It has been a very difficult few months. Coronavirus has changed the world as we know it and continues to impact on the ways in which we live and work.
In India and Bangladesh, factories have closed causing a huge number of people to migrate across the country and return to their family homes. Some UK fast fashion brands are still refusing to pay for orders to garment factories leaving millions of workers facing starvation. Farmers have been unable to harvest their crops and, across the world, markets have closed.
Traidcraft is all about long term, systematic change…building livelihoods through trade not aid. However over the last few months, Traidcraft has been supporting communities with food, soap and other basics to get them through this crisis. The long term impact of this crisis is yet to hit …and the economic and political consequences will be devastating for people living in poverty.
Recovery isn’t just about surviving the restrictions…it’s about coming together to build a radically different world where we face up to exploitation and global inequality and demand justice for the most vulnerable. If you would like to help go online to the Traidcraft website
At the moment and for the foreseeable future, we are unable to run our monthly Traidcraft stall in the porch room. However, we are taking orders.
If you would like to order anything, please contact me or Deborah Smith. (01453 883611)
Jackie Natt 01453 731018
In the last few months, there has been a lot of working from home in the UK , thanks to the changes that coronavirus has made to the way we live. Balancing working from home with childcare has been very difficult for lots of people. For thousands of women in India, working excessively long hours from home while looking after children and running a household isn’t new....it is how things have always been for them.
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Whilst we have been in isolation, Nkokoto has not suffered so much; all schools are now reopened and the Uhuru clinic is fully operational. Alison and Rod met regularly and felt that it is important that we continue to meet all commitments, which we have done. Fortunately, our bank balance has allowed the Link to make good on all commitments. Charles Mswima, the Urambo Government representative has also provided us with updates regarding government funding, so this is have included for your information.
SUPPORT FOR COVID-19 RESPONSE: We were asked to support the clinics in buying supplies and in May we sent 750,000 Tsh, (£250.) Because there were some excess funds from the Uhuru clinic building works, a total of 1,019,000 Tsh (£335) was used for buying hand washing soap and masks for Nkokoto and Uhuru clinics. In June, Charles Mswima reported that there were no deaths reported at Nkokoto and Urambo District at large. Only four patients were quarantined and they all recovered.
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Imagine if no matter how hard you worked today, you couldn't afford to put food on the table.
For millions of people around the world, that's the reality they face. A fair income gives you freedom, security and hope for the future. It allows you to feed your family and educate your children. That is the power of trade done well.
But unfair trade amplifies poverty. It makes the rich richer and leaves the poor behind. Traidcraft Exchange exists to do two things...
To support people to harness the benefits of trade
To fight against injustice in global trade
It's a simple mission, but it is changing lives all over the world.
Development Programmes
Traidcraft Exchange run programmes in developing countries, supporting poor and vulnerable people to get a better deal from trade.
Campaigning
With our support, Traidcraft Exchange campaign to transform the way trade works - aiming for high-impact, sustainable changes.
Policy and Advocacy 
Traidcraft Exchange advocate for better trade policies and better business practices in the UK.
If you feel compelled to take action, please, consider a donation, or get in contact with Traidcraft for ways you can support them from the safety of your own home.
At the moment and for the foreseeable future, we are unable to run our monthly Traidcraft stall in the porch room …
however, we do have some items for sale that we are now reducing .
If you would anything, please contact me or Deborah Smith.
Jackie Natt
01453 731018
For some communities where Traidcraft works, the impact of the lockdown has been immediate and devastating.
Migrant workers in Bangladesh and India have been left without work. Not registered for the government support available, and used to living hand to mouth, people are struggling to survive. Many are travelling hundreds of miles on foot trying to get back to their home villages.
Traidcraft Exchange has been amazing in adapting the programmes to meet these challenges - running a helpline, linking people up with transport and local support services, and critically, providing food.
Garment factory workers across Asia are also facing extreme hardship.The UK clothes market is down by a third. Factories have been closing as orders dry up. Some have not even been paid for work they did back in March.
That's why Traidcraft is calling on UK clothing brands to honour their existing contracts and not to leave workers destitute.
For others Traidcraft work with, the impact is less immediate but equally serious.
The crunch point for the farmers will come when they need to harvest their crops and sell their produce. Without access to transport and many markets closed, will they be able to do this? How will they navigate a completely new set of circumstances? As yet, we just don’t know.
We have never faced a pandemic of this magnitude before nor have we had to manage such unprecedented levels of uncertainty. At Traidcraft Exchange, they are focusing resources on responding to the immediate needs of communities who are most vulnerable and most affected by this crisis. But they are also turning their attention to how to support people beyond survival - to recover and rebuild their businesses and livelihoods.
If you feel compelled to take action, please, consider a donation, or get in contact with Traidcraft for ways you can support them from the safety of your own home.
Jackie Natt
The Link is thinking about all our supporters in the UK and we send all our best wishes to you at this difficult time.
Coronavirus is a global emergency and the latest news when writing this report (8th April) from Tanzania is that 20 cases have been reported with 1 death. Nkokoto is situated in the Tabora region and there are no cases reported here, but we are not sure what testing is performed. Over half the cases are in Dar es Salaam, which is a great distance from Nkokoto but some people do travel for work, study and health care. The Tanzanian Government is taking preventative actions and on 17th March all schools, colleges and universities were closed for 30 days. All public gatherings including meetings and sports activities have also been prohibited. We hope that our friends in Nkokoto and the surrounding villages will be spared any infection.
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There is a dwindling number of countries in the world where the UK has influence and does genuine good. The Dept for International Development (DfID) is among one of the world’s most effective aid agencies and has turned the UK into a global force in development. Tanzania is one of the African countries that has benefitted from British Government aid. The independence of the DfID has protected overseas aid from becoming politicised; it was set up after the Pergau Dam scandal in the 1990s when development money for Malaysia was revealed to be linked to weapons sales. But during the summer months, Boris Johnson announced plans to merge the DfID into the Foreign Office, to better align the £15 billion overseas aid budget (0.7% of our GDP) with UK foreign policy. This move was condemned by previous Prime Ministers David Cameron, Gordon Brown and Tony Blair. Boris Johnson said that recipient nations treat the UK like “some giant cashpoint in the sky” (and he threw in the glib comment that their leaders take the money then “cut off the heads of their political opponents.”) This is a worrying, baffling and distressing attitude by the Government. Aid is not a cashpoint in the sky – it is a lifeline that provides medicine, food and shelter, vaccines, mosquito nets and clean water around the globe. Johnson also complained that the UK gives as much aid to Zambia as to the Ukraine, when the latter is crucial to our security. But aid is about giving to those in need.