Chris Martin traveled to Ghana and kept a journal of his experiences over 5 days: Day 1: He arrived in a rural area and attended a farmer's association meeting where local farmers spoke passionately about their struggles. Day 2: He visited a village where most income came from rice and maize farming. The children had malnutrition and the farmers said things were harder since foreign rice imports increased. Day 3: Chris visited farmers supported by Oxfam and joined in singing and dancing. He also saw vast fertile lands that could produce more rice with investment in irrigation. Day 4: Chris met cocoa farmers in a village and learned how fair trade premiums helped their community with clean water and school improvements.

1. 1. Read the following text about Chris Martin’s Ghana Trip Journal. Match
the headlines in the box with each day according to the information
provided in the texts.
A different world Ghana's rice plantation The Kuapa Kokoo collective
Farming is vital to the future of Zugu’s children from rags to rags
Day One:
Early this morning we all pile onto a small plane and after a bumpy landing
we find ourselves in what feels like a different world or perhaps a different
century. Dry, red earth; traditional villages with their circles of huts; and
vast open spaces dotted with only the occasional tree.
We're taken to an inaugural meeting of the Peasant Farmers Association of
Ghana. These farmers have traveled from all over the country in order to tell
their stories, and they talk movingly, passionately about their suffering.
Afterwards, we go to Tamale's busy market to see the sacks of American, Thai and
Vietnamese rice for sale. Nesh, a local farmer, explains that in neighbouring Nigeria,
you can only buy local rice in the markets because the government stops cheap foreign
rice coming in. quot;That makes sense,quot; says Chris. quot;It supports their own farmers. Just as
the UK does - we would never let anyone come in and destroy our farmers.quot;
Day Two:
Today we visit a traditional village where rice and maize bring in the main income. The
village children all come out to meet us, their bellies swollen with malnutrition, and
after a few moments of awkwardness Chris thinks of a way of entertaining them, taking
photos on his phone and starting off some group singing.
Two women, Maryama and Salamat, tell me that they earn a little money by buying
sacks of rice grains from farmers, which they take down to the river to wash before
building a fire, steaming it to get rid of the tough outer husk, drying it on mats and then
carrying it to market to sell.
They barely make enough to eat, let alone pay school fees, and might soon have to take
some of the girls out of school. Since the foreign rice came in, everyone earns less,
everyone has less to eat. quot;Things were easier 20 years ago,quot; they say. quot;But now it's hard,
always hard.quot;
After dinner, Chris insists we all go out clubbing, and at a disco in Bolgatanga, we hear
the local mix of hip hop and hi-life - and find that Timbaland mixes fill a floor just as
quickly out here as at home.
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2. Day Three:
In Nyariga, we met some of the 2000 farmers currently being supported by Oxfam. The
mood was happier here, and when some of the women farmers began singing and
dancing, Chris and local assemblyman John Karibo joined in.
Then there was a long, long drive out to the Weiga rice valleys, which turned out not to
be valleys at all but three vast natural basins each measuring at least 50 miles across.
Here the ground is flat and fertile, and after the rains farmers flock to the area to grow
rice. However, the local people explained that with just a little investment in irrigation
and tractors the area could be used all year round, providing lots of employment and
enough rice to feed the whole of Ghana.
As Chris says, quot;How on earth could anybody stand in a field with these people and say
that it's the right thing to do to dump their excess produce cheaply on a third world
country? It's beyond me. But the truth is, the people responsible haven't talked to the
farmers in the areas affected.quot;
Day Four:
We stop off in Aponoapono, a village that forms part of an
association who grow the cocoa beans for Divine chocolate. A
coolbag of this delicious Fair Trade chocolate has kept us going
throughout the trip, and Chris especially is excited to meet the
farmers who grow it.
They pick us cocoa pods off the trees, explain how they dry and
ferment them ready for export, and also talk about what the extra
Fair Trade premiums have meant to their community: a well with clean water, scales
that weigh the crops fairly, improvements to the local schools. quot;Fair Trade chocolate
tastes better,quot; enthuses Chris, quot;but also it was amazing to go to a rich, green area like
this and know that for every bar of Divine chocolate you're eating, you're helping out
the people who grew it for you far more than if you eat Nestlé.quot;
Day five:
In Accra we see a huge, shockingly poor makeshift shanty town full of people who
travelled from the north looking for work - and found none.
These were people just like us, with the same talents, the same skills, the same
creativity, but very different lives because they were born in Africa rather than Europe.
In the West, artists get paid when their music is played on the radio; in Ghana, they
have to pay the stations for the exposure.
There are no big record labels or film studios to support their work, and with most of
the population on the poverty line, people no longer have money to spend on music or
movies. Would Coldplay still be making music if they had to struggle like the musicians
we met? It's odd to think how different all our lives would be if we'd been born a few
hundred miles further south.
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3. 2. Put the jumbled words in order on the second line of each verse. Then
listen and check.
Was a long and dark December
___________________________ the remember rooftops from I
There was snow
White snow
Clearly I remember
__________________________ they windows were the watching from
While we froze down below
When the future's architectured
__________________________ a of show idiots carnival on by
You'd better lie low
If you love me
___________________________ you won't know let me ?
Was a long and dark December
_____________________________ the cathedrals banks when became
And the fog became God
Priests clutched onto bibles
______________________________ went and rifles out to their fit
And the cross was held aloft
Bury me in honor
_______________________________ I'm dead ground and when hit the
A love back home unfolds
If you love me
_______________________________ know let you won't me ?
I don't want to be a soldier
_______________________________ with the some ship sinking captain of
would stow, far below
So if you love me
_______________________________ you why'd go let me?
I took my love down to violet hill
_______________________________ in there snow we sat
All that time she was silent still
So if you love me
_______________________________ let you won't me know ?
If you love me,
______________________________ let you won't me know ?
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4. KEYS
1. Reading
Day 1: A different world
Day 2: Farming is vital to the future of Zugu’s children
Day 3: Ghana’s rice plantation
Day 4: The Kuapa Kokoo collective
Day 5: from rags to rags
2. Listening
Was a long and dark December
From the rooftops I remember
There was snow
White snow
Clearly I remember
From the windows they were watching
While we froze
Down below
When the future's architectured
By a carnival of idiots on show
You'd better lie low
If you love me
Won't you let me know?
Was a long and dark December
When the banks became cathedrals
And the fog
Became God
Priests clutched onto bibles
Hollowed out to fit their rifles
And the cross was held aloft
Bury me in armor
When I'm dead and hit the ground
A love back home unfolds
If you love me
Won't you let me know?
I don't want to be a soldier
With the captain of some sinking ship
Would stow, far below
So if you love me
Why'd you let me go?
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5. I took my love down to Violet Hill
There we sat in snow
All that time she was silent still
So if you love me
Won't you let me know?
If you love me,
Won't you let me know?
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