February is a month where the coffee season in Ndurutu is
completely changed.
We no longer have the hustle and bustle of the farmers
coming up the ranges with buckets full of coffee. It’s a month of main prunning,
hand weeding and foliar feeds application.
A month where my father spends the
whole day tendering to his beloved coffee
trees. It is also a month of anticipated hope as the trucks snake their way to
the city, delivering the green coffee ready for Export to faraway lands…Its also a month where the Kedovo coffee soldiers are busy cupping various coffees in readiness for contracting.
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| Kedovo coffee soldiers |
Our coffee story begins in 2013 amongst the villages of
Kiganjo, Central Kenya just after the main season had ended and the
farmers yet again had been at the mercy of the middlemen. We set out to start rebuilding our lives, and
the Kedovo coffee project was founded on a shared dream. A dream where coffee
farmers in Nyeri, central Kenya would grow their coffee alongside their food
crops to provide the much needed cash where they would eat regular meals, send
their children to school, build new and safer homes ,develop the social amenities
in the village and even set up businesses.
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| Discussions with Farmers from Ndurutu on future of the project |
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| Coffee leaving the dusty village |
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| we have come a long way, but i do still worry for my people |
The shared dream was to use coffee as a tool of transformation.
These were people who were tired of emergency relief and subsisting on the
generosity of others but they knew they could not succeed alone, and we had to
build relationships. Relationships with coffee roasters, coffee drinkers and in
turn build a market for our coffee.......
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| Building relationships with Roasters from Germany |
Growing up in the village together with the Kedovo gang, we always felt the need to ''escape'' , but how can we escape from ourselves? I spent the last 67 days in the village, unlocking memories long forgotten, working with the farmers, learning from each other and finding solutions to the obstacles we face in our shared dream...
Our profit from selling the coffee has been going back to
Kiganjo ,Nyeri in Kenya, to the farmers
and their families to improve the quality of their lives through projects with
schools and communities. In Jan 2016 we started the Kedovo School Renovation Project -Ndurutu Primary school. At that time we was a worried lot. The school has ca.170 kids with ages of 3-15 years. The Infrastructure was pathetic, we had dilapilated roofs, classrooms without doors or windows ...the list is long.
The power of humanity prevailed, and you ALL without even knowing us, believed in us, and molded us into the Organisation that we have become. YOU believed in us and shared with us the meaning of community, and we inturn -not knowing that we were looking- we found ourselves. YOU have all been AWESOME....and The Ndurutu Primary School is fully renovated and handed over to the community .We did this with dancing and praises on 20th Jan 2017. The shared dream....
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| we had to begin our day making 400 pcs of Kenyan Chapati phew!! |
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| community in attendance |
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| Its done.... |
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| The Shared Dream.... |
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| Assistant County Commisioner adressing the community |
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| The gang ;) |
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| Our Mugithi Dance cant miss on such an occassion |
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| Part of the school |
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| Handing over to the school Adminstration and Local Authorities |
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| Its done... |
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| The shared dream.... |
Without YOU buying our coffees, this would have been so much harder, and for this on behalf of my people our sincere gratitude.
We all have dreams….coffee farmers have dreams of realizing
the fruits of their labour.
In Sept we partnered with Green Planet for the supply of
Solar power to several families within Kiganjo Location. We continued with the
installations and in Jan & Feb we installed 14 more systems. Special thanks
to Katrin of KEDOVO Volunteers for her commitment in supporting this project.
Solar power is something we all take for granted especially
in the developed world, - hej if a room is too dark we flip a switch, if our
cellphone battery dies we plug it in...how many of us eat cold food? hell no!
we toss it into the microwave.
Farmers like Mama Carol below , live without electricity...
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| Davie showing Katrin how a paraffin ''lamp'' operates |
These solar systems will not only provide safe
clean energy but contribute Economically in the sense that some of the
families can start small businesses from profits derived through
"charging phones" for others at a fee, use this money to buy groceries
or as a booster to other income generating activities.
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| Katrin deliberating how to do the wiring ;) |
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| Beneficiary...full with joy |
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| long term partnerships... |
The human impact of these systems is incredible! Access to
electricity can make life in rural villages much more comfortable minimizing
the families the adverse effects of smoke from burning kerosene indoors, and it
becomes easier to perform household chores (for women in particular), and for
children to do their homework.....The Shared Dream.
It is difficult to put word into gratitude for this immense
support. We still have more families to support and this we can only realize
with the purchase of our coffees.
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| another happy beneficiary |
Towards our work in ensuring that we supply YOU with high
quality coffee from the Kedovo Coffee Project, one of the crucial step along
the way is the drying of the coffee, which happens between harvest and export.
Ndurutu Wet Mill where most of our project is centred has a lot of old and
broken drying beds. Thanks to LOPPOKAFFEEEXPRESS and Lukas der Leipziger Baker
for their support and the partnership over the years, we were able to support
the mill with 2 new metal/steel drying beds that are more durable compared to
the timber ones.
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| most of the drying beds are more than 20 years old and in dire need of repair / new ones |
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| old, broken timber beds |
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| welding of the new drying beds |
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| ''transporting the steel bed from welding area |
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| Githinji the Mason making sure nothing is left to chance |
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| Handing over the drying beds to Joseph the Mills Manager |
To my community coffee is life... and its what we know how to do. Most of the coffee from last season was affected as mentioned earlier by leaf rust and the coffee berry disease, and most farmers lost the harvest...but we continue growing coffee.
My father lost a lot of his cherished trees...but he soldiers on, and together with other farmers they have started re-planting new coffee bushes as well. The waiting begins; Another 4 years of renewed hope...
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| my father cutting off the affected branches |
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| The kedovo soldiers hunting for new coffee seedlings |
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| Renewed hope... |
Rainfall between the month of November to January was very poor for the crop as well, and due to these factors we have a shortage in the harvest.
The Agronomy and technical trainings continues and we focus not only on the improvement of quality for our coffees but as well as the quality of life for the farmers that work tirelessly
to produce these amazing coffee.
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| training farmers on what roasters look for in a coffee |
To continue supporting these communities we have on offer
Green coffee (Rohkaffee) from Ndurutu Wet Mill & Thageini Wet Mill Season
2016/2017 F.O.T Bremen or Hamburg, transport within Germany & the EU
arrangable at a cost. Kindly contact Soni or Nicole for information on samples,
prices and contract. Lets rewrite the economics of coffee together...
For roasted Chania coffee kindly purchase from our OnlineShop 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.
Be part of our story....
