Comments on: Tea with F.W. DeKlerk http://smallfarmersbigchange.coop/2008/08/12/tea-with-fw-deklerk/ A green and more just food system starts with small farmers. Sat, 11 Feb 2012 01:00:53 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Phyllis Robinson http://smallfarmersbigchange.coop/2008/08/12/tea-with-fw-deklerk/#comment-1509 Wed, 16 Sep 2009 20:12:45 +0000 http://eecampaign.wordpress.com/2008/08/12/tea-with-fw-deklerk/#comment-1509 Hi Martha,

Thanks for your comment.

I don’t know the answer to your question. Our Heiveld and Wupperthal partners refer to their tea as rooibos so that is how we also refer to it. I will ask them if they also call it by another name.

Phyllis

]]> By: Martha McGinnis http://smallfarmersbigchange.coop/2008/08/12/tea-with-fw-deklerk/#comment-1506 Mon, 14 Sep 2009 19:35:36 +0000 http://eecampaign.wordpress.com/2008/08/12/tea-with-fw-deklerk/#comment-1506 Given this inspiring success story, it’s unfortunate that the worldwide name for this plant is taken from the Afrikaans word. What is the local indigenous African name for this plant? The product should be promoted under this name, not the colonial name. If the indigenous name contains click sounds or other sounds that are hard to pronounce, so what? “Rooibos” isn’t so easy to pronounce either!

]]> By: Rodney North http://smallfarmersbigchange.coop/2008/08/12/tea-with-fw-deklerk/#comment-130 Wed, 03 Sep 2008 04:42:35 +0000 http://eecampaign.wordpress.com/2008/08/12/tea-with-fw-deklerk/#comment-130 Mina,
I won’t pretend that I, or anyone at Equal Exchange, is adequately prepared to speak usefully on the Israeli/Palestinian issue. It is all we can do to grapple with the many nuances of the global coffee/tea/cocoa/ and sugar trades; the domestic market for pecans, almonds, etc./ and the many social, economic & political intricacies of Central America, South Africa, Sri Lanka, and such.
But, with that said, I can repeat our belief that small farmers everywhere should be able to organize, to farm their land, and to market their crops in peace and free from exploitation.

What might be more helpful and interesting for you are the growing efforts to market “fairly traded Palestinian olive oil”, and the products of an encouraging, new-ish company, ”Peace Works”, that offers spreads made from joint Isreali/Palestinian efforts. So far I’ve only heard good reports from both endeavors.
Rodney, Equal Exchange

]]> By: Mina http://smallfarmersbigchange.coop/2008/08/12/tea-with-fw-deklerk/#comment-126 Tue, 26 Aug 2008 20:07:55 +0000 http://eecampaign.wordpress.com/2008/08/12/tea-with-fw-deklerk/#comment-126 Thank you for this article and information. When I was reading it, I could not help but notice the comparison to what has already happened and continues to happen in Palestine and the treatment of the Palestinians: their land and crops, and their very homes, now taken over, destroyed, colonized, crushed and ethnically cleansed from their land and their culture, as they endeavor to survive the illegal occupation of their Israeli masters. Once known for their great oranges and olives, nearly all those lands, and the water to irrigate them, have been stolen from them; they are modern-day slaves, working for starvation wages and hoping their cinderblock homes will still be there when they return from the fields at night. Is there any chance that EQUAL EXCHANGE can help the Palestinians reclaim the lives of abundant agriculture and dignity that is their natural birthright?

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