Delicious Sips of Peace
A coffee cooperative in Uganda has found a way to put peace in every coffee bean it produces. No, this isn’t new GE technology—rather it’s an alliance between Muslim, Jewish, and Christian farmers all pledged to producing Mirembe Kawomera—Delicious Peace Coffee.
One man, a Ugandan coffee farmer and musician, dreamed up the project. In 2004, JJ Keki began approaching his friends from different faiths with a new business model: begin working together to create a peaceful alternative to the present day religious conflicts that hurt and grieve so many on the planet. Five years later, the cooperative has grown to more than 1,000 coffee farmers.
Musician and activist Laura Wetzler, hearing of the mission of the cooperative, called Fort Bragg’s Thanksgiving Coffee and shared details about Mirembe Kawomera. Long known for its activist stance with fair trade coffee, Thanksgiving Coffee offered the collective four times as much per pound as it was currently receiving. The California coffee company also sends additional funding to help with community development in Uganda.
American customers have more than doubled, but the cooperative’s supply remains abundant. As the cooperative’s customer base grows, its message has inspired independent producers at JemGlo Productions to create a film about Mirembe Kawomera (search on You Tube for “Mirembe Kawomera Documentary Trailer”) . The filmmakers traveled to Uganda to film the cooperative in action as well to interview the farmers about their experience. Farmers and community members talk about the vitality that this peaceful, interfaith enterprise has brought to their society.
J.J. Keki is at work on a c.d inspired by the cooperative. He also remains at the heart of the cooperative by serving on its board of directors, which is made up of one person from every group represented by the coop: Christian, Jewish, Muslim. A woman too, is on the board to ensure that the voices of women and youth are heard.
“The story will not be lost on the shelf of a grocery store,” says project director Jenais Zarlin of Thanksgiving Coffee Company. Mirembe Kawomera is not only proving that a cooperative business template can be effective, it is demonstrating that a new paradigm of peaceful cooperation can literally be delicious.
No comments:
Post a Comment