In the Grinder - Our Daily Coffee Weblog

This video is from Amanda's summer at CESMACH in Chiapas Mexico with Grounds for Health.

Amanda's Summer at Cesmach from Noah N on Vimeo.

   

 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.

 

Amanda: 

Before I even get started , I ask of you one favor: Take a moment to consider the millions of producers around the world. They work oh-so-hard and are truly undervalued for the aches and hours they put in. They provide you and me with a living wage. They allow us to start our day with a cup of our favorite coffee brewed to our liking. They are mothers, fathers, sons and daughters, friends, lovers, and dreamers just like us.  Give thanks in whatever way suits you today as it is much deserved. Read on, dear friends. J

Friendly chatter, chains clattering on the pavement behind the gas truck, ranchera music on a car radio chickens squawking, turkeys gobbling, and children squealing, are among the many sounds pouring in my window this morning. Coffee in hand and freshly picked mango (tis’ the season, they’ll bop you in the head if you’re not careful when you leave the house), I finally have a free moment to catch you all up to speed.  This is the first morning I am in town, here in Jaltenango, after a busy and what I would consider successful stretch of health workshops in ‘el ejido’  (the small communities we work in further up the mountains from here). Thankfully I charged my computer battery over night because it seems that the electricity has left us for the day.

 

Sunshine was a wonderful surprise this morning as we’ve been hit hard all week with rain, more than the usual seasonal evening/nightly rains, due to Hurricane Alex. I took advantage and went for a jog at the soccer field. Not only I am the only foreigner in town but also the only jogger so you can imagine the looks and various noises I provoke as I walk the half mile to the field. I’ve even had a few ‘companions’ at the field follow me in their truck or bicycle from the dirt road that circles the field.  I found my usual company of chickens, turkeys, and dogs today as I approached the field and even made some new friends; three mules or donkeys, not sure which, who came to roll around in the damp dirt in the.

Four words immediately come to mind when I consider my personal experience of the past four weeks since leaving home: Intentional, flexible, humble, and grateful. As I start each new day, I take a moment to remind myself of why I am here and what purpose(s) I’ve come to accomplish. July will be over before I know it and if I am not intentional about my goals, it is quite possible that I will not complete them. The culture in my town, after all, is pretty laid back as one day pours into the next. For example: No electricity? No problem. If it comes back tomorrow, it will get done. I missed the comby (van) up the mountain. No problem. I’ll hang out another day and head back tomorrow. In my ‘normal’ life, I am admittedly not likely to be quite as willing to succumb to such barriers. This is where flexibility comes into play. Although I do have goals to accomplish here, I have been EXTREMELY fortunate to have been gifted the patience to take a deep breath and roll with the flow most days as obstacles have popped up (and that they do on a pretty regular basis J ). My calendar is full until the end of my time here; community visits, clinic meetings, and coffee chats at CESMACH but ANYTHING could happen or change until a given event is actually under way.

On my second day at CESMACH, I was so pleased and excited when Sixto, the general manager asked if I would share one of my coffee presentations with him and other CESMACH staff along with a group of producers. We spent a number of hours that afternoon discussing methods of harvesting and production, characteristics of coffees from around the world, cupping, and what happens to their coffee once it leaves the port in Veracruz. I was so humbled and grateful for the opportunity to exchange knowledge and experiences with the team, to stand before producers whose coffee we’ve sold to various corners of the globe, and to give them thanks and tell them how valuable they and the work they do really are. They timidly accepted my words of praise with blushing cheeks and sheepish smiles. 

Various similar opportunities have come up here and there since then and each time I am equally as humbled and grateful to share the company of such hardworking, kind, individuals. Sixto’s enthusiasm for coffee and bettering their quality and growing their business is inspiring. He shared various reports with me last week regarding cupping profiles they’ve identified among the various zones in which they’re producers work. He’s also made extensive quality, quantity, and growth reports that he walked me through. All very interesting. In a couple of weeks we’ll do a comparative cupping with their coffee and a few samples I brought back from a coop I visited in a different region. 

 

From Monday to Thursday last week I visited six different communities up, up , up in the mountains to give women’s health workshops.  Folks, let me tell you that the hours spent riding up the mountain are not smooth or comfortable. It is rough, ragged, and each trip is the promise of a story of someone who died at ‘x’ point along the road when they rolled off the side. I’m typically exhausted by the time we make it to our destination. Upon arriving, the health promoter there makes an announcement over the loud speaker and like magic the women begin to trickle into our assigned meeting place. During introductions, I ask each women (95% of whom are coffee producers) stand and give her name, town of origin, and then toss her arms in the air exclaiming that ‘I am VALUABLE’(yes, I came up with this lovely addition all by myself!) The time and aches and pains of the trip are all worth it in this moment which has decidedly become my favorite part of the entire talk. The sight of their eyes aglow with joy and/or embarrassment at not only standing in front of their peers but speaking the words ‘I am valuable’ in reference to themselves never ceases to move my heart and spirit. It may be the first time they’ve ever thought or said such a thing! I am SO humbled and grateful.

 

The presentation discusses cervical cancer, its causes, screening methods, and treatment. Next , an emphasis on self esteem and value, that each of them is one of a kind and plays an important role in her family and community which is just one more reason why the prevention of illness is so important. Lastly I pull out the trusty ole’ food pyramid and we discuss nutrition and eating a balance diet. Did you know that a glass of Coke has 3 spoonfuls of sugar? Mexico is actually one of the leading if not the largest consumer of Coke in the world. Sugar also eats your teeth in case you didn’t know. Lastly, we delve into the taboo topic of exercise. The women chuckle, giggle, and whisper, they even stand to look at the funny gringa demonstrating some handy dandy exercises they can do at home to achieve tighter buns, abs, thighs, and arms. It’s a hoot, really.

OK, friends and fellow coffee lovers. Off I go. My battery is rapidly dwindling. Take care, be well, and thanks for checking in!! Saludos…

New crop FTO El Triunfo Biosphere Reserve Mexican is here (ID 2122) with more on the way. The reserve, found in a cloud forest in the Sierra Madre Mountains in Chiapas, Mexico is home to a variety of endangered species, both animal and plant, and is also where the largest watershed in Mexico is located. 10 of the 18 types of vegetation that grow in Chiapas are found within the bounds of the biosphere reserve along with 791 known plant species. The reserve also hosts 22 percent of all species in existence in Mexico.

We purchase this coffee from the CESMACH coop where Amanda will be on the ground volunteering with Grounds for Health this summer. As mentioned in a previous blog, CESMACH is dedicated to bettering the quality of life for all of its members in addition to the conserving and enhancing the rich and rare ecosystem in biosphere reserve (and all other areas where they work) where some of the coop members are located. CESMACH works closely with Heifer International to provide livestock to their coop members and also strives for the early detection and treatment of cervical cancer among women in the region by collaborating with Grounds for Health. CESMACH also takes advantage of ongoing opportunities to work with various federally funded projects that improve basic living conditions for inhabitants all over the region.

Feliz Cumpleaños to El Triunfo Biosphere Reserve! Join us in celebrating by supporting the hard work done by these producers, enjoying their coffee, and sharing their story with your coffee drinkers.