Casualty TV star lobbies his MP

International trade is destroying the livelihoods of poor farmers in Africa, says Christian Aid's new goodwill ambassador, Kwame Kwei-Armah, who is star of BBC's Casualty, Celebrity Fame Academy and a writer for the National Theatre.

Kwame has joined tens of thousands of people taking part in '24 Hours For Trade Justice' by meeting his MP, David Lammy, who represents Tottenham in North London, on Friday.

Kwame has recently returned from Senegal where he saw for himself the disastrous impact imports from rich countries are having on the lives of poor people in the country. While there, he witnessed how Senegal's national dish, thieboudienne (pron: cheb-oo-jen), a rice and fish stew, is now made with mostly imported ingredients - a recipe for disaster for Senegalese farming and fishing families. Kwame took a bowl of thieboudienne to share with David Lammy MP.

'Before I went to Senegal I didn't really understand how grossly unfair international trade has become and how the losers are the poorest people in the world's least developed countries,' said Kwame. 'I saw a very proud people, working hard to be self sufficient, but ultimately fighting a losing battle because of policies made in rich countries thousands of miles away.

'It's not about romanticising and clinging to traditional industries, it's just about giving people a chance to earn a living,' said Kwame. 'What the people I met in Senegal need is trade justice - positive discrimination in the global trading system so they can catch up. The rules of international trade should be rewritten to work in their favour.'

"When I remember the families I met in Senegal who are trying their best to trade their way out of poverty, it's moving to think of the tens of thousands of people in Britain who care enough about them to turn out and lobby their MPs," said Kwame as the Trade Justice Movement national event got underway.

Read Kwame's report of his visit to Senegal here.

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