced a request form that people can hand in to retailers, to help make the point that there is a market for the egg.
Don’t forget to “Take a Step” for Fairtrade during Fairtrade Fortnight (27th February to 11th March). See www.fairtrade.org.uk for inspiration.