Education for Sustainable Development

Last week saw our Kedovo team in Kenya and our amazing group of Kedovo Volunteers from Bayreuth University of Germany spend a day with the school children of Karindundu Primary School in Karatina Nyeri- Kenya.

School children Karindundu Primary

The team visited the school, to continue and facilitate our Rural development projects on Education for sustainable development for the children of our coffee producers.
This particular project at Karindundu has been made possible by two amazing people i met along my journey in the coffee world.....Nicole Boedtger and Heinz Papenhagen of Sandtorkai Papenhagen Handel of Germany. They believed in us and my people and we will always be grateful. 
Our partnership with Sandtorkai will ensure the children of the coffee farmers from Karindundu wet mill ; Barichu Cooperative- will have access to books, and other learning materials as well as attend classes- We all know its a long journey; - my mother taught me that the only hardest thing in the world is that what has not been started.
This step is one of the many that we will take- but there is hope.

Danke Schön Fam.Papenhagen

This particular project on Education has a deep place in my heart. Growing up my father struggled to put me through school with both my siblings...it was not easy.

Three decades later our coffee producers still struggle to put their children to school!
Our work is to ensure that these children remain in school and have access to education as well as good learning environment.

''Education is the most powerful weapon that you can use to change the world''

-Nelson Mandela-

This is our inspiration and motivation! and we believe through this project we will change the lives of our coffee producing communities- may the force be with us......

Trade Fair 'Henstedt-Ulzburg ist gut'

The motto for this Trade Fair in 2014 was Nachhaltigkeit, and where better to find us!! :D
Sustainability is a word both my world understand, its one upfront word we use in our campaign with the communities who produce our coffee. No we dont 'sing' the songs of certifications this and that...

For us its very important that our people produce coffee that is within the ecological , economical and social limits that respect the crop and the farmers. We want to ensure abundant supplies of high quality coffee in the long-term; while at the same time asuring our consumers that the standards and social and environmental practices have been followed by each and every farmer in our project......At the same time we lean heavily on the economic part of it..hej! those farmers have been poor long enough! For us the real proof of a business is that it leaves something over the long term for society.

The trade fair saw us also launch ( due to demand) a new addition to the line of our products:

Chania Dark roast: This is a great coffee roasted by Tolga of Quijote at 210 degrees F for around 13-14 minutes. The coffee is a real morning kicker from the community of Karindundu in Karatina and it has high notes of Chocolate and Caramel. The coffee is currently available on our Online shop, both Beans and Ground coffee, packaging 250g.

At the fair we met amazing people and gathered a lot of information regarding sustainable development projects, information which ofcourse we will share with you our amazing family!

It's Official!!! Kaki-Kahawa

I am extremely excited to announce a new addition to our project coffees!
Kaki- Kahawa ( Kaltenkirchen Kaffee) is now available in the house officially!

Kaki-Kahawa Project

This has been facilitated by an amazing group of the 'Fair Trade Initiative Group Kaltenkirchen' and the ''Eine-Welt-Laden'' of the VHS Kaltenkirchen.
The coffee will be available for sale as from tomorrow 21st Feb 2014 at the 'Eine Welt Laden' of the VHS Kaltenkirchen am Kretelmoor 40. The coffee is available in both Roasted Beans and Ground coffee.

For the Kaki-Kahawa fans who cannot make it at the VHS, one can also buy the coffee from our stand at the Kaltenkirchen Wochenmakt every saturday from 07:00 hrs to 12:30 hrs.

Every purchase you make of this coffee will go towards supporting the amazing Kenyan coffee producers from Nyeri and their families.

To learn more about our community development work, please check out the website of our foundation Kedovo e.V

Oh yes!

One and a half hours on a chilly February morning we arrived at the Hansestadt Bremen....

I had part of the 'gang' with me. Well we still missed Taffy who was in the South of Germany and Jojo who is still zooming around in Africa. The last time i heard from him he was watching the sun go down at the Kalahari with a cold Windhoek!

It was a turning moment in all our lives; and more for the people of Barichu. They had prooved that through facilitation we could produce a quality coffee, that would fetch good prices and sell direct to the German market without the middlemen...was this not history in the making? They believed now...oh yes they believed..

breaking the seal

26 days after sailing from the port of Mombasa Kenya via Salalah, our container arrived intact. They didnt encount any 'Jack Sparrow'on the high seas !

It was a relief for me and Nicole.....

the coffee gals!

 

Everything was perfect. The paper lining was still intact and our precious Black Gold didnt have any damages at all!

Both of us had spent sleepless nights ....would everything be ok? and more to worry was the coffee had left a +30 degrees prone area to enter a -16 cold winter Germany...we was worried of the container wetness that would affect and destroy the coffee...The gods were on our sides..

The Future is Bright; The Future is Coffee

26 Days later after sailing from the port of Mombasa Kenya, the vessel carrying our coffee from Barichu Cooperative finally docks at the Port of Bremen, Germany.
Bremen is a commercial and industrial city with a major port on River Weser.

The vessel is carryin a 20ft container load of coffee from the amazing comunity of Karindundu in Karatina Nyeri.
A group of amazing farmers who have dedicated their lives to give 'a shot' again to the coffee industry in a hope that this time, yes this time coffee farming wil thrive like how other businesses do, this time they wil make amends meet, this time their children will go to school without a worry in the world, this time they will be able to afford 'Nyama Choma at least once a month and not having to wait till Christmas....this time there is hope...

This coffee is a Project between Chania Coffee and an Amazing lady, Nicole Boedtger of Sandtorkai Handel -an amazing person who believed in us from our first meeting. We will forever be grateful for  her Partnership and the believe in us and my people....Nicole has brought hope to the people of Karindundu; she has shown to the world and especially to the German coffee market that everything is possible...

Tommorow we head to the Port of Bremen...

Wie soll unser Kaki-Kahawa schmecken?

Yes Kaki Kahawa. That is the name of the Kaltenkirchen Project coffee.

Our sincere thanks to VHS Kaltenkirchen and the Fair Trade Intiative group of Kaltenkirchen.

We bring two great communities together. The community of Kaltenkirchen in Schleswig Holstein Germany and the amazing coffee producing community of Karindundu in Karatina Nyeri, Kenya.

They say A coffee is Forever, and with this partnership we Bring Coffee to Life!

What is Kaki-Kahawa? many asked...Kaki is the short form from the town name of Kaltenkirchen ( Kalt is German for Cold and Kirche means Church). My rebellious self  calls this place Cold churches- its a great place.
Kahawa is Swahili for coffee.
Not only do we bring comunities together, we let them discover the coffee difference.

All you need is a coffee and a dream.....

Kaltenkirchen bekommt einen eigenen Kaffee

In partnership with Kaltenkirchen Fair Trade Initiative Group and the Volkshochschule Kaltenkirchen, Chania Coffee will facilitate the 'testing' of the best coffee for the community. The event is scheduled for tomorrow 31st January 2014 at the VHS Kaltenkirchen from 16-21 hours. They will test and decide which roasting profile best suits the town...is it Light? or they prefer Medium? and what about Dark roast?

We spent the day roasting and cupping various coffee profiles so that we are ready for tomorrow.
The project is a Partenrship ( our favourite word) between the VHS, KEDOVO e.V( our foundation that sends those kids in Nyeri to school ;) and our coffee growing community of Barichu Cooperative, Karatina Nyeri.

The community of town Kaltenkirchen will experience tomorrow our coffees which are hand-crafted all the way from production farming to roasting and brewing.
Tomorrow we will answer questions and explain 'myths' of coffee production and processing. Thats where our strength lies...we are coffee producers.
We will also introduce to the community the 'hobby' of home roasting which is fun and produces the best coffee you have ever tasted ( not to mention saving 2,19€ coffee tax-per kilo).

Lets met tomorrow at the VHS Kaltenkirchen, where we will let you explore the Chania Coffees..