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Coffee Kids staff visits each of our partners at least once a year to provide guidance and show solidarity in their efforts. Read about our latest visits here and learn about our partners.
Photographer Mark Shimahara recently accompanied World Barista Championship Winner Michael Phillips and our own José Luis Zárate on a trip to Guatemala. They took time to visit Coffee Kids projects, like this one Acatenango. Here’s what Michael had to say:
On the backside of the Andes, nestled in a valley between two mountain ranges in the Amazon Basin, lies Tarapoto, Peru. There, on October 14 -18, Coffee Kids attended Sustainable Harvest’s Let’s Talk Coffee conference. Over 350 people from 25 countries participated in the many panels, discussions, meetings and workshops.
Together we learned about the many facets that come together to create the coffee circle. It is impressive how many coffee businesses are reaching out to coffee communities and trying to find the best way to support them as they seek to improve their quality of life.
Listening to the producers is key to sustainability.
There is an amazing level of cooperation and collaboration among the Peruvian growers. Cooperatives work together to find ways to build their organizational strength, pool their resources, and learn from one another. Every grower I met, from Peru to Colombia to Nicaragua, wants to bring Coffee Kids projects to his or her community.
We work hard to reach out to every community that asks for support. We’ve seen the impact of Coffee Kids projects on thousands of families over 23 years. With your help, it is possible to reach even more growers in the months and years to come. After all, we’re all in this together.
Zaira Arauz Villarey, an accounting student, takes part in a Coffee Kids-supported education project managed by our partner CECOCAFEN in Nicaragua. Zaira recounts a bit of her experience in the project.
My name is Zaira Arauz Villarey and I am a scholarship recipient from La Esperanza cooperative in Nicaragua. I have benefited from my cooperative’s education project for two years now and I am about to finish my degree in accounting. I’m thankful to CECOCAFEN, Coffee Kids and all of the donors that support them.
If it wasn’t for the help of these organizations, I might not be where I am because we have a lot of challenges here. There are several children in my family and – though my father can help us a little bit – he can’t afford to put us through college because of the high costs. However, with the help we receive from the scholarship we can afford school. Thanks to this support, one of my brothers has also had the opportunity to study.
The support we receive is great and we also learn to share our ideas during the exchanges we organize with other youth groups. Taking part in activities helps us a lot too, because we learn how to break the ice, to talk to and interact with others. When we meet with other students, we learn from each other and reaffirm our dreams.
The support that we receive motivates me and I’m excited to maybe work for my cooperative. As I approach graduation, I hope I can find a job opportunity at my cooperative or at CECOCAFEN just like my sister did. I want to have the opportunity to help others.
At the end of March, I traveled to Nicaragua to visit with our partners CECOCAFEN and SOPPEXCCA. Both organizations manage education projects, and CECOCAFEN works with women’s microcredit and savings groups. 
During the visit, I spoke with project participants, learned of their progress and the challenges that the people face on a daily basis and how they resolve them. As part of the groups’ efforts to improve their projects, I conducted a strategic planning workshop with project coordinators, cooperative managers and the presidents of local education committees. Each person contributed their unique vision of how to create a space for more collaborative work and use financial and human resources more efficiently.
It’s encouraging to support our partners as they work to create sustainable projects. By holding these meetings and looking at how to create a more efficient project, they take ownership and initiative.
Check out Flickr photos from our trip here…
We just finished the Coffee Kids Reception sponsored by InterAmerican Coffee at the SCAA in Anaheim, California. Nearly 200 people showed up as we honored our partner, Fundación Hijos del Campo (FHC). The organization, which provides scholarships for the children of coffee farmers, is graduating from Coffee Kids this year thanks to their great advances in creating a sustainable program.
At the reception, we screened a video on FHC that was put together by our friend Kelly Kowalski of Pajama Girl Productions. Take a look at the video and let us know what you think. Special thanks to Van Houtte for all their support of Hijos del Campo and the video production and to all of our supporters who helped FHC over the years.
To support this and our other programs, please visit the Coffee Kids donate page.
Yolanda Vázquez Colorado is a 54-year-old mother of two in the community of Cetlalpa, Veracruz, Mexico. She participates in Coffee Kids-supported microcredit and food sovereignty projects managed by our partner AUGE. See pictures and read more about the project on our Flickr page.
“I have participated in microcredit and saving groups with AUGE for four years already. I use my savings to help my sons who are attending high school. With the savings I can pay tuition and other school materials.
“My sons have small scholarships, but sometimes the money doesn’t arrive on time, so I take a loan to pay the school or I use loans to buy materials or things that the teachers request. Also, I use the money to buy medicine.
“What I like the most about the group is that we have easy access to money. I know I ask the group and they are willing to lend me the money quickly. In other places, even if I had the chance to get credit, the interest rates would be too high for me. Belonging to the microcredit and savings group is important for me.
“I have always worked at home. I have some chicken and pigs that I raise to sell or use at home. I don’t need to buy eggs or meat. This year, I am participating in AUGE’s Food Sovereignty project. I want to cultivate my own vegetables at home.
“I really like this project because I grow my own food and I know where it comes from. Many women in my group want to do this project because it’s healthier for our families and we can save money by producing our own food.
“The most important thing we do in these groups is support each other. We all have many ideas about how to improve our family income, but we also know that we have to transform those ideas into action and get started. I like my group because we can change those ideas into projects that help our families.”
To learn how you can support our efforts, visit our donate page.
Coffee Kids Board Member, Bill Mares. recently traveled to Oaxaca, Mexico, to visit one of Coffee Kids’ partners and learn more about our efforts. He shares a bit of his visit below. Coffee Kids Board President Guy Burdett, who traveled on the trip, also contributed a blog entry here.
Two weeks ago, several Coffee Kids board members tagged along with staff to watch how one of our partner organizations works with indigenous farmers in a remote region of the Mexican state of Oaxaca.
CAMPO, the acronym of the 20-year old group, began as a quasi-political entity to help indigenous people fight social and economic oppression at the local and national levels. Ten years ago they switched their focus to technical assistance, environmental protection and women’s empowerment in some 60 rural communities across the entire state.
In a poor land, CAMPO works with some of the poorest. Illiteracy is over 40 percent. The average wage is less than $4 per day.
In Santo Tomas Texas, a community of 100 families, we saw a microcosm of the challenges that CAMPO and the people face. First of all, it’s remote, six hours from the capital of Oaxaca down white-knuckle mountain roads with enough hairpin turns to run a beauty shop. Political scientists and sociologists would quail at the overlapping governmental jurisdiction, ambiguous land tenure rights, and complex social customs.
Undaunted, the CAMPO staff has helped develop a range of activities to supplement coffee income. There were greenhouses to extend the growing season, composting with red worms, chicken-raising, and smallscale fish-farming. Some farmers were even producing rare and valuable honey from stingless bees.
To me, the most fascinating experience was to observe the community discussions between CAMPO staff and people in the villages. CAMPO staff know they walk a fine line between inviting questions and giving advice, between nurturing leaders and anointing them. As we all do, they struggled to find the right words to use in “constructive criticism.” Just as important, they had to know when to be silent, and listen.
Gradually, people spoke up. First, it was objective matters, like repairing green houses, or building a community center. Then they moved on to some of their fears. The coffee crop was way down this year, said one man. “Some people have migrated to the city. A couple of farmers came close to suicide.” 
They knew they needed alternatives but, as one said, “We are slaves to coffee. It’s what we know. We want to improve the quality of our coffee to get a better price.
One of supplements to coffee income is honey production. A group of women had formed their own group of beekeepers. One woman said, “The bees sting me. So what! I can earn good money selling the honey!”
One young man about 25 just back from the States where he worked for six years. After thanking CAMPO, he said, “I came back to live and help in this village. “The United States is a beautiful place, but you suffer a lot there. I’m glad to be home.”
Check out pictures from the trip on Flickr.
Coffee Kids Board President and President and CEO of InterAmerican Coffee, Guy Burdett, recently traveled to Oaxaca, Mexico, to visit one of Coffee Kids’ partners and learn more about our efforts. He shares a bit of his visit below.
In July of 2009, I joined the board of Coffee Kids. Last week, I traveled with Bill Mares, another Coffee Kids board member and Carolyn Fairman, executive director at Coffee Kids to Oaxaca, Mexico, to visit a couple of communities where Coffee Kids has projects.
On our first stop, we met Coffee Kids’ local partner CAMPO. Their programs focus on sustainable agriculture, ecology and food security. At CAMPO’s offices we learned about some of their projects, including: composting, greenhouses, construction using compacted earth, solar energy and chicken-raising, among other things. We then traveled with CAMPO to a couple of the communities to see the projects in action.
These projects give families options for additional sources of income so that the communities are not as dependent on income from coffee. Also, some of these programs provide additional food sources to support a healthier lifestyle.
This trip was very enlightening for me. I saw firsthand the struggles that smallholder coffee farmers face everyday. I have a new appreciation and understanding of the challenges these communities confront. The challenges are many, but with the help of organizations like Coffee Kids, they can be addressed and overcome.
Check out pictures from our trip on Flickr.
At the end of January, I visited Self-Managed Development (AUGE) in Veracruz, Mexico. Over the past 14 years, the Coffee Kids/AUGE partnership has promoted personal entrepreneurship through a microcredit and savings project called Groups of Women Saving in Solidarity (GMAS). Check out photos from my trip at our Flickr page.
My first stop on the trip was in Teocelo, where AUGE’s headquarters are located. I stayed at the educational center that AUGE built with Coffee Kids’ support in 2005. It’s a great place to visit because there are a lot of young people coming and going. They participate in many projects, from radio broadcasting, to food sovereignty courses, to leadership training. Families also come to visit the traditional doctor who has an office here.
The main goal of my visit was to work with AUGE on a strategic plan to help maximize the effective use of resources for the following years. AUGE has extensive experience in grassroots projects that help hundreds of families and their spirit of solidarity motivates them to make decisions that best serve the region.
For an entire day, I met with representatives from the different departments and groups that make up AUGE to identify key areas where funding could be directed in the short and medium term to help them become more effective.
At the end of the day, AUGE’s director Norma Alcántara mentioned, “It was a long day, but I know that the time we are taking now to plan things is going to be worth it in the long-term. The time that we use to plan is going to help us avoid many problems in the future”.
The next day we visited to the municipality of Ixhuacán de los Reyes and the town of Ixhuatlán del Café to meet with women participating in the GMAS project.
The women I met told me that life in coffee regions is difficult because they are dependent on the coffee harvest and it’s not enough. But many of them pointed out that they have fewer worries thanks to the savings and the possibility of borrowing money in time of need. In a region where banks charge extremely high interest rates, savings groups are a great help for these families.
“I have participated in microcredit and saving groups with AUGE for four years. I use my savings to help my two sons who are attending high school,” said Yolanda Vázquez Colorado, a 54-year old mother from the village of Cetlalpa.
The way the women use their savings and loans varies from town to town. Many use it to create or improve small businesses, but some borrow money to pay for hospital visits or funeral costs. Without the support from the saving groups these women could rarely afford to pay such expenses. In times of need, access to money at a fair interest rate is a great help.
In the past two years, AUGE has also developed a comprehensive food sovereignty project. Food sovereignty differs greatly from food security, the more common term used in development circles.
Whereas food security is concerned with ensuring access to food to all people, food sovereignty takes it one step further and considers where the food originates. By promoting local systems of production and healthy choices, communities can become more independent and less reliant on international aid or cheap imported goods.
In this project, AUGE provides training in nutrition, herbal medicines, and organic family gardens, and promotes local, natural foods instead of nutrient-deficient processed foods. Using a combination of radio broadcasts and workshops, AUGE reaches thousands in the state of Veracruz. Many of the women in GMAS groups also have joined the food sovereignty project.
“I am already part of a savings group and it has helped me a lot, but I really like the food sovereignty project because I learn to grow my own food and now I know where my food comes from,” Vázquez said. “Many women in my group want to do this project because it is healthier for our families and we can save money by producing our own food.”
In a region where coffee often seems to be the only option for income, women and their families here are finding avenues to improve their quality of life based on trust and solidarity.
Check out photos from my trip at our Flickr page. And learn more about AUGE’s work here.
Coffee Kids’ Board Member, Bill Mares, recently traveled to Nicaragua to speak at a “Let’s Talk Coffee” event hosted by Sustainable Harvest.
“Let’s Talk Coffee” brings together coffee supply chain partners to discuss sustainability in the supply chain, communicate stakeholder needs, and calibrate quality expectations. It’s a forum where more than 300 farmers, cooperative leaders, roasters, industry visionaries, market analysts, and business experts from 13 countries can receive industry-specific training, listen to expert presentations designed to help improve supply chain quality, and share best practices among peers.
Our beekeeping project, created with Professor Dewey Caron of Oregon State University, is to write a best practices manual for beekeeping for coffee cooperatives who are already producing honey or considering it. All of our information comes from working with cooperatives in Bolivia, Nicaragua, Mexico, and El Salvador.
The benefits of beekeeping to coffee farmers include:
Key to our project has been work with Coffee Kids partner, CAMPO, in Oaxaca, Mexico where our friend Alfredo Contreras has demonstrated extraordinary teaching ability. In fact, Contreras and CAMPO Director Cesar Morales helped to establish a beekeeping project with Coffee Kids partner CECOCAFEN in Matagalpa, Nicaragua.
Our presentation at “Let’s Talk Coffee,” was well-received and I was happy to provide my perspective to all present.