Tuesday I headed out of town again to visit Mama Mary Machange, the farmer I had met while visiting primary societies the other week. She lives in Uuwo, a little village just past Mwika, a town notable for all the bananas and mangos being brought there and loaded onto trucks. I was a little anxious because this was my first time traveling outside Moshi on my own, and I didn't know exactly where in Uuwo to find her, but it ended up being very easy. Conveniently I have picked a friend who lives on the main road, which, though not paved, is still passable in the rains. Over coffee, chapati, and farm fresh bananas, I asked her questions about her farm and her life. Although her English is pretty good, especially considering she has no education past primary school, I still struggled to formulate some of my questions in a way that I could get the kind of answer I was looking for, and was often unable to press for a deeper answer. But I also ended up with some answers I wasn't explicitly looking for that were just as valuable. I wanted to learn more about the co-op, and what it means to Mary to be a part of it, so I was trying to ask why she had gone to the meeting with the Dutch lady where I had met her. I didn't get that answer, but she ended up talking about gender, and being a woman in the co-op. In that coop of 867 members, only 52 are women. My guess is that those 52 are all widows like Mary. But Mary noted that the coop used to not listen to the women at all, but now they are. This is true in the courts of Tanzania as well - Mary noted that her husband had had other children, sons, who had wanted the property when he died, but now the magistrates recognize Mary's property rights. I asked her why the coops have started listening to women, and she said it was because of the world decision, that women are like men. That's progress and globalization at its best for you.
The anthropologist in me wants very much to spend more time in Uuwo learning about Mama Machange and her life as a farmer, beyond conversation in the living room and a brief walk around the farm. We will see.
Yesterday I met with Stephen Vick of Sustainable Harvest, a coffee importer that reinvests 2/3 of its profits in non-profits at origin. There seems to be a lot going on in the coffee world in Moshi (and in Tanzania), but it's still small enough that it's all connected. The winner of the Tanzanian National Barista Championship, who works at the Zanzibar Coffee House, was trained and coached by Stephen and later by Kara. No wonder she won... Sustainable Harvest is working on building a barista training and cupping center in Moshi. KNCU is similarly working to improve the quality of coffee and baristas in Moshi. There is a lot happening, even at its slow pace. There is a lot of entrepreneurial spirit and development and economic growth going on; quite a change from the America I left behind.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
the snows of kilimanjaro
This morning I awoke to a new view outside my window: fresh snow had fallen on the peaks of Kili during the night.
I haven't been posting much because there hasn't been much to write about. I am no longer bored but I occupy myself with the trappings of daily life - checking email, doing internet research, meetings to discuss various upcoming trainings, long lunch breaks, listening to the rain, drinking coffee and tea, hanging out with my roommate, reading books, and studying swahili. I've spent a lot of time this past week thinking about what's next for me, weighing my options and my desires. Things are starting to fall into place.
This weekend the director of Visions in Action was in town, as well as a short term Visions volunteer through IEEE who is living in Arusha. It was interesting to hear more about this NGO I've become somewhat affiliated with. Over dinner we discussed sustainable volunteering. I am quite certain that by the time I feel comfortable here and understand the system and what's going on and how I can best make a difference, I'll be getting ready to leave. I have the benefit of taking over where Kara left off so a lot has already been figured out and established, but there is no one coming to replace me. But I am also not willing to wait infinitely until the cafe opens, as approval for construction keeps getting pushed further and further back. Maybe I'll just have to come back once the cafe is open and do some barista training. Or maybe I'll have set up a sustainable barista exchange program between Equal Exchange Cafe and KNCU Cafe, to the mutual benefit of both parties. (Anyone know any good grant opportunities?)
I haven't been posting much because there hasn't been much to write about. I am no longer bored but I occupy myself with the trappings of daily life - checking email, doing internet research, meetings to discuss various upcoming trainings, long lunch breaks, listening to the rain, drinking coffee and tea, hanging out with my roommate, reading books, and studying swahili. I've spent a lot of time this past week thinking about what's next for me, weighing my options and my desires. Things are starting to fall into place.
This weekend the director of Visions in Action was in town, as well as a short term Visions volunteer through IEEE who is living in Arusha. It was interesting to hear more about this NGO I've become somewhat affiliated with. Over dinner we discussed sustainable volunteering. I am quite certain that by the time I feel comfortable here and understand the system and what's going on and how I can best make a difference, I'll be getting ready to leave. I have the benefit of taking over where Kara left off so a lot has already been figured out and established, but there is no one coming to replace me. But I am also not willing to wait infinitely until the cafe opens, as approval for construction keeps getting pushed further and further back. Maybe I'll just have to come back once the cafe is open and do some barista training. Or maybe I'll have set up a sustainable barista exchange program between Equal Exchange Cafe and KNCU Cafe, to the mutual benefit of both parties. (Anyone know any good grant opportunities?)
Sunday, March 14, 2010
cultural comparison
The honey tastes distinctly different here, which, like everything that has been different from what I expected, makes perfect sense.
In my first couple weeks I've spent a lot of time comparing Tanzania to Ghana, or more specifically Moshi to Awutu and Buduburam (and to a lesser extent Accra). A lot of the differences seem obvious in retrospect - Moshi is a growing city, not a small village or a refugee camp. It is also a very clean city. There are waste barrels throughout town and they are very serious about littering. Ignorant muzungus have been hauled off to the police station to pay a fine for dropping their cigarette butts on the street. I hear the term "mzungu," meaning "foreigner, white person," much less than I heard "obruni" in Ghana, which is refreshing. I still get it from time to time, but I have yet to encounter a horde of children running up to me yelling "mzungu mzungu what is your name?" Overall the people seem less demanding and confrontational, but they also haven't been recently traumatized by a civil war and dependent on others as the Liberian refugees were. I've already mentioned the luxury of my house, running water, usually electricity... But I think that is part and parcel of living in the city. I work out of an office. My computer is pretty old and we don't have air conditioning but it's easier for me to get online here than any time I went to Equal Exchange in West Bridgewater. I think I already mentioned the availability of milk and cheese and ice cream, though I will note that the bread upon which to put cheese is not as good as in Ghana. Also I haven't been as deprived of fresh fruit and vegetables as I was in Ghana. Almost every dish from a restaurant here is served with some sort of small cucumber and tomato salad. And I've discovered the delicious and intriguing passionfruit. In terms of water, they do not have the lovely half liter bags, so it's either bottled water or boiling and then cooling and then drinking. Though straight from the tap has been fine for brushing my teeth. I kind of miss the bagged water, and I definitely miss Awutu egg sandwiches. All in all, life in Moshi is much more similar to life in Boston than I expected - more like Boston than like Awutu, that's for sure.
In my first couple weeks I've spent a lot of time comparing Tanzania to Ghana, or more specifically Moshi to Awutu and Buduburam (and to a lesser extent Accra). A lot of the differences seem obvious in retrospect - Moshi is a growing city, not a small village or a refugee camp. It is also a very clean city. There are waste barrels throughout town and they are very serious about littering. Ignorant muzungus have been hauled off to the police station to pay a fine for dropping their cigarette butts on the street. I hear the term "mzungu," meaning "foreigner, white person," much less than I heard "obruni" in Ghana, which is refreshing. I still get it from time to time, but I have yet to encounter a horde of children running up to me yelling "mzungu mzungu what is your name?" Overall the people seem less demanding and confrontational, but they also haven't been recently traumatized by a civil war and dependent on others as the Liberian refugees were. I've already mentioned the luxury of my house, running water, usually electricity... But I think that is part and parcel of living in the city. I work out of an office. My computer is pretty old and we don't have air conditioning but it's easier for me to get online here than any time I went to Equal Exchange in West Bridgewater. I think I already mentioned the availability of milk and cheese and ice cream, though I will note that the bread upon which to put cheese is not as good as in Ghana. Also I haven't been as deprived of fresh fruit and vegetables as I was in Ghana. Almost every dish from a restaurant here is served with some sort of small cucumber and tomato salad. And I've discovered the delicious and intriguing passionfruit. In terms of water, they do not have the lovely half liter bags, so it's either bottled water or boiling and then cooling and then drinking. Though straight from the tap has been fine for brushing my teeth. I kind of miss the bagged water, and I definitely miss Awutu egg sandwiches. All in all, life in Moshi is much more similar to life in Boston than I expected - more like Boston than like Awutu, that's for sure.
adventures in the shadow of kilimanjaro
From the farm the parchment coffee is brought to a curing facility to be de-husked and graded. For KNCU farmers and many others in the region, this curing center is a massive factory in Moshi town with a capacity of 50,000 tons of coffee. If the factory is working efficiently they are processing 8 tons of coffee/hour. When I was there on Thursday it was mostly empty, as the season is over, but there was still some coffee being delivered and sorted and packaged. The machine sorts the coffee by size and density, which determine the different grades, and then it is hand sorted for defects. It is quite an intensive process, and this account fails to do justice to the immensity of the task and the factory.
On Thursday I also observed the coffee auction. The information about each lot of coffee up for sale (seller, size, grade) is projected on a screen and the bidding is silent and electronic. It was kind of boring and I was only slowly getting a sense of what was going on, but it was pretty interesting.
On Friday I accompanied the KNCU organic guy to three primary societies. He was escorting a Dutch woman from Pharm Access, an organization that is looking in to providing health insurance for the farmers utilizing pre-existing community structures like the co-ops. Although the meetings were repetitive and mostly in Swahili, it was good to get out into the country again. It was interesting to learn what Pharm Access is trying to do, and to think about the role of KNCU as a broker between farmers and other services that have nothing to do with coffee farming. The meetings with the primary societies reminded me a lot of the Peace Cells at Buduburam, except much more positive, which shouldn't be surprising but was uplifting for me to see. The highlight of the day was probably getting the phone number of a woman farmer who spoke some English - my hope is to be able to visit her again, and learn more about farming and not just middle-class urban office life in Tanzania.
Saturday I went on a one day safari at Arusha National Park. I saw giraffes and zebras and warthogs and buffalo and monkeys and butterflies and some other animals. The giraffes were the coolest, and very close up. I got a bit of a sunburn and lots and lots of pictures. Now I just need to find the lions and the elephants.
On Thursday I also observed the coffee auction. The information about each lot of coffee up for sale (seller, size, grade) is projected on a screen and the bidding is silent and electronic. It was kind of boring and I was only slowly getting a sense of what was going on, but it was pretty interesting.
On Friday I accompanied the KNCU organic guy to three primary societies. He was escorting a Dutch woman from Pharm Access, an organization that is looking in to providing health insurance for the farmers utilizing pre-existing community structures like the co-ops. Although the meetings were repetitive and mostly in Swahili, it was good to get out into the country again. It was interesting to learn what Pharm Access is trying to do, and to think about the role of KNCU as a broker between farmers and other services that have nothing to do with coffee farming. The meetings with the primary societies reminded me a lot of the Peace Cells at Buduburam, except much more positive, which shouldn't be surprising but was uplifting for me to see. The highlight of the day was probably getting the phone number of a woman farmer who spoke some English - my hope is to be able to visit her again, and learn more about farming and not just middle-class urban office life in Tanzania.
Saturday I went on a one day safari at Arusha National Park. I saw giraffes and zebras and warthogs and buffalo and monkeys and butterflies and some other animals. The giraffes were the coolest, and very close up. I got a bit of a sunburn and lots and lots of pictures. Now I just need to find the lions and the elephants.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Down on Kahawa Shamba
And I didn't even have to be a biscuit...
Yesterday I went on a day trip to Kahawa Shamba, an eco-tourism project of KNCU to visit a small coffee farm, along with Kara and a delegation from the African Fair Trade Network (AFN). We went to the village of Urumsumi, about 30 minutes outside of Moshi, up in the foothills of Mt. Kilimanjaro where the weather is much nicer. The Kahawa Shamba project benefits three primary societies that are a part of KNCU (which has a total of 67 primary societies). The project is run by local farm families, who serve as tour guides and cooks, and is a bridge between producers and consumers. They get about 1100 tourist visitors in the high season, primarily with groups. Most of these tourists are already the type interested in fair trade, and like to see the impact as well as the origins of their purchases. Unfortunately there is not a way for them to buy coffee after the tour (something the roasting value-addition project should fix), and the farmers don't know much about fair trade. These primary societies certainly benefit more from the tourism project than from the fair trade premiums.
The coffee tour on the farm takes you step by step through the seed-to-cup process. Unfortunately, since the harvest is over, we were not able to pick the ripe red cherries, so the first part of the process had to be explained to us. We tried running some green cherries through the pulper, but they just get crushed, rather than depulped. The crushed green cherries smell like fresh peas. From the parchment (dried, depulped coffee) stage on, we were able to participate. We removed the husks by mashing the beans in a giant mortar and pestle (more about the de-husking process on another day...), then roasted the green beans in a broken piece of clay pot over an open fire, stirring constantly to get as even a roast as possible. After second crack, we removed the beans from the fire and returned them to the mortar, where we ground them. In the meantime we started boiling water over the fire, then added the ground coffee. And then, after boiling the coffee for a while, we drank it! Seed-to-cup!
It was really cool to be on the farm and talking to farmers, hearing their concerns, realities, and aspirations, and especially interesting to be there with the AFN, since they are interested in how to make fair trade better for the farmers. There has been a lot of talk, on the farm and elsewhere, about value-addition, which is what KNCU's roasting project is, and local labelling. These ideas are all still new to me, but I'm gaining many insights.
Yesterday I went on a day trip to Kahawa Shamba, an eco-tourism project of KNCU to visit a small coffee farm, along with Kara and a delegation from the African Fair Trade Network (AFN). We went to the village of Urumsumi, about 30 minutes outside of Moshi, up in the foothills of Mt. Kilimanjaro where the weather is much nicer. The Kahawa Shamba project benefits three primary societies that are a part of KNCU (which has a total of 67 primary societies). The project is run by local farm families, who serve as tour guides and cooks, and is a bridge between producers and consumers. They get about 1100 tourist visitors in the high season, primarily with groups. Most of these tourists are already the type interested in fair trade, and like to see the impact as well as the origins of their purchases. Unfortunately there is not a way for them to buy coffee after the tour (something the roasting value-addition project should fix), and the farmers don't know much about fair trade. These primary societies certainly benefit more from the tourism project than from the fair trade premiums.
The coffee tour on the farm takes you step by step through the seed-to-cup process. Unfortunately, since the harvest is over, we were not able to pick the ripe red cherries, so the first part of the process had to be explained to us. We tried running some green cherries through the pulper, but they just get crushed, rather than depulped. The crushed green cherries smell like fresh peas. From the parchment (dried, depulped coffee) stage on, we were able to participate. We removed the husks by mashing the beans in a giant mortar and pestle (more about the de-husking process on another day...), then roasted the green beans in a broken piece of clay pot over an open fire, stirring constantly to get as even a roast as possible. After second crack, we removed the beans from the fire and returned them to the mortar, where we ground them. In the meantime we started boiling water over the fire, then added the ground coffee. And then, after boiling the coffee for a while, we drank it! Seed-to-cup!
It was really cool to be on the farm and talking to farmers, hearing their concerns, realities, and aspirations, and especially interesting to be there with the AFN, since they are interested in how to make fair trade better for the farmers. There has been a lot of talk, on the farm and elsewhere, about value-addition, which is what KNCU's roasting project is, and local labelling. These ideas are all still new to me, but I'm gaining many insights.
Sunday, March 07, 2010
Arusha: serving coffee and justice
I'm trying to slow down a bit now, adjust to 'Africa time' and the lethargy that comes from this heat. It's hard for me, especially since I'm so used to running about and keeping busy. I am too new here to even know how to keep busy. I need to accept that boredom is a part of this, and that's okay. In the meantime, for the weekend, there is absolutely nothing I have to do, or should be doing, so I'm forcing myself to relax.
I think I'm going to start taking Swahili lessons next week. It will give me something to do and help me understand the world I'm in, or at least some of what people are saying. I'm still getting a hang of the basic greetings - mostly I spend a lot of time saying "ahsante" - thank you.
On Friday Kara and I went to Arusha. I met Mageche, our cafe manager, and we checked out a couple cafes - one had a beautiful La Marzoco that made me a little homesick. We also stopped in at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, located in the Arusha International Convention Center. We were only able to catch the very end of a session, and it took me awhile to understand what was going on, but it was very interesting. I recently saw a film about the reconciliation process within the country, which provided a lot of contrast. The woman on the stand was a witness whose past testimony about the accused, apparently a man she had worked for an respected, was being questioned. It is crazy how people are held accountable to remembering testimony and events that happened over ten years ago. The lawyer we saw interrogating the witness posed many questions as suggestions: "Might I suggest that you said this because..." The witness defended the nuanced differences between her testimonies, and did not agree to the lawyer's suggestions. And then the court was adjourned and the witness was told she could greet the accused. It was all very formal and civil. I hope to go back and observe more of the proceedings.
Yesterday, when poking about my house, I discovered a folder of information about the ICTR. Most interesting was a little illustrated book about testifying for the ICTR. According to the introduction, the cartoon guide was printed in English, French, and Kinyarwanda, the three official language of the court, and was intended to help people understand the purpose of the court and the process of testifying. I'm not quite sure how this book and information were disseminated (I think through local teachers), but knowing the confusions around the Liberian TRC, such a guide definitely seems like a good idea, and was certainly the most accessible thing I've seen.
I think I'm going to start taking Swahili lessons next week. It will give me something to do and help me understand the world I'm in, or at least some of what people are saying. I'm still getting a hang of the basic greetings - mostly I spend a lot of time saying "ahsante" - thank you.
On Friday Kara and I went to Arusha. I met Mageche, our cafe manager, and we checked out a couple cafes - one had a beautiful La Marzoco that made me a little homesick. We also stopped in at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, located in the Arusha International Convention Center. We were only able to catch the very end of a session, and it took me awhile to understand what was going on, but it was very interesting. I recently saw a film about the reconciliation process within the country, which provided a lot of contrast. The woman on the stand was a witness whose past testimony about the accused, apparently a man she had worked for an respected, was being questioned. It is crazy how people are held accountable to remembering testimony and events that happened over ten years ago. The lawyer we saw interrogating the witness posed many questions as suggestions: "Might I suggest that you said this because..." The witness defended the nuanced differences between her testimonies, and did not agree to the lawyer's suggestions. And then the court was adjourned and the witness was told she could greet the accused. It was all very formal and civil. I hope to go back and observe more of the proceedings.
Yesterday, when poking about my house, I discovered a folder of information about the ICTR. Most interesting was a little illustrated book about testifying for the ICTR. According to the introduction, the cartoon guide was printed in English, French, and Kinyarwanda, the three official language of the court, and was intended to help people understand the purpose of the court and the process of testifying. I'm not quite sure how this book and information were disseminated (I think through local teachers), but knowing the confusions around the Liberian TRC, such a guide definitely seems like a good idea, and was certainly the most accessible thing I've seen.
Wednesday, March 03, 2010
soaking it all in
I've spent the morning orienting myself to Moshi. Kara showed me around town, I got a sim card for my phone, bought some peanut butter and bread, and had lunch at The Coffee Shop, one of the more popular cafes in Moshi. This morning they brought us a thermos of coffee in the office. It was delicious, and also pretty powerful to think about how close to the source of that coffee I am. I still have yet to see Mount Kilimanjaro itself, as there were clouds in the way this morning.
The house I am living in is quite luxurious, at least compared to where I lived in Awutu, and right on the edge of town. It has electricity and running water! There's an electric kettle to boil my drinking water! I can keep the cheese I bought in the Amsterdam airport in the fridge! I was kind of looking forward to having to take bucket showers, but I guess I'll stay cleaner this way. There's another girl who lives there, a volunteer for Visions In Action, the NGO that owns the house, but she's in Zanzibar for the week. Settling in would be a little easier if there was someone there, because I have to figure out for myself things like turning on the stove and where to put trash, but she'll be back soon and Kara's nearby so I'll be fine for the next few days. There's a guard at night and a "housegirl" who comes by during the day.
I've been reading over the KNCU cafe business plan to familiarize myself with what's going on here. I think we're going to visit a coffee plantation this week. I'll have more to say once I've experienced more, but in the meantime I'm just going to enjoy the verdant landscape and the fresh coffee and the humidity...
The house I am living in is quite luxurious, at least compared to where I lived in Awutu, and right on the edge of town. It has electricity and running water! There's an electric kettle to boil my drinking water! I can keep the cheese I bought in the Amsterdam airport in the fridge! I was kind of looking forward to having to take bucket showers, but I guess I'll stay cleaner this way. There's another girl who lives there, a volunteer for Visions In Action, the NGO that owns the house, but she's in Zanzibar for the week. Settling in would be a little easier if there was someone there, because I have to figure out for myself things like turning on the stove and where to put trash, but she'll be back soon and Kara's nearby so I'll be fine for the next few days. There's a guard at night and a "housegirl" who comes by during the day.
I've been reading over the KNCU cafe business plan to familiarize myself with what's going on here. I think we're going to visit a coffee plantation this week. I'll have more to say once I've experienced more, but in the meantime I'm just going to enjoy the verdant landscape and the fresh coffee and the humidity...
Tuesday, March 02, 2010
I want to dance a tango with chance
I'm sitting at the airport in Amsterdam enjoying a cappuccino while waiting for my flight to Kilimanjaro. Despite the instantaneousness with which it came out of a machine, it's the perfect size and in a ceramic cup and has the comforting taste of Europe and something I might have liked before I knew better. I didn't sleep much during the flight, even though my TV didn't work, but I read a little and listened to lots of music. I feel like I should be more prepared for what I'm about to do, intellectually at least, but at the same time I feel open and ready, for this, for anything.
What I'm doing, in short, is helping the Kilimanjaro Native Cooperative Union, the oldest coffee coop in Africa, open a cafe in Moshi, at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro. In theory most of what I'll be doing is barista training, though how much of that I"ll actually be able to do is questionable considering renovations of the site haven't started yet. Basically I'll be taking over for Kara, a former barista from Equal Exchange Cafe, who has been in Tanzania working for KNCU since August. I don't really know what she's been doing, so I'll just have to wait and see.
Of course, waiting at the gate makes it all the more real. I'm so much more curious about what brings people on flights to African than on flights to Europe. Who knows what adventures we are all about to embark on. It's exciting as well as terrifying. This is it.
What I'm doing, in short, is helping the Kilimanjaro Native Cooperative Union, the oldest coffee coop in Africa, open a cafe in Moshi, at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro. In theory most of what I'll be doing is barista training, though how much of that I"ll actually be able to do is questionable considering renovations of the site haven't started yet. Basically I'll be taking over for Kara, a former barista from Equal Exchange Cafe, who has been in Tanzania working for KNCU since August. I don't really know what she's been doing, so I'll just have to wait and see.
Of course, waiting at the gate makes it all the more real. I'm so much more curious about what brings people on flights to African than on flights to Europe. Who knows what adventures we are all about to embark on. It's exciting as well as terrifying. This is it.
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