Friday, October 12, 2007

Rumination on Immigration

Immigration reform is a hot topic in the United States and around the world; and it’s becoming even more urgent during the harvest season as farmers search for labor to bring in the bounty.

Farmers in the US are feeling the crunch of increased border security, as immigrants are being deported or denied entry. According to a recent article in the LA Times, farmers in the San Joaquin Valley of California are experiencing a 20% labor shortfall.

Many in this country complain about unfettered immigration, but don’t realize the true cause or contribute to a solution. When one has to make a choice between family survival and stepping over a border, the latter often becomes the only option.

Many of the families that Coffee Kids works with are confronting a similar dilemma. Given the hold that coffee has on most economies in the developing world, many families have few options other than immigrating to find supplemental income or working in coffee – and coffee is not enough.

Developing local economies will ensure that families have options and reduce the reliance on coffee and immigration for survival.

Tuesday, October 02, 2007

Nicaragua Program Trip – September 2007

In September, I visited our partners SOPPEXCCA and CECOCAFEN in Nicaragua. The main goal of the trip was to facilitate an exchange or encuentro between AUGE, a Coffee Kids partner from Veracruz, Mexico, and SOPPEXCCA.

These face-to-face exchanges are an important piece of Coffee Kids’ approach to development by allowing our partners the opportunity to meet and exchange ideas and approaches to common problems.

Several months ago, Clara Palma, coordinator of AUGE’s savings and children’s groups, realized that the children in the groups were growing up, which brought up some challenges.

She wondered, what options they could offer these young men and women? Do we just tell them that there is no place for them? Or, do we try to fold them into the adult savings groups?

In Nicaragua, SOPPEXCCA has created two successful programs for children and adolescents in environmental education. As a result, Coffee Kids coordinated a meeting between the two groups to discuss and share approaches to setting up programs for adolescents.

On the second leg of the trip, I visited our partner CECOCAFEN to learn more about the progress of their GMAS (Groups of Women Saving in Solidarity) project and the scholarship program in the region of Nueva Segovia.

This region was one of the first places colonized by the Spanish; it was also an important center for gold production and a constant target of pirates. Ironically, the area is now one the most isolated and rural regions in Nicaragua.

During this trip, I visited the communities of El Ocotal, Jalapa and El Jicaro. Some of the project participants traveled 3 or 4 hours to attend the meetings. The participants shared their feelings and ideas regarding the savings programs and let us know how big a difference it was making in their lives.