Friday, December 21, 2007

Staff Trip to Oaxaca, Mexico, Opens Eyes

In early December, Coffee Kids staff visited Oaxaca, Mexico, to learn about some of the programs supported by Coffee Kids partner, CAMPO, and a dry mill run by our partner, FomCafe.

The visit included a tour of CAMPO’s new educational center. Buildings are still under construction, but CAMPO is already using the installations to provide training to coffee farmers from around the state of Oaxaca. Demonstration projects include worm composting and standard composting; organic gardening and greenhouse projects; fish, sheep, rabbit and chicken production; and responsible building techniques (Check out our programs page for more information on CAMPO).

CAMPO’s offices are being constructed using a compacted earth technique, which is similar to adobe with a mix of soil, sand, lime and water optimized for local conditions and compacted into a sturdy wall.

The day after our visit to the center, we traveled two hours down windy roads into the mountains outside of Oaxaca, and then two more hours down a dirt road clinging to the side of said mountains. After four hours of stomach-turning travel, we arrived in Santa Cruz Tepetotutla, a small town clinging to the mountain.

The town is in the middle of a globally important bio-reserve. Jaguars and tepesquintle (similar to a giant spotted rat) maraud the area and lush forests hem the town in. Most families work in coffee and have struggled for years. Thanks to CAMPO’s help many have begun working in other areas to supplement their income and provide a better quality of life for their families and improve their community.

The organic coffee plot of Don Raymundo Osorio was a striking example of biodiversity and responsible management. His tall coffee bushes were ready for harvest and vanilla vines crawled up their stems providing two cash crops on the same shady plot. Raymundo showed us the beginnings of a greenhouse which will provide vegetables year round, part of a project the community is doing with CAMPO’s support.

We returned to the town center to visit with local leaders and learn more about Santa Cruz’s history. The town’s commitment to protecting their forests, water supply and biodiversity has earned them financial incentives from the government for the maintenance of their resources. Their environmental vision and resources also attract a steady stream of students and researchers to the area and they are constructing a research center for these visitors to create additional income for the community.

Community leaders also told us about their struggle to build a road to their community. Until about four years ago, people from Santa Cruz had to walk hours to reach the nearest road. All supplies were packed in. But with a strong effort and support from CAMPO, determined community leaders navigated endless bureaucratic processes to build a road and connect their town with the outside world.

The following day we followed a steep footpath straight down the mountain to arrive at the neighboring community of San Antonio del Barrio, still inaccessible by road. We arrived sweaty and tired in this tiny town in the valley, where we were welcomed by local officials and a marimba band. We met with a group of women who, with CAMPO’s help, have started selling their elaborate, hand-embroidered huipiles (traditional blouses) in Oaxaca City. After the visit, we made the long journey back to Oaxaca City.

The next morning we visited with Coffee Kids partner FomCafé and toured a dry mill, recently purchased by four Oaxacan coffee cooperatives to consolidate and gain control over their production process. We learned about the detailed steps of dry mill processing, but more importantly how the four cooperatives pooled their resources to purchase the mill.

Like so much of what we saw on this trip, it was a reminder of just how enterprising people can be when they are determined to create a better life, and just how much impoverished communities can accomplish with a little bit of help.

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Costa Rican Coffee Pickers on the Move

“Centam Coffee – Young Costa Rica coffee pickers tire of hard labor,” reads the headline of this article by Brian Harris that appeared on the Reuters Web site Dec. 13, 2007.

As I read the article I realized a striking similarity to my own experience growing up in rural Wisconsin. I was raised, along with my brothers, on a small dairy farm. Each morning before school we would do chores, each night we would do chores and on the weekend we would do chores. Summers were filled with fun, but lots of work as well, picking rocks, baling hay, the things every farm kid knows.

It was tough but good. We learned life lessons many kids have no idea about. But as we grew up we were encouraged to pursue other interests – not to avoid the hard work on the farm – but to get away from a system that doesn’t adequately reward that type of work. And as other farms began to get bigger, and my brothers and I moved away, and more pressures came down on my parents, there came a time that we had to sell the farm.

The same thing is happening in Costa Rica. Families are realizing they don’t have to accept coffee-growing as their only option. The article seems to take the perspective of how this will affect coffee prices and how the supply will suffer. But there’s more to it than that.

As is often the case, people overlook the human factor. For generations people throughout the coffee-growing world have been reliant on coffee, and now as countries develop, they realize that coffee isn’t the only option.

The youth of Costa Rica aren’t tired of the trade, they are tired of seeing their parents struggle to live; they are tired of working sun-up to sundown for little payoff. If people are leaving coffee, it’s not because it’s “the work of the poor.”

Coffee Kids’ partner FHC has been providing scholarships for the children of coffee-farming families since 1996. A number of the students return after their studies to take roles in the cooperatives as agronomists or accountants, and others return to their communities as teachers.

Wednesday, December 05, 2007

Welcome to the Coffee Kids Blog

Welcome to the new Coffee Kids Web site and welcome to our blog. Don’t worry, you are in the right place. We’ve just ordered things a bit differently. We are still dedicated to improving the lives of coffee-farming families; we’re just hoping this will help us reach out more effectively.

First off, special thanks go to Bare Feet Studios, GreenMountain Coffee Roasters, and The Coffeee Exchange for their support to get this new site off the ground.

We’re excited about the new features here. As you can see, our blog is up and running and we hope we can share important news with you with greater frequency. We’ll be posting links to important articles and research, important office announcements, recaps of our most recent trips, more information in Spanish and important news from our members.

We have a new feature in our You Can Help section. Instead of a straight listing of members, we’ve organized everything into a searchable database. Of course you can click to see all of our dedicated supporters, but you can also find a member near you and let them know how much you appreciate their support of Coffee Kids. There is also space for members to promote special Coffee Kids promotions and fundraisers. Contact us if you have anything special planned.

Our Education page is new and currently has a presentation and an educational map of where we work. It will eventually house lesson plans and a Coffee Kids curriculum that teachers can use with their students.

Thanks for stopping by the new page and feel free to root around and see what else is new. And if you have any questions or can’t find something you need, please let us know by email or by calling 505-820-1443.

Bienvenidos al blog de Coffee Kids

Coffee Kids les da la más cordial bienvenida a nuestros amigos de habla hispana, invitándoles a explorar nuestro renovado sitio web, el cual incluye por primera vez una sección en español, en la que podrán conocer cuales son los proyectos que actualmente desarrollamos con nuestras contrapartes.

Esta sección incluye también un novedoso blog, en el cual esperamos contar con su intensa participación, en él podrán encontrar las noticias más recientes relacionadas a nuestros últimos viajes de programas y temas relacionados a nuestras contrapartes.
Uno de los principios fundamentales de nuestro trabajo se basa en el respeto a la identidad cultural de las comunidades con las cuales colaboramos. Por ello deseamos ofrecer este espacio para que nuestros amigos hispano parlantes tengan desde su propia perspectiva la oportunidad de compartir sus comentarios y experiencias acerca de los proyectos.

Esperamos contar con la participación de dos diferentes tipos de colaboradores para alimentar este blog. El primer grupo estaría integrado por los mismos participantes de los proyectos, de quienes esperamos nos compartan de manera directa sus experiencias, nos hablen de sus éxitos, retos y perspectivas. El segundo grupo lo integrará el público general, quienes también podrán expresar sus ideas con los comentarios ubicado abajo cada blog.

Estamos seguro que este blog será muy pronto una nueva forma de expresión, divertida y rica en diversidad de ideas y opiniones, las cuales sin duda se convertirán en una nueva forma de aprendizaje y acercamiento entre las personas que deseen colaborar con él.
Suerte a todos en esta nueva aventura y por favor, siéntanse absolutamente libres de contactarnos si tienen alguna pregunta o duda respecto a esta sección.

Monday, December 03, 2007

The Energy Crisis Will be Solved…

The November issue of the Smithsonian Magazine features a story critical of the biofuels movement.

According to the article, American farmers planted 15 million additional acres of corn this year. As a result of corn being diverted to fuel production, the price has doubled over the last two years and we are beginning to see shortages.

Tyson Foods executives warned of rising prices for poultry after spending an extra $300 million this year for feed. Protesters are mobilizing in Latin America as prices of this staple food crop rise.

The solution to the energy crisis we confront will not be found in corn, on trees or inside our garbage. There is no silver bullet. It will be solved with a variety of solutions.

In Guatemala, Coffee Kids partner, STIAP, has been working toward energy independence since 2005. The group of farmers is based in a far-flung community in a land unmarred by power lines.

Up until 2005, they powered their community with generators using diesel fuel trucked into the community. Their odyssey to energy independence came about through a fortuitous meeting with a local university and an idealistic, young American.

With their help STIAP began working on a biodiesel generator. At the same time, XelaTeco, a business incubated by the Appropriate Infrastructure Development Group (AIDG – http://www.aidg.org), helped install a micro-hydroelectric plant.

The combination of these two simple technologies has reduced the community’s dependence on outside fuel to almost nil. Check out the article in our summer 2007 issue of La Voz, the Coffee Kids Newsletter for more information.

As an addendum to the Smithsonian article on biofuels, check out the piece here on E85, the new ethanol blend, and how it stacks up against other fuels.