In the Central Highlands of Kenya, many Kilometres from the Indian
Ocean, there is a small village called Ndurutu, nestled on the footshills of The Aberdare Mountains , one can see the peaks of the
Mt. Kenya to the Northeast, where the folks -before the missionaries came-believed
Mwene Nyaga dwelt. On the slopes of
this mountain range lies my small , dusty but extremely beautiful
village.
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| Ndurutu shopping centre |
This is the village i still call home- i have lived in many
places before, and i finally relocated to Germany after a year of
deliberation ( story of another day) and i have done everything to
the letter of the book of Migration, but this is where my house is
and the village where I was born; this is the place where I
played my first games with my friends, swam on the banks of River
Chania, and struggled with bags of ripe coffee cherries up the hill. This is
where me and my siblings, sat by the fireplace every evening and
listened to stories told by my mother, stories that were passed to
her by her mother and grandmother.Unfortunately it was not my destiny
that I would spend the rest of my life there.....But i live everyday
with the memories of it, and the hope that my little contribution can
help in changing their lives.
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| a view of the sunset from the village |
On the 23rd of Sept TG Aphrodite sailed from the port of
Mombasa, to brace the high seas, the threat of climatic changes and
deliver our second container of coffee for this year to the Port of Bremen on
the River Weser. On board is again 250 bags of green coffee from
Ndurutu Wet Mill. The sale of this coffee will continue supporting our development Projects in Nyeri, Kenya.
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| meeting ndurutu coffee farmers in jan 2016 with Stefan |
My people planted coffee ages ago, even before i was born, so
being part of a coffee farmer basically begins the minute you are
born. I grew up knowing that our only source of income came from
harvesting those litlle red berries .My people watered these trees
with their sweat and the earth with their own blood, in order to
defend themeselves from the politics and the trade that came with
every bean that they harvested.
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| across the ridge as seen from Ndurutu wet mill; a small scale coffee farm |
I have had several
people asking me how all this coffee journey began, and whats the
motivation behind it. Well this is my story. And its the story of how
our journey at KEDOVO e.V began, a story which we want to change for
future generations of coffee producers.
When i was younger, how did i think about coffee?
I left the village
when i was 17, I just wanted out. My father was hell bent that i
should take the more 'sophsicated and respectable' proffessions, like
being a doctor, or a Lawyer- sigh. But i wanted out, out of the
village and the struggles and the back breaking toil that came with
coffee production and so i left to go and survive.
I ''survived'' and i
was able to see the world and to learn new things. I went to college
and everytime i opened my Economics book and looked at the graphs- i
knew what i wanted to become.
Moving to Europe, i
started thinking of how my people could develop and i realised they
had the best opportunity in the world. They grew coffee that
unfortunately did not benefit them due to the hurdles involved in the
supply chain. They were great coffee producers but not business
oriented. Their story needed to be told, but it had to be a story
that had hope, a story that was a journey to development, a story
that was their story, for i believe its the story of all the coffee Producers all over the world.
What they needed was
a market that could offer them a good price for their coffee and i
believed i could do this. If i could give them this hope again i
believed they would produce quality coffee that would be sort after
by Roasters from the Western world.
This has now become
my world, and everytime i roast a bean i remember my folks trying to
earn a decent living from a crop that comes with struggles .
Everytime i sit at Quijote i worry of their struggles but bast in
their determination not to give up in trying to find chances and
meanings in a world where decisions made many miles from their
village continue changing their lives.
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| with Matt of Quijote roasting Ndurutu AB |
My idea of Direct Trade and connecting the Roasters in germany with the communities who
produce coffee in Nyeri Kenya, is basically an attempt to adress the
problem facing the distribution and sale of Green coffee in a much
different way than the regulated certifications- note: i have nothing
against the various certifictaions out there, only i feel that coffee
producers should have more surelty of available market at good
prices rather than a promise of a ''future market' if they followed
this and that. We should be more focused not only on quantity and social aspects but the
overal economic sustainability of these communities at the same time preserving the quality and integrity of coffee, not forgetting
that communities develop socially if they are economically empowered.
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| Stefan of Kiez Roastery Berlin meeting some of our farmers |
The aim of the Kedovo coffee Project is to factor both economic and social development and where we work with these
communities from a grassroot level to establish exactly what is
required.
Kenya like many of
the countries in developing world, didnt not meet the set Millenium
Development Goals whose term ended in Sept 2015. We now have a long
list of the Sustainable Development Goals to battle for the next 15
years. They say to achieve them everyone needs to do their part. -
They said Goal 12 aims to ensure sustainable consumption and
production patterns, we will do our part- i hope to God the rest of
the world does their part...
Our story hasnt lost
hope and we have had great partners along the journey, people who
amazingly continue to support our work both with the purchase of our
coffees as well as supporting our many projects on community
development in Nyeri Kenya.
The last months the
gang has been busy winding up the last phase of installing water
tanks for water harvesting for a number of our coffee producers, in
line with our project for Access to clean water. This would have not
been possible without the support of BINGO Projektförderung Schleswig Holstein, for the immense Support , on behalf of my people
we will always be grateful.
To our Partners Sandtorkai Handel Papenhagen- you have become more than a partner, you are the family
that we made in a far away land; the people who believed in us
from the beginning, our sincere thanks, and ofcourse to all the amazing
Roasters and consumers who purchase both our green and roasted
coffees; Asanteni sana!
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| the home of one of our coffee producers who is among the beneficiaries of the water tanks project |
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| Wilson & James from Kedovo-Kenya busy with installations |
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| 2 hours later.... |
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| The gang ;) huraa! we did it |
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| The beneficiaries |
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| Another beneficiary from last month.... |
Our Story is a journey of togetherness... and together with the
gang we swore to dedicate our time, our resources in making the other
children of our coffee producers become self reliant. This we can
only do by ensuring they have access and chance to better education
facilities.
For Kenya to fully develop , its children and especially the ones in the rural farming villages, have to be educated, they Need to have a voice to develop in a world where the Odds have been stacked against them. We at KEDOVO only know too well the struggle to complete education....
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| pulped coffee husks at Ndurutu wet mill |
I believe there is need for more successive stories of communities who made it- but this is only possible if communities come together and aim towards self reliancy. We now have hope.
To continue supporting these communities we have on offer Green coffee (Rohkaffee) from Ndurutu Wet Mill late crop 2013-2014 F.O.T Bremen as well as late crop 2014-2015, transport within Germany & the EU arrangable at a cost. Please contact Soni Schneidewind or Nicole Boedgter for information on samples, prices and contract.
For roasted Chania coffee kindly purchase from our Online Shop or visit our offices in Kaltenkirchen. Visit the shop & Cafe 'Ein Welt Laden' located at the VHS in Kaltenkirchen , am Kretemoor 40, or pass by at our stand at the Kaltenkirchener Wochenmark every Saturday from 07:00 hrs to 12 noon.
