When Mitos Urgel, President of the World Fair Trade Organisation Asia kindly accepted our offer to tour three states in Australia to share her deep knowledge of how Fair Trade is creating positive impact in the Asia region, we knew we had the basis to put something really exciting together. And again, we knew we couldn’t do it alone, and through this amazing network at the Fair Trade Association, we were able to crowdfund over $6k to create a series of events and engagement in Melbourne, Sydney & Perth. A huge thank you to everyone that donated to make this happen!

Here in Perth, EC member Antonia Taylor and Mitos had an incredibly busy and inspiring week that kicked off with a public event in partnership with UWA Venture and the WA Fair Trade Collective, on the topic of How Fair Trade tackles Modern Slavery. Keynotes were from Mitos, who shared stories about her work with women refugees on the Thai/Myanmar border and the impact that Fair Trade is having in the Asia region.  Elly Williams, co-author of Modern Slavery Index report, the largest global dataset on modern slavery, also provided a fascinating overview of current global trends, particularly in relation to fashion supply chains. An interesting panel discussion followed, moderated by Shona Hunter, and including Fair Trader of Australia and MD of Fair Go Trading, Robert Roberts.   

For the final public event of the tour, the WA Fair Trade Collective hosted an incredible event, Weaving Stories of Change. The event opened with inspiring stories of the healing power of weaving for women living in refugee camps on the Thai/Myanmar border by our international guest speaker Mitos Urgel. These stories were woven with the incredible story of the making of an ethical fashion garment by FTA member Gaelle Beech of The ANJELMS Project.