Year 7 Reflection Day

Last week all Year 7 students participated in their annual Reflection Day, held at Edmund Rice Centre Amberley in Lower Plenty; this day was facilitated by Year 7 Religious Education teachers and members of the Mission and Identity Team.

The focus was our role as contemporary Dominicans; what is important for us is to see and hear truth and to speak for those who have been silenced…such as Indigenous Australians, the asylum seekers who come for refuge and the poor who nobody remembers by name.

Sessions included a practical workshop reflecting on the 2020 College Theme ‘Who Do You Say I Am?’ and an exploration of what it means to be a Dominican Doer. Activities took place in House Groups where students also articulated a pledge based on principles of Catholic Social Teaching.

The Sweet and often Bitter truth about Easter

One indisputable truth - chocolate is delicious. We know this because at Easter Australians spend millions of dollars buying hundreds of kilograms of chocolate to eat and give away.
Another indisputable truth is that the cost of some chocolate is a child’s education, and sometimes his or her freedom. That’s because much of our chocolate is made using cocoa beans harvested by children, often in the West African region.
So, as we move toward Easter here’s a snapshot of chocolate…

Slavery-free chocolate is chocolate that is certified. Look for chocolate with one of these three logos on it – Fairtrade, UTZ or Rainforest Alliance.

• Australians will purchase over $200 million in chocolate this Easter. This figure comes from a 2018 report by IBISWorld which said Australia’s chocolate spend had risen by $26 million over the past five years (up to 2018).

• Almost half of all 152 million children victims of child labour are aged 5-11 years, according to a 2017 report by the International Labour Organisation - a great many of these children are in the cocoa industry, picking the cocoa beans used to produce chocolate. It’s a fair bet that these children will not get to eat any chocolate at Easter.
• The Australian Modern Slavery Act (2018) requires that large companies report about their work to address the risk of slavery in their supply chains. This is a great start, but let's not leave it to the big companies; we can all now ask for slavery-free goods.

How we as Dominicans can change things:

• Buy chocolate that is certified slavery-free.
• Tell at least five other people about slavery-free chocolate and encourage them to buy it too.
• Enjoy making a difference.

Where to buy your chocolates

There are some slavery-free chocolates available in most large supermarkets. Fairtrade Australia and New Zealand has a comprehensive list of slavery-free certified chocolates. Find it at: http://fairtrade.com.au/Fairtrade-Products/Chocolate-cocoa