Post Tagged with: "quality"

From Beans to Bank – Mt. Elgon, Uganda

Who knew that growing quality coffee was such a difficult task? In fact, cultivating a quality coffee plot can take an entire generation to perfect. So how do small farmers with limited capital and capacity ever compete in such a market? Are they doomed to sell poor-quality beans (ones that will eventually be used for low-grade instant coffee) for next to nothing, or can  they polish their growing practices enough to make a pretty penny selling to the likes of Illy and Starbucks? Lutheran World Relief’s intervention throughout the coffee growing world strengthens small, local coffee cooperatives in a number of ways, to include providing access to finance and processing equipment. In the above video, however, it’s the intervention of the Community Knowledge Worker that is highlighted. These CKWs, who are trained by LWR, move from farm to farm and work up close with small farmers themselves, advising them and[…]

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Scraping Bottom: Central Kenya’s Water Seekers

The trek to the watering hole is long; for some families 20km for the return journey. The load is back-breaking. Because the water itself brings disease and can be deadly, ChildFund New Zealand recently began a campaign to bring safe water to Emali, a district in South-Central Kenya. On this assignment I accompanied several families in Emali on their daily rounds to collect water, walking kilometers on end with them while toting my camera instead of a jerry can. I definitely had the easier task. Click on any of these photographs for a bigger view. It’s rare to see such a populated area like Emali District, only three hours from Nairobi, without access to safe water sources. The land appears lush and green thanks to the recent seasonal rainfalls. Yet families here spend most of their daylight hours walking to and from the sandy pits where they have dug far[…]

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