8

REFLECTIONS

am in Stuttgart, Germany, at
the Annual Fair Trade Exhibition and Philippine products
are gaining a high profile with
growing sales. This brings jobs and
prosperity with fair payment to
thousands of Filipinos.
I have been invited as a guest
speaker at the opening of the fair. It
is holiday time in Germany and
many thousands of visitors come to
this massive four-day exhibition to
buy and promote Fair Trade and
organic products.
The products are made in Germany or imported from around the
world. PREDA Fair Trade dried
mangos and mango organic puree
are both on display. The dedication
of German people to buying Fair
Trade products is a reflection of
their commitment to fairness and
justice, honesty and transparency.
I had the privilege of introducing the first organically certified
Philippine mango puree that meets
European Union (EU) standards. It

17 APRIL 2016

SUNDAY EXAMINER

Germany gives a fair go to all

was achieved in 2015 through the
cooperation and hard work of the
Aeta people of Zambales and
Bataan, in a project named Profairtrade Development Enterprise.
Germans look for the EUapproved organic certification on
the products they buy, especially on
food. They prefer products from
small farmers and indigenous people who are involved in both the
planting and growing of the food.
Almost a thousand World Shops
sell the products across Germany,
Austria and other European countries. Many German municipal
governments buy fair trade products to be served in their employee
canteens.
This commitment to doing the
right and just thing is seen in the
great welcome and support most
German people offer to the refugees coming into their country.
They have welcomed over a million refugees and migrants in the
past 18 months while several other
Eastern European countries have
turned them away.
The living conditions of the
people camping on the Greek border with their many traumatised
children I believe is a violation of
their human rights. But the latest

All these projects

and the nations
open door policy
are a rare and
valuable virtue for a
nation puts its principles into practice

Father Cullen with the mango puree produced in cooperation with the
indigneous people at the Annual Fair Trade Exhibition in
Stuttgart, Germany. Photo: PREDA
decision of the EU will order the
return of refugees who arrive by
boat to Turkey.
However, Angela Merkel, the
German chancellor, has said her
government will accept more from
the camps in Turkey.
Pope Francis said, The Easter
message of the risen Christ
invites us not to forget those men

and women seeking a better future,

an ever more numerous throng of
migrants and refugees fleeing
from war, hunger, poverty and
social injustice.
All too often, these brothers
and sisters of ours meet along the
way with death or, in any event,
rejection by those who could offer
them welcome and assistance.

Film festival shows struggle to break barriers

Reflection
Reflection

or the 40th consecutive year

the Hong Kong International Film Festival Society put
together a two-week international
programme around the Easter holiday season, featuring world and
Asian premieres, as well as other
award-winning productions.
The entries were rich in their
portrayal of the universally-shared
human struggle to move beyond the
limiting confines that circumscribe
life.
There was great variety, ranging
from a portrayal of the dilemma
faced by a young man from Ghana
on prioritising his family or his
education, to Malians and people
from Cte dIvoire in their flight
northward to Europe, as well as a
horse racing syndicate founded in a
Welsh mining village and an animated portrayal of life and death of
Adam Jecek Winkler.
The documentary, Those Who
Jump, gives a candid account of the
mass exodus from Mali and Cte
dIvoire to the Spanish territory of
Melilla on the northern coast of
Morocco.
Described as being the final step
into the European Union by one of
its directors, Estephan Wagner, the
documentary portrays the hope of

those trapped in the hopelessness of

war and poverty.
Having survived the nightmare
of crossing the Sahara, the forced
migration is blocked by razor- and
barbed-wire fencing at the Melilla
border. Footage described as black
dots on a screen from the surveillance camera of Spanish border
police was spliced into the film.
In a post-screening sharing,
Wagner dwelt on what awaits the
refugees on the other side of the
fence with a vivid description of the
scars and bruises that his co-director, Abou Baker Sidibe, a Malian
who made it to Germany, picked up
along the same trek.
They are small (compared with
the Syrian refugee tide), but in no
way insignificant, Wagner said. As
Sidibe is currently waiting on an
asylum claim in Germany, he could
not make the trip to Hong Kong for
the festival.
The British publications, The
Independent and The Guardian,
report that most people who reach
the no mans land of Mt. Gurugu to
stare into Melilla are economic
migrants fleeing poverty.
However, the spirit driving people to break the confines of their
life situation is alive and well, even
in peace time.
The documentary, Dark Horse,
also had its Asian premiere. It tells
the true story of 23 villagers from
the Welsh mining town of Cefn
Fforest, who had long been

The entries were rich

in their portrayal of
the universallyshared human
struggle to move
beyond the
limiting confines...
deprived of their livelihood by a
decline in the coal industry, but
were able to forge a syndicate and
breed a racehorse they named
Dream Alliance, which eventually
won the Welsh Grand National.
One woman described her decision to go into the syndicate as a
desire to have something of her
own, after a lifetime of belonging to
and being dependent on someone
else.
Challenging themselves in the
arena of the ancient sport of kings,
the Welsh commoners dedication
to leaving their mark on history was
rewarded with the realisation of
pride in what they had achieved, as
well as the prize money.
Like any sport, horse racing
ignores the off-course social divides
and the contest itself only celebrates the feats of excellence of
horse and jockey.
Columbia University graduate,
Kelly Daniela Norris, premiered
her film Nakom in Asia. It presents
the stark dilemma personal ambition pits against family obligation
in rural Ghana.

The tragic death of a father in a

traffic accident suddenly transported an Accra university student back
to the closed environment of his
rural home with its rigid social
order, hard labour and sexual
taboos.
As the young mans dream of
life beyond the horizon strengthens,
he struggles in drawing the line
between what is right and wrong,
but eventually sees his deepest core
aspirations prevail.
Norris told the audience of her
own challenges in her four-month
shoot to get electricity, as well as
keeping batteries charged from
local solar panels, which she presents as reflecting the struggle of
her lead character.
The Tragic Mountain is an animated collection of pencil-drawn
and computer-generated images,
interspersed with photographs and
movie clips portraying the life of
Polish-born Winkler in his fight
against Communism in Eastern
Europe and Afghanistan.
His decision to voluntarily end
his life in his old age is another tale
of choice and consequence in times
of repression and injustice.
The non-profit, non-governmental organisation behind the
festival describes its mission as a
dedicating to the discovery and
promotion of creativity in the art
and culture of film.

The German people seem to

have a strong awareness, sensitivity
and commitment to respecting
human rights and supporting the
downtrodden of the world, as the
past generation suffered greatly
from the lack of a strong, sustained
opposition to the anti-Semitism and
racism of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi
Party.
Hitler created fear and hatred of
Jews and non-Germans and his
genocide and violent aggression
gave rise to World War II. When
they lost the war, Germany became
a nation of refugees and as a nation
knows the value of welcome.
In defeat, the lesson that all people must stand up for their moral
beliefs and principles was learned.
Except for a small minority of
nationalists, there is a warm welcome.
The same concern is seen it the
support of the German people for
the poor around the world. They
send thousands of young volunteers
to serve in developing countries
and have reduced trade barriers to
help them export to Germany and
the EU.
Members of the German Parliament Committee on Economic
Cooperation and Development
came to The Philippines to visit
projects for the poor and abused, as
well as children in prison in 2013.
In the following year, they invited the president of the
Philippine-based PREDA Foundation to speak before a parliamentary
committee on the needs of Philippine children in prison.
The Federal Government Commissioner for Human Rights Policy
and Humanitarian Aid, Christoph
Strsser, came to PREDA in September 2015 with the German
ambassador Thomas Ossowski.
The ambassadors Cup Golf
Tournament was promoted by
Ossowski to help the PREDA childrens homes and drew a bigger
entry roll than usual. They donated
generously.
All these projects and the
nations open door policy are a rare
and valuable virtue for a nation puts
its principles into practice. Fair
Trade is a fair and responsible practice of business and it is growing.
Today it is worldwide billion
Euro business and with it comes
justice and dignity for producers,
farmers and their families.
l

Hongyu Wang

Father Shay Cullen

www.preda.org