SORWATHE TEA FACTORY: The Impact Of Fairtrade Premium Investments On Workers’ Lives, The Community, And Environmental Sustainability Background of SORWATHE Ltd. SORWATHE Ltd was established in 1975, initially operating solely as a tea factory that purchased green leaf from out growers. In 1983, we expanded by starting our own tea plantation, which now spans 285 […]
For some years now, SORWATHE Ltd, a Fairtrade Certified tea producer in Rwanda has eased the financial burden for its workers by covering their annual health insurance costs, including that of their spouses. However, to access medical care themselves, Rwandan law requires parents to have an active insurance subscription for their children as well. This means that while workers and their spouses were covered, they still had to go into their pockets and acquire medical insurance for their children too. According to Stephanie, Fairtrade Officer at SORWATHE Ltd, this had a huge effect on workers’ productivity whereby some workers would stop coming to work when their children got sick.
