A message from Justin Purser, Trade Aid's food buyer
Greetings from Buenos Aires! I’m transiting here for a few hours before completing the last leg of a work trip that has so far taken me to meet with reps from eight of the groups Trade Aid buys coffee from at a coffee conference in Atlanta, to Colombia to meet with farmers at two coffee co-operatives there. This afternoon I’ll be flying to Paraguay to meet with a sugar co-operative before heading home early next week. I’ll trust that however the swine flu epidemic plays out that I WILL be home early next week...
My first coffee visit in Colombia took me to the Santander region in the centre of the country, where I was warmly greeted by the APCO co-operative, a new trading partner for Trade Aid this year. As I so often find, groups are stoked when a buyer visits because it just doesn’t happen very often. The group was hungry for information about what happens to their coffee in New Zealand and about the coffee market in general. One sad reality about fair trade in Colombia is that all co-ops like APCO have to export their coffee through a licensed exporter and most buyers deal only with the exporter and never connect with the farmers.
Even so, the group has achieved an incredible amount for themselves in the past 15 years, grasping the opportunity that fairer trade deals have offered them to bring all sorts of improvements to their community. Passing from farm to farm I was shown a long list of enhancements; most had bought cows to supplement their income, all the farmers I met had bought chickens enough to keep themselves in eggs and meat, there were fish ponds, new coffee processing equipment, improvements to their houses such as chimneys (which save the women from excessive smoke inhalation) and tiles for their floors. There was also a school built within the local community with help from APCO funding to provide post-primary school opportunities. The group was very proud of their achievements – more of which, I believe, have stemmed so far from the confidence and motivation that group involvement has brought them than from the trade of their coffee itself.
My next trip took me into the heart of Arhuaco country; the Arhuacos are an indigenous Colombian people living in the Sierra Nevada mountains of northern Colombia. Like many native cultures, the Arhuaco have suffered greatly following contact with the outside world (mostly coming in the form of resident Capuchin missionaries). Alcoholism is rife in many of their communities and their culture has been eroded. But in one corner of their population, an amazing transformation is taking place. One of their number, a remarkable woman named Aurora Izquierdo, has inspired a complete turnaround in the fortunes of her local community through their involvement in the ANEI coffee co-operative. A trained agronomist, Aurora (pictured left with me) also has a powerful ability to lead and inspire others, and has used these skills to establish and grow a co-operative which is transforming many lives.
I visited Aurora’s own home town, Jeurwa, which was wracked by violence and alcoholism well into the 1990’s, and heard how ANEI has convinced many of the locals to turn things around. ANEI has been instrumental in supporting more local food production for the whole community, which is improving local health and also reducing the number of children starving to death (although I’m told this still happens). The organisation has improved relations between the various local indigenous groups and their neighbouring Spanish-descended coffee farmers by including them all into one harmonious group. Alcohol is strongly discouraged and I saw no sign of ongoing drinking problems. ANEI has also done much to support the revival of cultural traditions among their indigenous members. I was left hugely proud to think that Trade Aid will soon be marketing their coffee and sharing their stories with New Zealanders.
The Arhuaco have an exceptionally strong connection with the earth, and I was able to get a small sense of this in conversation with one of the group’s mamos (spiritual leaders). He stressed that his people have always honoured their environment and that those of us who live outside the Arhuaco world – the ‘younger brothers’ – would do well to learn from their example, given that ‘the water is getting hotter’. In fact, the Arhuaco consider themselves the guardians of the universe and believe that their capital, Nabusimake, is centred at the heart of the universe. No visit to this corner of the world would be complete without a trip up to their capital – the original town contains around a hundred houses with stone walls and thatched roofs, and is quite possibly the most well-preserved living town I’ve ever seen.
As ever, I’ve found my visits into the world of some of our trading partners very humbling. Especially on this trip I’ve been left in awe at their ability to take greater control of their own destinies. Particularly in the case of ANEI, this has been in the face of seemingly extraordinary odds. But whenever Aurora feels down about how something is going, she takes comfort in the words of her mamo advisers. They assure her she has planted a ‘good seed’ – one that will grow into a strong and healthy plant in the fullness of time.
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