Fair Enough — with thanks to all who care

Was treated by my very dear ones
To a belated birthday dinner
At a sophisticated steak house
After a long Farmers’ Market Day.

On my birthday I was on a dirt road
In remote mountains of Yunnan, China,
On my way to see if poor tea farmers
Could be helped towards a better future.

At Sunday dinner table back in Hong Kong
Naturally we talked about
My trip to Yunnan and
Our Fair-and-Healthy Project.

Yes, Danyun will be helping the tea farmers we visited.
Yes, morale of our Filipino partners has been boosted.
Yes, our customers love our fair-and-healthy goodies.
Yes, unlike before, our initial costs are covered meanwhile …

Your Fair Trade partners may be benefiting from what you sell.
And your customers may find your goodies healthy & yummy.
But are you sure what you are doing is business?
Is this real Fair Trade or is this mere charity?

You have poured in time and energy and money,
At times more than you can actually afford.
And poor Stephen, too, has worked like a slave.
Tell us: are you being fair to yourselves?

This Fair Trade ‘business’ is our company’s community project:
This is what we know and our customers are told.
We know the prices don’t really reflect, as yet,
The costs of all our toil and labour …

How can your preach you’re practising FAIR Trade?
When you’re only looking after
Farmers, producers, and end-users,
Forsaking your very own welfare?

Should all goodies be priced at a low margin?
What means have you to subsidise the public?
Who says people aren’t ready to pay a fairer price?
Have you tried to reach out to a bigger crowd?

I may not have told you, but I’ve spent hours and hours
Brooding over all these questions you now raise;
I’ve been looking for and working on better options;
Ahead of me lies a better tomorrow and I joyfully march on …