24 year 5 pupils (10/11 year olds) from Riverview Primary School in Ewell had a harsh lesson this morning, quickly realising that global trading is deeply unfair!
The children were broken down into six countries representing rich/emerging & poor countries of the world and tried to generate wealth for their ‘countries’ by making paper shapes which had a currency they could then bank. The poor countries had lots of raw materials (paper) but no technology and the rich countries had all the technology but limited raw materials. The rich countries quickly began manufacturing but were unwilling to trade their technology for the raw materials they needed thereby ensuring the poor countries remained poor. There were many cries of ‘it’s not fair’ to be heard and many appeals to the United Nations Representative in the form of one of SATRO’s Managers.
A de-brief following the game highlighted the plight of the cocoa farmers in Ghana and the fact that out of a £1 bar of chocolate the farmers only receive 7p with the rest going to the two Governments in tax, the manufacturers and the retailers which the children thought was deeply unfair.
A powerful and thought provoking game for all concerned.
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