In the Grinder - Our Daily Coffee Weblog

 I was oh-so-sad when my work in Chiapas came to a close at the end of July. To be very honest, preparing in May to spend the summer in Mexico I had a few reservations that curbed the enthusiastic excitement that at I had expected to feel. I was loving my Minneapolis life; the long awaited spring was in full bloom, I'd finished my first year of grad school and actually had some free time (what is this foreign concept??), and leaving my tight-knit circle of friends seemed harder than ever before. I could just see myself, all alone, bored, and lonely in my tiny Mexican pueblo missing out on the perfection of a Minneaoplis summer.  I'd never before struggled so much getting excited to leave the country for an extended period of time and couldn't figure out what had come over me this time.

While reflecting and blogging towards the end of my trip, for the first time in my ENTIRE two and a half months away I recalled these concerns and couldn't hold back a little smile. Not once during my entire trip did I ever feel lonely or bored but rather overflowing with the joy I found in the relationships I established in each area of my Chiapan life, the work I was doing in both cervical cancer prevention and coffee, and from the sheer fact that I was living in a mountainous paradise. Departing Jaltenango was leaps and bounds harder to do than departing Minneapolis a few months prior. Hands down.

I've now been home an entire month and I still can't shake the longing to be back in Jalte. *sigh* I suppose that means that my experience was all I was hoping for and more; that it was purposeful, worthwhile, and WONDERFUL. J I wouldn't have it any other way.  Spending a period of time working and living at origin has enriched the way I view working both in coffee and women's health. It has added dimensions and purpose to all aspects of the work that Café Imports, Grounds for Health, and I do each day.

While working alongside CESMACH, Sixto, the general manager, and I made it a priority to sit down and brainstorm ways to enhance our relationship and increase the quality of their coffee. We decided that, although its very labor intensive, they will begin to create profiles for the various areas within the region the coffee is produced. This will involve taking and cupping samples from several producers in each of their 24 producing communities so as to keep a running log to compare and contrast each community's profile. From there, we and perhaps their other clients can then cup distinctly different lot samples and pick which specific profiles we want. We look forward to working on this throughout the next year!

Grounds for Health is taking a trip to CESMACH next week to continue the work they've been doing there over the course of the past four years and to do some follow up to the work I did this summer. My heart is a little achey-breaky as I would LOVE to be on the trip, but, it turns out that work and school are in full swing and one just can't do it all. I am VERY eager to see how things have gone since I've left and how GFH can/will apply what we've learned from the work and research I did to improve the program moving forward.  

In short, my summer in Chiapas far exceeded any hopes and expectations I had for it. Little life lessons and revelations continue to surface while in the classroom, at my work desk, or during long evening or weekend homework sessions at my dining room table. Mexico, once again, swept me off my feet. I re-fell in love with working in and around coffee.  Daily exercising my passion for empowering women through both words and actions piqued my senses, my heart, and my being. Blending Mexico, coffee, and women's empowerment: idyllic. Thank you Café Imports, thank you Grounds for Health, and thank you CESMACH for including me in your pursuit of saving lives and ever-increasing the quality and sustainability of coffee.