Thursday, July 17, 2008

20th Anniversary Reflections: Dorie Hagler

Photographer Dorie Hagler has done a number of projects for Coffee Kids. After returning from the Peace Corps in Guatemala in the 1995, the photographer got in touch with Bill Fishbein and Coffee Kids to inquire about creating photos at origin.

Coffee Kids began working with Hagler and she created an amazing body of work documenting the life of coffee-farming families, the conditions in which they live, and the joy that they carry with them.

Visit the Web site, Behind Every Cup, a photo-documentary of the coffee harvest and coffee-farming families. Hagler sells prints of the work and donates 10% of all proceeds to Coffee Kids. If interested, contact her at or 505-770-7157

Below is an excerpt from a recent interview done for Coffee Kids 20th Anniversary:

“I took several trips for Coffee Kids and it was an amazing opportunity for a young photographer, that’s why I call Bill (Fishbein) my fairy godfather. There are photographers salivating over an assignment like Coffee Kids, but he said yes to me.

“The reason I think he sent me was because he know about my experience in Peace Corps, he knew my relationship with women’s groups in Guatemala and that I wasn’t going to exploit anyone. Bill always wants to emphasize the strength and dignity of the people Coffee Kids works with and he didn’t want some photographer who would jeopardize that.

“I remember one assignment in Mexico where I was sent to photograph the harvest and I lived with a family for two weeks. But the harvest was delayed. We had made all of these arrangements and it didn’t look like I would see any of the coffee harvest.

“So I’m waiting and waiting and I called a friend who said I should just keep shooting and I left my head and realized the gift I was given. I was able to live through what these people deal with every year. When is the harvest coming? Is it even coming? What if there is no harvest?

“But I saw the optimism, their confidence that every thing was going to work out and that you just live from day-to-day. I realized that that’s how these people have lived all their lives, but through Coffee Kids work, it makes that waiting a little less stressful. Their entire income is not dependent on the coffee harvest.

“I treasure the pictures from that collection, from that town where I spent those two weeks waiting for the harvest.”

Coffee Kids in Copenhagen

From June 16-23, 2008, I attended the Specialty Coffee Association of Europe’s (SCAE) “Wonderful Coffee” Conference and Expo in Copenhagen, Denmark. Joining me were Executive Director Carolyn Fairman and Board President Rob Stephen.

During the event SCAE members and friends came together for workshops, trainings, the World Barista Championship and a trade show with several hundred exhibitors. Given the growing number of European supporters and heightened interest in Coffee Kids’ work, we decided to attend the event thanks to gracious support from the SCAE.

Mick Wheeler and Jens Henrik Thomsen of the SCAE went out of their way to welcome Coffee Kids, and even organized an event-wide fundraiser, whereby proceeds from all the bottled water sold at the event benefited Coffee Kids. Large posters all around the venue publicized the fundraiser and did much to increase Coffee Kids’ visibility. Several other businesses also did on-site fundraisers for Coffee Kids.

Baresso Coffee of Denmark organized a coffee-tasting contest with $2 donated to Coffee Kids for every correct answer. Beyond the Bean from the U.K. donated half of the proceeds from their smoothie sales to Coffee Kids.

It was wonderful to meet so many new people, including business owners from all over Europe and Scandinavia, who wanted to learn more about Coffee Kids. Many of them had heard about the organization, but didn’t know the scope of our work.

I experienced great enthusiasm and interest from both small and large coffee businesses, from the corner café and large-scale roasters to espresso machine manufacturers. We look forward to increasing our presence in Europe and would like to thank all of our supporters and friends for the wonderful welcome!

Monday, July 14, 2008

Member Racks Up Mileage for Coffee Kids

Brian Franklin, owner of Doubleshot Coffee Company in Tulsa, OK, will be competing in the Leadville 100, a 100-mile ultramarathon. He’s taking pledges for each mile he runs to support Coffee Kids.

Check it out and lend a hand!

You can also visit his blog at coffeeilluminati.blogspot.com

Friday, July 11, 2008

Coffee Families Confront the International Food Crisis

While consumers in the United States fret over gas prices, a food crisis threatens millions around the world. Coffee Kids staff visited with families in the states of Chiapas and Oaxaca, Mexico and learned about the effects of the international food crisis and how they are confronting the problem.

According to women working with Coffee Kids partner organization FomCafé in Oaxaca, they have seen prices for basic products such as corn, oil and rice more than double since October of 2007. The price of many vegetables has increased 50% or more.

“Before 2008, families spent about 60% of their income on food, but today families are spending almost all of their income on food. Salaries have not risen, money being sent home is lower, and work is scarce in many rural communities,” said José Luis Zárate, international program director at Coffee Kids. Families in the United States spend about 10% of income on food.

Prices for common goods:
Cooking Oil (liter), which cost US$1 in October, is now US$2
Corn (kilogram), which cost US$0.28 in October, is now US$0.47
Rice (kilogram), which cost US$0.70 in October, is now US$2

Coffee Kids partners, the Association for Research and Training of Southern Mexico (ICSUR) in Chiapas and FomCafé in Oaxaca are working in rural coffee-growing communities to build capacity and reduce reliance on the annual coffee crop, which does not provide enough income for families. Many of their efforts are also helping families deal with the food crisis.

Women and men working with ICSUR in Chiapas are learning to raise and sell mushrooms and chickens to diversify their income and bolster family diets. Women working with FomCafé are learning about organic gardening, cultivating food for their families and selling the surplus locally.

“Many of the women commented that thanks to these projects they have access to fresh, organic foods for their families, something they couldn’t afford otherwise,” Zárate said. “The same is happening with the women working with ICSUR in Chiapas. Without these productive projects, it would be difficult to afford meat or eggs.”

While food security is the major issue families in Mexico are confronting, ICSUR and FomCafé also promote projects in health care, education and economic diversification.
Check out photos from our latest visit on our Flickr page.

Thursday, July 03, 2008

Life in the Coffee Lands and the Immigration Debate

I found this story, “Chapel in Guatemala Testament to Civil War Horrors”, on the Web last Thursday. It caught my eye because a close friend of mine worked in the town profiled when we were in Peace Corps. While Zacualpa isn’t a coffee town, many coffee communities in Guatemala and other Latin American countries share a similar story.

The article talks about a chapel in Zacualpa that the army commandeered and turned into a torture/interrogation chamber during the 30-year civil war that plagued the country and left over 200,000 civilians dead. The war ended with the signing of peace accords in 1996, but the country still struggles with one of the highest murder rates in the Western hemisphere, weak law enforcement, rampant gang and drug activity, and mass emigration due to lack of jobs.

Every time I read an article like this I’m confronted by the harsh realities that many of the families we work with confront every day, the unimaginable atrocities and horrors that they witnessed. This story is part of a series of articles (“The New Immigrant”) that explore the immigration debate from both sides of the border.

Wednesday, July 02, 2008

Program Update: FomCafe - Mexico

Acting Program Director José Luis Zárate and International Programs Coordinator José Carlos León visited the communities of La Muralla and Teponaxtla near Putla, Oaxaca, Mexico in June. You can see more pictures from this trip on Coffee Kids’ Flickr page.

Coffee Kids partner FomCafé works with coffee-growing communities in the area to help them develop and create projects such as edible mushroom production, family gardens, organic honey production, savings/microcredit groups and health care improvements.

We met with women from the communities of La Muralla and Santa Cruz Tutiahua who take part in the organic family garden project and the savings/microcredit groups.

During our stay, the women explained the challenges they face including a lack of health services, access to credit and viable economic options. The women then showed us how the organic vegetable project and the access to microcredit has given them an avenue to cope.

On our second day, we visited the community of Teponaxtla, where an edible mushroom production module has been installed this year. The women are enthusiastic and looking forward to continuing with the project and learning about mushroom production.

The visit gave us a clear view of the opportunities and the hopes of the women of Putla. In collaboration with FomCafé, Coffee Kids continues to support the leadership and creativity of the women in the region.

The visit reiterated the fact that any type of development and social initiative needs to be based on direct communication and close integration with the needs and priorities of the community. As they gain confidence and learn more about each of these projects, the women of La Muralla, Tutiahua and Teponaxtla are gradually taking the lead of these projects and initiatives.

You can see more pictures from this trip on Coffee Kids’ Flickr page.