Changing the story of our coffee producers

Lying between the Eastern base of The Aberdares, and the western slopes of Mt Kenya ,on the fertile Central Highlands, on the banks of River Chania is the village of my birth.On a ridge overlooking the river lies the Ndurutu Wet Mill.
The mountains are very significant and important to the communities living around them they  feature a lot in our folkrole and songs.- they are our source of livelihood. Without them, we couldnt have our great coffee. 

Mt.Kenya as seen from the village

 Two years have gone by since we launched Chania Coffee Project. The first year was full of amazing experiences, tiring, challenging, despair  but we kept the faith.
Then came the second year 2014. Which was a great opportunity year. The year of breakthrough. We brought the idea of Partnerships and relationships from both sides of the cup closer home- we told the story of my people our way. This wouldnt have been possible without Nicole and Heinz.
On the ground in Kenya we started the trainings on sustainable coffee farming to our group of vocal farmers.
Our efforts are to train the farmers in producing high quality coffee and generate additional premium by selling their beans on the international specialty coffee market.
Most of the farmers are now understanding that this is the only way their living conditions can improve.

field trainings

We supported Karindundu and Ndurutu Primary schools with books, desks, uniforms, school fees and changed hundred of lives. We gave these amazing kids educational chances beyond primary school, beyond the farming villages, chances  to continue telling our story.
We set up water tanks for a number of  farmers so they could have access to clean water. 

beneficiary from the water tank project

Through our Direct Trade intiative we offered and continue to offer direct links between our coffee producers and the roasters.Both sides now know that trade is not just about the money but about the people who produce our coffee, the people who roast the coffee, their families, their stories, their livelihoods. Through this method we have been able to invest in sustainable practices for the farmers, as we are assuaring a sustainable demand at a fair price- and the roasters who depend on us are assured quality coffee and steady supply. This creates a demand and an opportunity for our producers to reverse the cycle of poverty.

Jonas of Kaffee Braun meeting coffee producers in Kenia from our project

Loppokaffeeespress in Kenia so they get to know the people who produce their coffee

Stefan of Kiez Roastery discussing with the chairman of Ndurutu wet mill

Two weeks ago our first container for the year 2015 arrived at the port of Bremen. The coffee for this season is again from the NDURUTU Wet Mill in Nyeri. This time the quality had improved and we shipped both Kenya AB's and AA's .
We braced the horrible north Germany weather and headed towards Bremen with Heinz and Nicole to receive the coffee.The coffee despite having taken much longer than we anticipated was in excellent condition. 

our coffee arriving intact in Bremen

Soni, Heinz & Nicole in Bremen

With the purchase of this coffee, Sandtorkai Handel Papenhagen our partner, assures us of the continuity of our work in community development. Not only will we continue supporting the schools with their requirements we plan to tackle the problem of 'Thin months' which drastically affect our coffee producers.The thin months is the ''seasonal hunger' when income derived from previous harvest ran short.This has been a major threat for the community for years where they experience an extreme food and cash shortage for a minimum of three months every year.

quality control, check ;)

The KEDOVO plan of curbing this and bolstering food security as well as income generation, is the training and facilitation of income generating projects for the growers so that they are not over dependant on coffee production.Diversification will offer alternative sources of income and lower the pressure on coffee as the only means of income. Our objective is the sustainability of rural livelihoods and this can only achieved by holistic approaches that will make the farmers to continue producing and supplying us with quality and quantity coffee at the same time giving them chances and opportunities to thrive, opportunities for a better tomorrow.

The first phase of this project targets 13 of our women farmers who have been  facilitated by setting up of  altenative means of income through Poultry Farming for egg production.This will assure that each household has a steady flow of income through the sale of eggs to neighbouring towns etc. The Kedovo gang in Kenya facilitates the trainings, the constructions of coops and the marketing of the eggs. This kind of alternative source of income will smooth out the household income throughout the year. By supporting these women coffee growers we are supporting the entire community.
This project is a collaboration between KEDOVO e.V and Centre for International Migration & Development .

The next phase will be to train and facilitate most of the farmers to use some part of the income derived from the coffee to expand into other ventures and enterprises like the farming of fruits and vegetables that can be sold to generate income.
This way our coffee producers can comfortably feed their families.

Kedovo gang with some members of the women coffee farmers

 Ndurutu being a rural village, many a household depend on wood as a source of energy. Kedovo -Kenya together with Dominic of Flexi Biogas International will be installing biogas digesters for a number of our coffee farmers in line with our work towards the introduction of efficient and renewable energy.
The biogas digesters are an innovation from Dominic and they will use the coffe husks from the Ndurutu Wet Mill, kitchen waste, chicken droppings from the women project etc to generate energy for the community.
The systems produces as well a Bio slurry which is enriched organic manure which will replace the chemical fertilizers used on the coffee farms, leading to improved farming yields.

Biogas system designed by Dom that works on any bio degradable matter.

 As the gang in Kenya gets down to work , Soni and Nicole will literally knock on doors in Germany to make sure the coffee is sold. The coffee harvesting season began last week in Ndurutu and we have a lot of coffee to sell!

Special thanks to Speicherstadt Kaffeerösterie- words alone are not enough; but know we are totally grateful. To Loppokaffeeespress; thank you sister from another mother- thanks for believing in me and getting on that plane! hej who can forget the 2 days you got stuck in Amsterdam :D or how your nice shoes got spoilt by the mud in the village and you walked with gaping toes till we found a cobbler :D? 

Kira of Loppokafeeespress in Kenia helping with the harvest

To Ferdinands Kaffeerösterei, De Koffiemann, Wiener Rösthaus, Neu Kaffeerösterei Plauen, Kaffee Braun,Supremo, CTS GmbH, Kafferösterei Burg and the rest of you amazing roasters who still continue supporting our work our sincere gratitude.
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 those interested in Kenyan Single origin roasted coffees kindly purchase from our Online Shop or visit our offices in Kaltenkirchen.
Our handcrafted coffees are also available at Engel Eis Cafe on the Hamburger Strasse 23 in Kaltenkirchen , visit the shop & Cafe 'Ein Welt Laden' located at the VHS in Kaltenkirchen , am Kretemoor 40, or pass by at the Kaltenkirchener Wochenmark every Saturday from 07:00 hrs to 12 noon.

Our coffees at the Engel Eis Cafe

 The journey continues...

The Story of my People

There is a world and a story behind every coffee, ours is the story of my people. 
Its March, my mother wipes her soil covered hand on her skirt and shrugs with a far away look towards the mountains. Like the rest of the farmers in the village, shes busy weeding our small farm, in readiness for the harvest which begins towards the end of May.Then there will be a bust of activities in the village, women carrying big burlap bags full of coffee on their backs, tredging along the hillside, for there are no lead pack horses to help with the weight...
The ridge is full of small scale farms,with unripened green cherries that are not yet ready to pick.

the unripened cherries from all over the ridge

 My family just like most of the other families in the village pays a handful of neighbours who help with the harvest.
My mother is worried, it hasnt rained in months and this might affect this season's harvest- the far away look towards the mountains is in the hope that Mwene Nyaga will answer their prayers. She is anxious if the village will have enough coffee to send to Germany:
Two weeks ago MSC Tasmania sailed from the port of Mombasa Kenya bound for the port of Bremerhaven in Germany via Abdullah City on the Red Sea. On board the vessel is our 20 ft container carrying the coffee from Ndurutu Wet Mill; Ndurutu Village the village of my people.

Tasmania;Photo: Google credit

This is the coffee from last season that i had gone to prepare. This is the harvest that Kira and Jan of Loppokaffeeexpress helped in picking and processing. For a week they braved the muddy pathys, the scorching heat, the hard work to help my people bring in the harvest in time.
 

Kira & Jan braving the muddy paths to the village

Kira showing photos of her Roastery to the manager of Ndurutu Wet Mill

Kira helps with harvesting coffee- Ndurutu Village

Helping sorting out the cherries at the Wet mill

Securing this coffee hasnt been easy. It took me and Nicole longer than we had planned before the sale and the shipping was finally through. To Heinz, thankyou for your patience even when the going got tougher ;)
You see coffee has been an engine for Kenya's national economic development process, was at once the country's first foreign exchange earner. With this background it has brought with it thousand of 'advisors' who still dominate the coffee industry at the exploitation of the coffee producers.
Our Direct Trade model is governed by Transparency in the whole chain and we will not relent. My people can only transform their lives if facilitated with the necessary resources, connections and knowledge to thrive.Ours is a story of hope and restoration.Ours is a story where the farmers united to face the struggle and poverty associated with low coffee prices.....our is a story of honest partnerships.Thats the story of my people.

with a group of our focal farmers

 For every bean of coffee that we ship i worry. I worry for the children of our producers for they are the hope of the village.For every bean that Nicole and i sell means hope, future. A future for my people. The school Library is almost complete and the kids can finally have access to enough reading materials etc.To Sandtorkai Handel; Asante.

beneficiaries-Ndurutu Primary

 Our next phase of Rural community development work is underway, and this is the empowerement of women coffee producers from the village with small income generating projects. Most of these women have lived their whole lives in the village. Most of all the coffee produced in the village goes through these hand-working women. Unfortunately only maybe 1 % of them are entitled to the lands they till from dawn to dusk.They suffer from the daily to daily struggles of providing for their families and maintaing respectable standards of living- its not easy.
The women group that we are working with has been together for 10 years in an informal set up. 2 years ago we facilitated their registration with the Kenyan Ministry of Gender and Social Development as a Self-Help Group.This way we can find ways to facilitate them in establishing and finding ways to create income for the village.


 

Davie explaining to the women group on way forward

The project involves Poultry farming - egg production.The group will receive an estimated 1600 layers that will guarantee a steady income for the group on a monthly basis through the sale of eggs to neighbouring towns. This way we can ease some of the burdens that weigh heavily on our coffee producers.''Will my children have shoes to wear? will my family have afford a decent meal tonight? will i be able to send my children to school?'' these are not stories....these are realities that I and the gang at Kedovo grew up with.
This project wont have been possible without the Partnership of Sandtorkai Handel Papenhagen, without their trust and confidence in us. It would have been so much harder was it not for the Partnership of the Centre for International Migration & Development (CIM) of Germany.For this we are truly grateful.

the gang busy constructing the chicken coops

training of the group on poultry farming underway

Zackie doing what he does best- coordination

Our partnership with these coffee producers is not only to grow quality coffee but to make sure that they thrive, to make sure that their families are healthy, to live to our commitment of sustainable livelihoods.We want to move beyond Direct Trade relationships to Sustainable economic development of our coffee producers. 

To continue supporting these communities we are currently offering Green coffee (Rohkaffee) from Ndurutu Wet Mill late crop 2013-2014 F.O.T Bremen, transport within Germany & the EU arrangable at a cost. Please contact Soni Schneidewind or Nicole Boedgter for information on samples, prices and contract.The next shipment from Ndurutu Wet Mill season 2014-2015 is currently on the high seas with an ETA 22.4. in Bremehaven. More updates to follow.

For clients interested in Kenyan Single origin roasted coffees kindly purchase from our Online Shop, pay a visit to Engel Eis Cafe on the Hamburger Strasse 23 in Kaki and get to taste our handcrafted coffees, visit the shop & Cafe 'Ein Welt Laden' located at the VHS in Kaltenkirchen , am Kretemoor 40, or visit us at the Kaltenkirchener Wochenmark every Saturday from 07:00 hrs to 12 noon.

To all the Roasters in Germany and Austria who purchase our Green beans ; Asanteni. Without you all, this would have been so much harder. 

Signed Soni.

The Livelihood of our coffee producers

 When i meet people and out of 'nosiness' they ask whom am i,  or the 'usual' how i ended up in Germany, my simple answer is that i am a farmer's daughter. When i mention farming, coffee is not the first crop that comes to many people's minds but well...for the 1017 farmers of Ndurutu Wet mill and their families, that is their livelihood; not to mention the 25 Million small-scale farmers who grow 80% of the world's coffee. Growing and harvesting coffee involves labour-intensive manual work , and before our famous Kaki Kahawa became ' your cup of coffee' it had been planted, weeded, picked, processed ,bagged and transported by a farmer...that is their livelihod.That is the story in your coffee cup.

Ndurutu coffee farmer

This is our first Blog this year. Well i had been in Kenya for the last two and a half months, not only to enjoy the sun but to coordinate the harvest for the season 2014/ 2015.

Helping with the harvest with Kira & Jan of Loppokaffeeexpress

Control check ;) if the coffee is upto our quality requirements

cleaning the cherries at the Ndurutu wet mill

Having spent the last two months with our producers, i got to taste some of the most amazing coffees for this season. I spent days with our producers and explained to them how their coffee travelled all the way from their farms, to end up in shops in Germany.

With a group of our Vocal farmers whom we train on sustainable coffee farming

We discussed how we could try and mitigate some of the risks in coffee production by focusing in producing high quality speciality beans which would later on attract  a premium of around 40% over ordinary beans and at the same time addressing the needs of these amazing people in a far away village who produce our coffee.
Having grown up there i understand the complex socio-political-economic reasons why life is so difficult for these small-holder coffee farmers and we discussed at length the collaborative efforts between them and KEDOVO e.V to enhance their economic viability and social rural development. 
We revisited the pressing issue of keeping the children in school. I am aware of the struggle to complete education for many of the children of our coffee producers, and hence our vow to support with the education requirements. In Nov we supported Ndurutu Primary school with 20 new desks. This would not have been possible if not for Nicole and Heinz and all the other Roasters in Germany who buy coffee from us. Asanteni.

front row; the old desks, back row; the new desks supported by Sandorkai Handel Papenhagen

We brought in new books for the library that we are setting up. Currently the school rely on borrowing books from neighbouring schools. We believe that relief aid in any form is short term and hardly alleviates poverty. Kedovo uses holistic approach that dwells on full development of the children of our coffee producers, not approaches that will merely sustain them through poverty. Is Education not the most powerful weapon that you can use to change the world? as quoted by the late Nelson Mandela?
By having access to education, these children will develop self confidence and social/ economical skills. When i was growing up, my father made us believe that education was the only means we could use to overcome our situation. Me and my siblings laboured over the kerosen lamp ( there was no rural electrification back then) day and night, scouring dozens of borrowed books...Today i still believe that when a child is given the chance to have education, their path in life has been paved....the world is open, they can live their dreams....they have the chance to visit Disney World :D

Class 8 pupils Ndurutu Primary school

Some of the books we will use to set up the library- supported by Sandtorkai Handel Papenhagen

It was fulfilling to finally see that all our hard work is not in vain. The farmers have taken heed of the fact that sharing of knowledge between old and new is vital, and it is greatly appreciated by all concerned, to the fact that they arrange meetings between themselves  to discuss new experiences and methods to enhance their crops interms of improving quality and yield.
Our work with these great partners aims to increase value through the supply chain by providing training and infrastructure at origin to deliver the highest-quality coffee to buyers in Europe at sustainable prices.
Through our Field School trainings, we offer capacity building of the coffee producers through an interactive and dynamic model that promotes teamwork, with the vocal farmers replicating the knowledge as 'trainers of others'. This is their livelihood.

Explaining to our farmers how their coffee travelled from Nyeri to end up in shops in Germany

 The trainings dwell on quality control, increased yield, organic farming, integrated management of pests and diseases; pruning and shade management; and Marketing of the produce. A great tasting coffee is the result of a partnership and relationships of the producer and the roaster...we make it happen.That is our livelihood.
That is their story.
We build partnerships , relationships and trust with our coffee producers and in turn, they cultivate the best coffee in the world for us and inturn they get good prices for the produce.

at the liquoring lab in Sagana

Through our holistic approach with our producers we focus on the full development of the community not merely sustaining them through the project period.
With this in mind we look into ways and support abilities to diversify the income of our producers so they can become self reliant...

Mrs Mwangi arriving from drawing water from the river

Mathenge one of our coffee producers arriving from the river

 In progress is the Installation of rain water harvesting tanks for 20 families and 1 Primary school, supported by Sandtorkai Handel Papenhagen, Chania Coffee and co-funded by BINGO Projektförderung Schleswig Holstein.
The objective of the Project is to mobilise the resources available and provide a long lasting sustainable and clean source of water in the community...you might wonder why tanks? why water? well , clean water means health, income and education...clean water changes communities.This way we are all playing an active role in their livelihoods towards the formation of true partnerships.

installing one of the tanks with the Kedovo gang

 Handing over part of the new water tanks to the community- project supported by Sandtorkai Handel & Bingo
   

To continue supporting these communities we are currently offering Green coffee (Rohkaffee) from Ndurutu Wet Mill late crop 2013-2014 F.O.T Bremen, transport within Germany & the EU arrangable at a cost. Please contact Soni Schneidewind or Nicole Boedgter for information on samples, prices and contract.

For clients interested in Kenyan Single origin roasted coffees kindly purchase from our Online Shop, visit the shop 'Ein Welt Laden' located at the VHS in Kaltenkirchen , am Kretemoor 40, or visit us at the Kaltenkirchener Wochenmark every Saturday from 07:00 hrs to 12 noon.

Ndurutu coffee farmer

Many thanks to all of you who have believed in us, just to mention a few; Jonas, Kira, Daniel,Pingo, Thimo,Cornie, Eva,etc. Without you all this would not have been possible.
The work is not yet done, lets continue changing the dark story of poverty in your coffee cup.

signed

Soni