C
Chris Richards
- Original Poster
- #1
LifeAid Solutions CIC
I'm Chris - Qualified 1975 dental surgeon BDS. Practiced in UK, Germany, Australia. Mentor to University of Oxford Postgrad. Med. Faculty. Retired 2014. Project manager for homeless charity. Founder of LifeAid UK
We buy coffee & cacao (chocolate) from ASEAN developing world indigenous producers, sell via a network of affiliates and joint venture partners (JVPs) to customers looking for unique hand-made fashionable items and organically grown produce at below-market prices. Profits made will be returned at the end of the financial year to the producing communities in the form of aid such as medical facilities, schools, water purification plants etc.
This is why I'm doing it...
Over 2 million Filipinos have to go abroad to earn a viable wage.
Anniecel, our MD, had to leave her son of 2 years old to go to Hong Kong to work as a domestic in order to give her son a proper education so that he had a decent chance in life. As a bank employee at home, she earned £200 / month - as a domestic in Hong Kong, £600. She's missed his birthdays, family Christmas's, first day at school. She gets to see him for 10 days every 2 years.
In Hong Kong, she had to sleep in a linen cupboard, steal food from her employer to eat in the toilet as "eating" was taking her away from paid time - she would have to get up at 3:00am to make noodles for her employer whenever he wanted.
She was one of the lucky ones! One Chinese employer is currently serving a 5 year prison term for so badly beating her Filipino maid. Another was found dead in a deep freezer having been there over 4 weeks. Others have been trafficked to China as part of the sex trade.
In sub-Saharan Africa, children as young as 6 are taken from their parents and made to work on cacao plantations using machetes and spraying industrial insecticides in clear breach of UK guidelines.
Modern-day slavery affects 46 million worldwide including 11 million children. UK statistics claim over 13,000 involved in the UK but government sources admit this is just the tip of the iceberg
We are using coffee and chocolate as the vehicle to raise funds to increase awareness of modern day slavery.
Blockchain is to be used to provide complete traceability from bush (I have the GPS coordinates) to the cup, so you as a consumer know who grew the coffee beans or cacao pods, how they were grown (organically or otherwise), and the journey they made to your table. This will involve consumers more in the journey and also allow us to introduce "the story" to help our cause.
I'm Chris - Qualified 1975 dental surgeon BDS. Practiced in UK, Germany, Australia. Mentor to University of Oxford Postgrad. Med. Faculty. Retired 2014. Project manager for homeless charity. Founder of LifeAid UK
We buy coffee & cacao (chocolate) from ASEAN developing world indigenous producers, sell via a network of affiliates and joint venture partners (JVPs) to customers looking for unique hand-made fashionable items and organically grown produce at below-market prices. Profits made will be returned at the end of the financial year to the producing communities in the form of aid such as medical facilities, schools, water purification plants etc.
This is why I'm doing it...
Over 2 million Filipinos have to go abroad to earn a viable wage.
Anniecel, our MD, had to leave her son of 2 years old to go to Hong Kong to work as a domestic in order to give her son a proper education so that he had a decent chance in life. As a bank employee at home, she earned £200 / month - as a domestic in Hong Kong, £600. She's missed his birthdays, family Christmas's, first day at school. She gets to see him for 10 days every 2 years.
In Hong Kong, she had to sleep in a linen cupboard, steal food from her employer to eat in the toilet as "eating" was taking her away from paid time - she would have to get up at 3:00am to make noodles for her employer whenever he wanted.
She was one of the lucky ones! One Chinese employer is currently serving a 5 year prison term for so badly beating her Filipino maid. Another was found dead in a deep freezer having been there over 4 weeks. Others have been trafficked to China as part of the sex trade.
In sub-Saharan Africa, children as young as 6 are taken from their parents and made to work on cacao plantations using machetes and spraying industrial insecticides in clear breach of UK guidelines.
Modern-day slavery affects 46 million worldwide including 11 million children. UK statistics claim over 13,000 involved in the UK but government sources admit this is just the tip of the iceberg
We are using coffee and chocolate as the vehicle to raise funds to increase awareness of modern day slavery.
Blockchain is to be used to provide complete traceability from bush (I have the GPS coordinates) to the cup, so you as a consumer know who grew the coffee beans or cacao pods, how they were grown (organically or otherwise), and the journey they made to your table. This will involve consumers more in the journey and also allow us to introduce "the story" to help our cause.
