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Women in the world of Coffee

Change can be a blessing or a curse: it depends on how you see it that makes the difference -  by Rebeca Valle Anfossi 

5/29/2015

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Edith with her parents and brother
Edith and her mom, Elsa
Edith on her farm

Edith grew up under the Huancayo sky, in the province of Junín in Peru. Edith and her brother Ivan were very much loved by their parents and teachers, but special attention was paid to Edith who was born with a heart condition.

In order to find a cure for Edith’s ailment, Elsa, Edith's mother and Edith travelled to Lima, to the capital city, where Edith was admitted and operated on in the “Hospital del Niño”. She and her mother stayed in the hospital for 2 months where Elsa took care of her daughter Edith. On Christmas day, Edith was discharged from the hospital and her father Mario and brother Ivan traveled to Lima to take them back home.

Life continued.

When Edith was 14 her life and that of her family had a radical change: her father and uncle travelling to their hometown in a van got into a terrible road accident that would end up taking both their lives.

Over time, Edith’s mom had to make a decision and chose to travel to Satipo in Junin to buy a coffee farm. Elsa lived on a coffee farm as a child and now she would return to work growing coffee again - a life she enjoyed.

The trips were constant, going from Huancayo to Satipo became a common daily event, but Elsa worked the land and cared for her children.

Edith decided to study engineering in the food industries in the National University of Central Peru. She was to leave her mother alone with all the duties of managing a coffee farm. It was difficult to leave her family and it took a lot of strength to do so.

Close to graduation day Edith was told the worse news that a daughter could ever hear: on one of her usual trips to the coffee farm, Elsa lost her life – just as her father Mario had – in a road accident travelling by bus home. There was no graduation party for Edith, just sadness and isolation for what was the most shocking and saddest moment of her life.

Two years had passed since the passing away of her mother when Edith decided to travel to Satipo - just to verify that workers were cutting the weeds and keeping the coffee farm in order. On those trips, Edith’s love for coffee was growing stronger and stronger, slowly conquering her. Every day she was on the coffee farm, Edith would learn new things – her eyes were opening to a world she only knew on a very superficial level.

After her adversity, something changed in Edith. She does not know how she found the strength and energy to move forward, but it was her brother that helped her stop mourning and move forward.

Edith was also indignant by the mistreatment of the coffee producers by the coffee buyers.  She thought she could do something different, make a change, but she had no support.

She found the strength to travel to Lima and looked for training courses in coffee. She lived alone at the beginning, but thanks to the scholarship program that she won which supported women entrepreneurs, Edith was in contact with people who understood coffee and learned what she had to do to make sure her mother’s coffee farm produced specialty coffee.

She decided to call her coffee farm “Tasta” in honor of her mother's hometown, Tastapampa. Edith is now one of the most requested coffee producers; her coffee is sold in cafes and gourmet restaurants. “Tasta” also grows other crops now: passion fruit, pituca, yuca, banana…there is even a fish hatchery. Fifteen people with their families work under her charge. Edith's desire is to empower local women and be an example of how taking care of a farm also means taking care of the people who work it.

Edith hopes that what she is doing is making her parents proud of her. I’m pretty confident that they are indeed proud of their little Edith.

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Unity is strength: when there is understanding and collaboration, great things can be achieved - by Raquel Santos Soares Menezes

2/6/2015

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We have a profession besides housework and childcare
We are fighting our battles and conquering our place
A future woman in the world of coffee

The biggest changes in recent years have been related to technology and internet. Social networks connect us and make it possible to share an incredible amount of information about almost everything. We can be stronger if we think together in a more egalitarian and sustainable future to coffee in the world. Together we can build relevant and useful knowledge to promote the empowerment of women along the coffee chain. We can interact, create and tell our history together. This power will be even greater if each one stops “playing alone”.

Let me explain why I‘ve been thinking about this lately...

Recently I had a talk with my 8-year-old cousin when she came to my house to play with my oldest daughter, who is 4 years old, while I was taking care of my baby girl, who is 2 months old. When we arrived home, my cousin took her cell phone and my daughter borrowed mine in order to play with something. Then I said “But it’s not fun for you two to play on the cell phone. Why don't you play these "cell phone" games just when you are alone?” So I took a few "real" games for children that were more creative, more interactive and interesting, like the memory game, painting, telling stories... But my cousin argued “Ok, so we are going to play with dolls. I’m Doll X’s mother, and Bia is Doll Y’s mother. But I’m a doctor and she is a coffee farmer, and both of us need the cell phone to work. So, while our babies are sleeping, we can play on the cell phone.” Then, I lost my argument and left them playing with their cell phones!

This talk brought me to reflect about two issues about women in coffee: 1) sexual division of labor; 2) the impact of technology on our lives.

First, the sexual division of labor implies that there are some more “appropriate” jobs (or at least considered as such) for men and women. So, the housework, and mainly taking care of children are for women. However, the speech of my cousin about work got my attention “I’m a doctor and she’s a coffee farmer”: this means we have a profession, another job besides housework. This voice joins with mine and of many women of my generation in Brazil. We study hard, we fight our battles and we are conquering our place in the public sphere. In this sense, a lot of things have changed. We are doctors, farmers, lawyers, professors, bankers, executives, entrepreneurs...and we still have most of our responsibilities regarding housework and childcare. This means that almost nothing has changed! Isn’t it paradoxical?

Regarding technology, the changes that are being caused are not just related to electronics and communication. The most relevant one is in social relations, and this is perhaps the most related to the Quiet Revolution and coffee industry.

To finish this post, the changes happening in the world of coffee demand a review in the sexual division of labor, opening spaces in professions considered “less feminine” for women – in the field, offices, laboratories, industries, including top jobs at organizational hierarchy; and also opening “less masculine” spaces for men which allow them to accept the new roles women assume at home and at work. With the support of technology we can share this knowledge regarding this transformations and create influences that would be more inspiring and impacting in the world of coffee.

So, let’s play together, shall we?

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Life doesn't get better by chance, but by change – by Kattia Barrantes

1/22/2015

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Immagine

Change is a factor that has been instrumental in my life and it has left lasting impressions in many decisive moments. It has allowed me to enjoy happy and bitter situations, and each has shaped the woman I am today.

Change to me is what determines what we are and makes us unique people, what we do and we want to accomplish.  It shapes the character that slowly, with difficulties and sorrows, opens the mind and makes us aware of the path we must follow to achieve a full life.

Change is necessary to grow as people and as professionals.  Sometimes change is a choice and sometimes it is there by design.  As humans, sometimes it is difficult to realize the time when we must make a change of direction in our lives. Change can sometimes be risky, it creates distrust and the fear of not knowing what will happen and what to expect.  That is why we falter and remain reluctant to change.  Other times, change presents a situation easier to visualize and we see our growth and development as individuals; our happiness.

The important thing is to grasp change, in any way it comes, with a good attitude.   The gift of life was given to us to be happy, to enjoy it to the fullest, and to live it while we each build our paths. We must always view change as a reinvention, growth, improvement, a door that opens to reveal new directions and make the most out of new situations.

I invite anyone who is reading this article to cope with change, to reinvent ourselves with this stroke of fresh air, full of triumphs, hopes and achievements that will last over time. Change will always be an ally; it is within us to see it that way.


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We cannot change what we are not conscious of, but once we are awake, we cannot help but change  – by Rose Karimi

12/11/2014

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Where are the women? Coffee Fair Trade in Kenya
Coffee trainers - men AND women
Women empowering women

WHERE ARE THE WOMEN?
I happened to attend the Coffee Fair Trade held in February 2014 which was a National Conference for Stakeholders and Exhibition at the Coffee Research Foundation of Kenya. Oh my! The event was so big, but sadly there were only a few accountable young women present. One would just wonder why this kind of discrimination. Female attendance in exhibition, trainings, conferences have been very minimal.  But let me point out something important: the people who receive training may necessary not be in a position to implement the skills they acquire in these trainings. Why? Because they aren't involved in the primary processes and farm level maintenance. And again, young women who are energetic and innovative are rarely involved in coffee production along the value chain. Therefore there is an urgent need to bring up more women as we empower those who are currently in our industry.

OUR COFFEE
Kenyan coffee is widely recognized for its full body, acidity and flavor fetching good price around the globe. A part from the favorable geographical conditions – thanks to the deep red volcanic soil - several women have contributed to this success through good agricultural practices. It is the role of women to carefully hand-pick ripe cherries during harvest as well as pruning and handling the manure application and at the same time, take good care of their family members.  Although women contribution is HIGH, the reward is ironically LOW!  They find minimal support from their community. Very few women own land. While those who have the farms only inherited them from the family lineage.

FILLING THE GAP  
There are a number of women who already have been steering the positions in governmental and non-governmental organizations.  Friends, experience doesn't matter.  What really matters is how you interpret and react to experiences. All experiences are neutral. I am pretty sure that the scenario in our industry will only be changed by how we view issues.
 
THE QUITE CONFIDENCE
Yes!  As mentioned earlier, we have what it takes. We only need to conquer some few elements which have dragged women behind, to make this industry a successful one. I believe that we are well capable.

It takes our determination to conquer fear, take the risk since whether things are in a serious state or not, it isn't always easy to initiate change unless we make a choice!  We should make a choice to change!

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When you can't change a situation - you are challenged to change yourself - by Irene Gutierrez

11/27/2014

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Immagine

If we think of humans as energy, we understand that we are part of the infinite transformations that exist. Physical changes are evident with the passage of time and the inner changes, although they are harder to identify, they are real and aren't related with time, they depend only on us.

When I hear the phrase “people don’t change”, I have always believed that is a response to the selfishness of "not doing what I want you to do", justifying the actions of others that we dislike.

The hope to change others to one’s desire is a myth that continues to be selfish and the cause of many unfortunate facts (such as with religion, wars and relationships). 

However, I agree and recognize that there are small changes we all can do every day, making a big difference in us and in humanity.

The changes we make may have consequences at the time, such as a pregnancy or a bomb. Or it may have future consequences like studying a profession, conducting research or even the infamous global warming.

Changes may be a conscious decision such as saying "I do" or could be an adaptation like a chameleon's skin… as Mercedes Sosa says in her song: todo cambia.

Analyzing my changes, I recognize that in 26 years, changes are evident, even though I look younger, I measure and weigh more than when I was born! These changes are predestined, but the changes that make who I am today are what really matter. I know I have not been the stereotype daughter, student, or professional female model, but the model according to whom?

I have been the best person I can be and I am focused on always being better. I grew by my own experiences as well as the experiences of society that I have adopted for myself. I will not deny that along the way I made mistakes and some I prefer to forget, but every one of those mistakes and goals make me unique and help me to be prepared for what comes later.

I have studied and constantly broken those limitations that keep me from moving forward; they might have been easy or difficult, but clearly inevitable when I have a goal to reach. Upon arrival, I have to confess that I always doubt whether it is the process or the achievement that is more enjoyable, since most of my learning comes from the process.

As is the yin-yang in this case, the opposite of change is immobility and it is true that at times we must stop, but it should not be forever. It should be like a pause to design and choose the best option, try to always be and do better than ever. Inaction? Not an option! I don't accept it as a standard for any society. We are part of the evolution of life; and well…nothing is more dynamic than life itself.


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CHANGE: THE STORY OF HAMSINI APPADURAI by Urvashi Malhotra

10/17/2014

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Hamsini and her husband
Hamsini's coffee plantation
Young Indian women coffee workers
What change can one person bring? Correction: What change can one woman bring? Hamsini is one such woman who can and did bring change and made a difference, a difference that few stalwarts in the coffee world would be able to emulate.

Married into a coffee planter’s family, Hamsini had a background in financial management. She had earlier worked in a stock-broking firm, managing investments and building portfolios; planning for the long term.

She put this talent to good use when she became a homemaker, living on the plantation for 4 years. As early as 1998, while the menfolk would be busy with planting, harvesting and selling the coffee to coffee brokers, she put her data management skills to use in an unusual direction. She started collecting data on the various fields, mapping their yield, analysing their short-term as well as long-term performance, and predicting where the best yield was likely to be. However, despite her efforts and predictions, all the coffee from the various plantations was still being sold to brokers and traders.

Hamsini’s dream was to bring their carefully nurtured coffee out of the oblivion and anonymity of bulk-traded coffee and give it an identity of its own. A few years ago, with encouragement from Mrs Sunalini Menon, she stepped into uncharted territory. No one in the extended family had ventured beyond established trading relationships. Hamsini travelled to Australia and built a partnership with “Five Senses”. After the visit, she was even more determined and convinced that she would succeed in marketing and branding the coffee. Once again, she relied on her computer and data management skills, but this time she extended the analysis to taste profiles. It also meant doing things differently on the ground, and processing various blocks differently.

The possibility that Hamsini saw resulted in the emergence of four different brands of coffee. Today, their coffee is sold in Australia, Korea and Germany under the brand names Veer Attikan, Mountain Trishul, Mountain Ganga and Mountain Vana. Today, Indian coffees have gained recognition in the world market, but this has happened only because women like Hamsini have been bold enough to make a change. A big step for her as an individual and a shift in mindset for her family resulted in recognition and pride on a world platform.
 
Today, she has buyers knocking on her door, booking the coffee months in advance. Some return with less than they had hoped for. With the additional revenue, Hamsini can plan to set up a roasting and blending unit. But it is education for the girl children on the farms that tugs at her heart. She sees their happy little faces, content with living in isolation, happy to let their brothers go to school while they stay at home and do the housework, the way it has always been. This has to change, thinks Hamsini. And knowing Hamsini, I am sure it will!
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