Work Update — May

I have had a lot of work recently and it has been really exciting, frustrating, and fun. Now, maybe these three words seem a bit incongruous but life as a Peace Corps Volunteer is usually a combination of really high-highs and awfully low-lows.  Nonetheless, I wanted to share what I have been up to in the past couple of months.

At the coffee cooperative, where I spend almost all my time, we just had one of our two yearly assemblies.  The assemblies are big meetings at the cooperative when all the associates come to discuss important issues involving the cooperative, propose changes or new ideas, select the board of directors (junta directiva) and the oversight board (junta de vigilancia), and shoot the breeze.  This assembly was the informative assembly so we didn’t do much electing but we did discuss the direction of the cooperative, ideas for bettering quality, certification of farms (UTZ, Rainforest Alliance), and direct trade (my main project).

I really dislike speaking in front of big groups in formal settings…especially in my second language… especially in front of a huge group of all male coffee farmers.  I was really nervous about sharing the work that I have done up until now but luckily, things worked out just fine! When I started talking, I realized that my Spanish is the best that I think it has ever been. Well, let me rephrase that, my grammar may not be as good as it once was but I sure as hell sound like a Honduran coffee farmer when I speak. So, my Spanish came to me just fine and I got to share the Direct Trade Guidebook that Carrie (my sitemate) and I created for the cooperative with all of the associates.  I think they were really proud to see photos of themselves, descriptions of their farms and their families, and a history of the cooperative all put together and nicely packaged.  One of my favorite farmers (and my neighbor!), Don Chepe, interrupted me when I got to the end of the guidebook and said that he wanted a copy printed out to have and then he started applauding.  All of the other associates started clapping along with him and it made me feel really good about the work that I have been up to so far.  Sometimes, it is hard to explain exactly what I am doing (organizing, laying the foundation for direct trade relationships, finding grant money, encouraging changes and new ideas in the cooperative, etc.) so I felt satisfied that the associates recognized the value of the work.  Realistically, all this work is to better and strengthen the cooperative and to hopefully assist them in finding buyers from the US and Europe who can have much more direct relationships with them and allow them to really be the owners of their product and their livelihood.

I also presented about the grant that we are currently in the process of submitting to build a little bodega (storage space) to keep samples of coffee, buy the tools necessary for a small cupping lab (cupping is how you taste test coffee basically), and build solar dryers to prepare small samples and lots of coffee. This grant will be submitted in June.  As a part of the whole movement towards improving quality, facilitating ownership of our coffee, and trying to open and create relationships with roasters and buyers in the US/Europe, we are also starting to train two young men as cuppers who will be able to work in the cooperative and cup all of our different coffee to measure the quality. The role of the cupper is extremely important in every stage of coffee production and for our cooperative to have one always present and involved in the picking process, the milling process, and the drying process will be really advantageous.

Overall, the presentation went well and I hope to continue working on all these different elements during the rest of my time here in Honduras.  It was encouraging to see interest and enthusiasm from the associates and I am really looking forward to seeing how all of them progress in the future. Perhaps people back home will even have the chance to buy coffee from the cooperative at some point in the near future!

Happy Spring and see you soon