Thanksgiving Coffee Company

Dear Customers,

Meet Mr. Tondo Eliazali, coffee farmers, and participant in the Peace Kawomera Cooperative’s matched savings program.

(Mr. Tondo, with Elias Hasulube in the background)

“By saving I can prepare for what comes in life. I would like to develop my home—our househould—with first cattle, then goats, and so many things which can benefit the family. My main reason for investing in cattle is for fertilizer for my coffee shamba (farm).”

Visit our Community Development section for more information on the Cooperative’s innovative microfinance program, focused on savings and investment.

Fair Trade mandates that 5 cents of every pound should be dedicated by the producing cooperative to community development. Today I visited Nankusi Elementary school, the local public school, where the cooperative recently provided funds for renovation of the building, and supplements to government-funded staff salaries. It’s absolutely incredible to see that the Cooperative is moving beyond serving only its members, and into a strong social and philanthropic organization in it community—but what’s even more incredible is the connection between the two: the students who attend this school are the children of the members of Peace Kawomera. Peace Kawomera helps to support the school, but it’s the income farmers make from their coffee sales that enables them to pay for their school fees, uniforms, and books. So, this picture of Nankusi Elementary School class P5 (fifth grade), is a picture of fair trade at work in a farming community. This, I think, is what fair trade looks like.

That’s right, ladies and gentlemen. Coming soon, from the 705 farmers of the Peace Kawomera Cooperative, beautiful organic vanilla.

Today we visited four of Peace Kawomera’s three-dozen vanilla farmers, and developed a strategic plan to prepare and export the Cooperative’s first vanilla harvest. Ten years ago vanilla was the only thing going for some of these farmers. Coffee prices had plummeted, and vanilla prices jumped following the destruction of Madagascar’s crop in 2000-2001. But four years ago, vanilla prices dropped, and then dropped some more, and they haven’t recovered since. There are a number of reasons, one being that many food companies now use synthetic vanilla, and the other, of course, is that just like coffee, farmers often times receive only a fraction of the price that’s actually paid on the world market. This is where fair trade comes in, and creates an opening for farmers to capture the value of their crops.

We’ll be importing 250 lbs of cured vanilla beans, which should arrive by August ‘08. While the cooperative is still working out the costing for this piece of their business, it looks like the farmers will receive nearly what they made a decade ago—good news indeed, as they look to diversify their business, and build off the gains they’ve made from coffee.

See below for a few photos of Charles Nagimesi, one of the Cooperative’s vanilla farmers, as he pollinates the vanilla orchid flower, one-by-one.