May Events

An update from Mrs Ros Lewis:

A local  message to some of the locals:

Confirming -Thurs 1st May

LAUNCESTON people get to meet Ula Majewski, Oxfam Campaign Coordinator. 
*    Ula will be in the Oxfam Shop in the afternoon around 3pm - do drop in & while you're there, stock up on goodies!
*    Ula will also be joining us for a meal at the Royal Oak so drop in at about 6pm. So far, that's 2  of us (Ula & me) Please let me know if you are coming. I've booked a table for 6 and will need to let them know how numbers are looking (as they a performer later in the evening & may get busy). 
(As well, Ula is meeting with the uni group Thursday morning.) 

FAIR TRADE Sat. 3 May 

Trevallyn Café upstairs 12 - 1.00  Launceston Fairtrade Webinar <http://www.fta.org.au/fair-trade-futures.html>  with coffee! Speakers listed below. Fun, tasty and informative!

Join & Share
<https://www.facebook.com/events/1408766932733450/?context=create&ref_dashboard_filter=upcoming&source=49> 
   
*    Safia Minney- Founder and CEO of People Tree
<http://www.peopletree.co.uk/about-us/founder> 
*    Mohammad Ghayasuddin- Saidpur Enterprises Bangladesh
<http://www.baksheeshfairtrade.com/ghayasuddin.html>  
*    Molly Harriss Olson-  CEO Fairtrade Australia New Zealand
<http://fairtrade.com.au/news/new-ceo-fairtrade-australia-new-zealand>    

Tues 13 May 

LAUNCESTON  Uni Oxfam Fairtrade High Tea - TO BE CONFIRMED
<https://www.facebook.com/UTAS.Oxfam.Group.North> 

Fri 16 May 

LAUNCESTON Mall  11 - 12 Launceston launch of  Fairtrade Tasmania at 12.30 by the Mayor. 

Sun. 18th May - Oxfam stall at Evandale Market 

LAUNCESTON VOLUNTEERS NEEDED. 

Contact Amanda 6331 7760  if you can give a couple of hours to help. Amanda needs to know by Fri 9th May!!

Tues. 24th June 6pm 

LAUNCESTON group meeting at the Royal Oak. Speakers are Marilyn Pitchford and Brigitte Wolfe who went to Oxfam's Straight Talk conference for Aboriginal women last year.

Bangladesh factory fire survivor visits Australia

Source: Oxfam Australia

On 24 November 2012, Sumi Abedin was working in the Tarzeen garment factory in Bangladesh when she was forced to make a chilling decision. Trapped in the burning factory and faced with the horrific choice between burning alive or jumping to certain death, she chose to jump.

Not because she thought she might survive, but because at that terrifying moment she thought of her family.

By jumping she hoped her family would have the comfort of being able to identify her body. She didn’t want her parents to have the same experience as other grieving families from previous factory fires who had been faced with unidentifiable remains and unable to claim their loved ones.

Against the odds Sumi survived her jump from the third floor with a broken ankle and broken arm, but 112 of her co-workers and friends died that day. Padlocked exit doors and barred windows contributed to the tragedy.

Sumi now tells her powerful story of survival to help change the working conditions of men and women in Bangladesh. Her story needs to be heard. 1,800 people have died in factory fires and collapses in the Bangladesh garment industry in the past 10 years.

April marks the one-year anniversary of the Rana Plaza collapse in the Bangladesh capital, Dhaka. The Rana Plaza collapse on 24 April 2013 killed at least 1,138 and injured an estimated 2,500 people.

Despite emerging cracks in the building resulting in an evacuation order being issued the day before the collapse, and adhered to by the banks and shops on the lower floors, the garment workers, who produced clothing for Western firms, had been ordered to return to work on the morning of the 24th April by their managers.

Those managers declared the building safe and threatened to withhold pay for those who didn’t go back to work. Hours later the building collapsed. Some of the bodies from this tragedy may never be identified.

Sumi will be joined in Australia by Kalpona Akter from the Bangladesh Centre for Worker Solidarity. Kalpona campaigns for compensation for families and workers impacted by these tragedies and for the improvement rights and conditions for garment workers.

Together they will explain what has changed in Bangladesh since the Rana Plaza collapse, how they are working to improve the garment industry and how, as Australian consumers and citizens, we can support women like Sumi to be able to work in safe and decent conditions.

Please come along and hear Sumi’s powerful story of survival and how she is working to change the lives of women in Bangladesh.

MELBOURNE EVENT

When: Tuesday 15th April. 5.30 for a 6PM start

Where: Melbourne City Conference Centre, Swanston Street near crn Lt. Lonsdale, Melbourne

Opposite State Library

SYDNEY EVENT

When: Wednesday 16th April. 5.30 for a 6pm start

Where: NSW Teachers Federation Conference Centre, 37 Reservoir Street, Surry Hills, Sydney, NSW

Near Central Railway Station

RSVP via the Facebook event

More New Products

Mother's Day is not far away now. Check out some new products at the Launceston Oxfam Shop.

Soft monkeys from Woza Moya (Ufafa Valley, South Africa) 

Wood works

Candles

A mousey door stopper

Weave work

Bedspread 

Dining table set

Frame and box

Oxfam meeting and other activities around Launceston

An update from Mrs Ros Lewis:

TASMANIA-WIDE Friday 4^th AprilOxfam Button Day collection

LAUNCESTON Saturday 5th April 10 am - have morning tea with the author of "The People Smuggler" at88 Paterson St. (Guide Hall)

 

LAUNCESTON – Tuesday 8^th April 6pm at the Royal Oak Hotel (upstairs).Launceston Oxfam Group Kym Blechynden will talk about her work in global emergencies with Red Cross. If upstairs isn’t your thing, let me know and we will hold this session downstairs. We will finish by 7pm and move downstairs for a meal.

  

Advance notice – HOBART & LAUNCESTON - the week 28^th April to 2^nd May, Ula Majewski (Vic/Tas Oxfam Campaigns Coordinator) will be in Tasmania to meet with groups; watch for future notices.

We look like having a chance to meet Ula in Launceston on the 1st or 2nd May.

Also a Fair Trade Fortnight event at the Oxfam Shop, probably 13th May.

From June onwards, our  regular meeting date will probably become 4th Tuesday of the month.

One more thing - do drop into the Oxfam shop to buy a raffle ticket, to support the fundraising of the Uni Oxfam Group.

 

Easter Shopping

Lots and lots to see and buy from your local Oxfam Shop. 

Check out Launceston Oxfam Shop's Easter display!

And more in store... Including new product range from Oxfam Australia's producers. 

Thank you for your ongoing support.