thanks for reading all of this

On a chicken bus to Columba I take in deep breaths of black exhaust and begin to reflect on my time in Guatemala. I reach for by black bandana and wrap the fabric around my face; less worried about sticking out in the old converted school bus that holds 7 people to an aisle then taking in any more pollution. I am pretty sure the pollution was the culprit that weakened my immune system and sent me spiraling down into a fever, leaving me bed-ridden for 18 hours straight. As our driver makes life threatening passes on the cliffs of mountains, hardly escaping oncoming traffic, I sit without flinching, my mind scrolling through my experiences. God is a great teacher and provider. I have learned that we often see his wisdom most clearly in retrospect; seeing how our suffering, patience, and perseverance are essential in bringing to fruition the things we desire. Showing us that the way we have traveled has been harder then expected, but better. My reason in sharing this is simple; during our first month in Guatemala it was hard to escape the feeling of guilt of underperformance. The question I often asked was “Are Noel and I honoring our financial supporters?” Although our work in the first month was good work, strengthening our relationships and network here, in my sin… I wanted to speed up our effectiveness, see and meet more need; I had lost faith that God had brought us here to do that.
Praise be to God! In our travels through 5 coffee farms we have been shown much need… need that we can press into, need buried in the most beautiful part of the world I have ever been to.
When we walked off the steps of the chicken bus, we found ourselves in the town of Columba, Guat. The center resembled every center we’ve been to thus far. After waiting for only a short time our ride arrived in the form of a beaten red pick up truck, a driver whom we met in Xela named don Rigoberto, and a young Mayan lady standing stoically in the bed of the truck holding onto the iron bars which lined the wall. We are 9 gringos now since we picked up a friend from café conciencia in Xela. Our new friend Allison, being fluent in Spanish, is vital for us to have around. In the back of the truck we make our way down winding road, holding to the piece of iron white knuckled, absorbing every jolt with our knees. We are descending the mountain, losing elevation rapidly. The scenery turns from dry common greenery to rich and tropical. The changes in our surroundings make us feel like we are in a different land completely; the mountains are bursting with life, the vegetation is draped over everything; there are leaves 5 feet tall and 3.5 feet wide (Malanga), volcanoes that stand boldly making the clouds jealous. The road has changes at this point; it is no more the government road, but a beautiful stone road layed by hand by the collective fincas in the area. The road use to be in poor condition; the fincas made pleas to the government asking them to pave the road. There was constant denial of those pleas, so all the fincas in the area combined their labor and built roads from beautiful stone to cover over a hundred miles.
This day we go to see 3 fincas, all which have similar, but also different needs. The first farm is Santa Anita. This is the farm of our guide Rigoberto. Rigoberto is a small Mayan man, whom can hold a smile that warms your body, but also words of wisdom that demand the attention of your ears. Rigoberto is a leader and history informant for the community of 50 families. With the woman mentioned before (lita) Rigoberto takes us on a hike through the farms coffee crop. As we are walking through Fern Gully (you know what I’m talking about) Rigoberto is explaining to us the process of coffee for their community and how laborious it truly is for them, especially as organic growers. From January to September the community is in the fields protecting their crop, tending and preparing it for harvest. During this time they also are planting and manipulating the growth around the coffee, to give it more shade and protection. From September through December the community begins harvest. All able bodies are sent to pick and carry the coffee cherries in 100-pound bags back to the central area of the community. In total harvest the community will have picked 25 thousand pounds of cherries (the actual coffee bean only makes up 20 percent of the cherries weight). All this work is being done on the backs of less then 150 men, women, and children.
Rigoberto’s community was healthy. The children playing were happy, the dogs look well fed, and the school and other buildings were in good condition. They even had a hotel for visitors. This was a stark contrast from our visit to the second farm, Viejo Quetzal. In this visit we sat down with the president and vice president of the community. Both men carried different composures then the men we interacted with in Santa Anita; these men look tired, unhealthy, and defeated. As we sat around their table in a room that seemed abandoned we began to use our translator Allison to investigate the history and trading of the farm. We initiated the conversation with thanking them for allowing us to be there and we also explained why we’ve come. They responded warmly to our purpose for being there and then began to explain their position. The community is of similar size to Santa Anita with 50 families, all of which are refugees whom left during the civil war of 1983-96. They were from all different places of Guatemala and met in Mexico during the time of the conflict. When they returned they collected and worked for an independent farmer. But in 1998 the coffee crisis happened as a result of the new coffee growers around the world making prices more competitive. So in this case and many others like it in the region, the owners of these farms abandoned their investments and debt. This left the community jobless and un-paid; they approached the government to give them the land in hopes of salvaging their lives. With time the community gained ownership of the land and now share it communally, voting for their leaders every two years. This is certainly good news, but the people are still very poor and are perfect targets for coffee biz giants (also known as coyotes by the locals) looking for desperate growers. Within the coffee growing community, it is common to receive $1.50 to $1.80 a pound for organic coffee that is one step away from being green, or still in shell. This community’s dealer bought their whole crop for $0.35 a pound, an oppressive price which can only give them the bare necessities, and prevent them from creating a more independent infrastructure. After asking more questions regarding this fact and letting the truth soak in, we thanked them for their time and made our way to another farm.
The next farm was named “La Florida.” In summary its condition was somewhere in between the first two that we visited. Instead of only speaking with 2 men, this time we spoke with an entire council of women and men of mixed ages. We went through the same list of questions and interests as we had with Viejo Quetzal. We were again met with joy and excitement. After an hour of sitting down we loaded again on the back of the truck and headed back to Santa Anita where we would stay at their hotel.
The next day we visited two more farms in which were structured very similarly to the past two. The first farm of that day was “Magnolia Miramar” which was certainly the most prosperous community thus far. Their council was made up of 5 men, and had the best infrastructure by far. This farm was selling their organic, fair trade coffee for $2.00 a pound. Which all considering is good, but only good in perspective with what some other farms make. They explained that their intentions for growing organic were rooted in their appreciation for the land and not for its profit. During harvest of organic coffee you loose half of your crop to bugs and harsh weather and you have to pay for an annual organic certificate that cuts deeply into their profit costing $2,000 US. After hearing this information our initial shock of their considerable profit had left us silent. Rigoberto took this opportunity to add a bit of wisdom regarding the idea of fair trade. He explained through long and poetic words that trade cant be fair if one side of the business transaction is profiting significantly more then the other. In this case the coffee farms should be getting up to 4 dollars per pound to be able to build up their community with the wealth of their labor; instead they are kept weak and poor. As I said before… their community was well, and seemingly thriving, but even the coffee farmers in the best position are only getting half of what they deserve within this transaction.
The last farm that we arrive to is a short drive from Magnolia and is called Blanca Flora. At this point are minds are tired from all the info we have absorbed, but we needed to stick this last one out. Blanca Flora also had a council of about 6 men. Their community consisted of 32 families and was also refugees with a similar story as Viejo Quetzal. The information passed back and forth was similar to most of the other coffee farms except one thing. This community only made 2/3 of the money in which it needed last season. They are in terrible debt and have no idea how to get out of it. Their coffee buyer is slowly wrapping their fingers around the throat of Blanca Rosa. This community hasn’t been able to make any repairs to their buildings or houses in ages. They are simply trying to survive. Once our meeting was finished Rigoberto went over with us the level of desperation of the communities he took us to. They went like this from worst off to best off:
Viejo Quetzal
Blanca Rosa
La Florida
Santa Anita
Magnolia Miramar
On the truck ride back through the incredible tropics there was something that we couldn’t understand. If Rigoberto works for Santa Anita and receives no reward if our business goes to one of these other coffee farms, why would he spend so much time and energy bringing us to these places? When the truck stopped at our hotel we asked him this question. His answer was “I want to see my friends and neighbors prosper.” This is my best testament of Rigoberto’s character, Selfless.
Now we reflect on how we can help these communities. We await their harvest when they will send us samples of their crop; after roasting, tasting, and reviewing the need, Sunergos will most likely choose one of these coffee farms as our new Guatemala roast. We will know the people who help produce our coffee and we will be constantly working toward bettering that community. It is all very exciting, but also humbling; our efforts at least for now can only benefit one farm.