Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Program Update: Guatemala

In April, Acting Program Director José Luis Zárate visited the Association for Sustainable Development of Paraxaj (ADESPA) in Paraxaj, Guatemala and the Association of Health Promoters of San Pedro (APROS) in San Pedro La Laguna, Guatemala.

APROS continues to provide pregnant mothers with pre- and post-natal training through a strong network of locally based, health promoters. Their newest support program for widows has also been very successful. APROS works with over 75 widows from five communities around Lake Atitlán. The average age is 75 and most of them live alone in very poor conditions. The program brings the women together for workshops and activities and provides them with a healthy meal. APROS’ program also promotes the importance of geriatric care and support among the rest of the community. To see more photos from the APROS visit, check out our Flickr site.

The second part of the trip was to a bakery project run by our partner ADESPA. Coffee Kids began working with ADESPA to promote adult literacy two years ago. This year, ADESPA continues the literacy work and has also created a bakery project for the community. Paraxaj produces less than 20% of the bread that community members consume. Much of the bread sold in the community is brought in from other communities and is often low quality and expensive. The bakery project provides a locally based, high quality alternative and additional jobs. To see more photos from the ADESPA visit, check out our Flickr site.

Monday, June 16, 2008

Voice from the Field: Juana Sisimite

Juana Sisimite is an artisan instructor working with Coffee Kids’ partner Association for Sustainable Development of Paraxaj (ADESPA) on their technical work training program. Sisimite is teaching 26 women from the community of Paraxaj how to create ‘fajas’ or decorated belts that women in the region use as part of their traditional dress. This artisan project is part of ADESPA’s larger goal to create economic options in the coffee-farming community of Paraxaj.

“I learned this work watching other women who dedicated themselves to this activity in the community of Patzicia and since the work appealed to me, I decided I wanted to learn. In the beginning it was hard because no one was teaching me and so the only way to learn was to put the needle in the beads and begin with a line that took me almost a week. I was the first in my family to learn this and afterward I taught my sisters, now we all do this work.

“Now we are teaching all of these women. I told them to take advantage o the opportunity to learn because you can make money in this business. We deliver our products to three places, and during the festival season they sell very well. The type of embroidery varies depending on the community, each place has its own colors. For example, in some places the colors of red are used a lot and they don’t use white, but this changes according to town and traditional dress.

“The ‘fajas’ we make can be sold at an average price of Q125 ($17); and to the public in the stores they sell for about Q150 ($20). The materials to do this work are expensive and we buy them in the town of Patcizia which is about a half-hour away.

“I am single , but when I have my children, I’m going to teach them everything because my mother liked to work a lot and she made many things. She didn’t know how to do this work, but we learned other things with her such as weaving and embroidery for other types of clothes.”

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Great Fundraising Idea: Climb a Mountain

That suggestion may not be feasible for everyone, but it’s what Alan Leckey, a distributor for Coffee Kids member, The Java Republic, is doing. Leckey is in Alaska climbing Mount McKinley, the highest peak in North America, as a fundraiser for Coffee Kids.

Leckey was among the group of 17 from Java Republic that traveled to visit Coffee Kids partners in Nicaragua in February. For more information on Leckey’s trip, check out the article in Java Republic’s News section.

Special thanks to Leckey and all at Java Republic for their dedicated support!

Monday, June 09, 2008

Coffee Kids in Copenhagen

A little more than a month after our big trip to Minneapolis for the Specialty Coffee Association of America’s (SCAA) Conference (check out pictures on our Flickr site), we’ll be taking off for Copenhagen, Denmark for the Specialty Coffee Association of Europe’s (SCAE) ‘Wonderful Coffee’ Conference and Exhibition. The conference runs June 19-22. Coffee Kids Executive Director Carolyn Fairman, Board President Rob Stephen and Membership and Development Manager Heather Ferraro will be attending the conference. If you plan on attending be sure to visit us in Booth #91.

Thursday, June 05, 2008

Global Food Crisis Getting Attention

As the price of gas climbs to $4 a gallon here in the United States, the rest of the world is transfixed with high food prices. While we are seeing higher food prices, it’s not quite what people in developing countries are confronting. A BBC article profiles six families from around the world in the article, “Families’ Shopping List.” According to one family in Guatemala (where Coffee Kids has four partners working in various communities), they spend almost half of their income on food.

The BBC has a variety of articles on the food crisis in the section, “Food Price Crisis.” The food crisis is creating problems for billions around the world.

Coffee Kids’ partners in various communities in Mexico (such as ICSUR in Chiapas and FomCafé and CAMPO near Oaxaca) are working to help diversify local crops and encourage family gardens bringing diversity to local markets and improving food security so that communities aren’t as dependent on outside sources for food.

Many are blaming the food crisis on efforts to encourage and subsidize the production of biofuels. While this is partially true, it merits more investigation. Land diverted to crops for fuel production takes available land out of food production. This is especially evident in the US where millions of acres of corn have been dedicated to producing the fuel inefficient corn-based ethanol that was touted as a savior for our energy woes. But producing corn-based ethanol still requires more energy than it produces. Coffee Kids’ partner STIAP, in the community of Nueva Alianza, has been working on their own biofuel reactor that uses waste oil to produce diesel to power the community. They have also been planting fallow land with rapeseed, an oil-dense seed that provides a favorable energy ratio. For more information on STIAP’s efforts, check out the cover story in our 2007 Summer Newsletter.

Monday, June 02, 2008

Coffee Kids Covered in Sunday’s New Mexican

Coffee Kids was one of a few non-profits featured in the Santa Fe New Mexican article, Microlending: Bankers to the Poor, on Sunday, June 1. The story featured quotes from Coffee Kids Executive Director Carolyn Fairman and information on our partners AUGE in Veracruz, Mexico, and CECOCAFEN in Nicaragua, who are working in microlending. To learn more about these two groups, check out our program pages to read how our partners AUGE and CECOCAFEN are changing lives and fortunes.

A sidebar also featured additional information on us and the other featured non-profits.