Unity Through Belief…and Coffee
The Nod.
It is the newsletter sent out each week by Mr. Geoff Watts. Mr. Watts is the VP of Coffee for Intelligentsia. Intelligentsia is a mighty fine coffee roaster. We serve the beans they roast. Their passion, however, extends far beyond coffee. That passion is palatable in this week’s letter from Mr. Watts. Parts of it remind me of when Everyday Joe’s first opened 5 years ago, and Suzanne worked without pay just so it could get going because she believed in what could happen. Enjoy.
Hola:
To recap last week’s message, I spent a lot of time talking about, well, time. Having just returned from a trip to Africa, I also discussed our work in Rwanda and the challenges for cooperatives there: a lack of strong leadership, interference from both the government and private companies, and even electrical power outages. This week, I feel good talking about some of the positive things happening in Rwanda.
This year at Nyakizu the dozens of workers at the cooperative washing station have not yet been paid. Farmers delivering cherry are forsaking immediate cash to support the efforts of their group, tendering the coffee without any payment whatsoever. It is a staggering display of commitment and loyalty. They have new leadership in place, starting with President Emmanuel Hibamukiza, a relatively young and very charismatic guy who also works as a schoolteacher in the local village. One of the farmers, an old gentleman named Narzon Muharinkya, has been there since the beginning and recounted the leadership problems they’d experienced in the past. For the first time since Nyakizu was founded, he feels good about the group and has a renewed optimism that they will be able to move forward from here. I cannot begin to explain how his sentiments touched me as we sat together in a grove of trees just beside the station, talking about how to fix the problems and what must be done to build stability within the group and ensure that the cooperative can grow and thrive as it moves forward.
Still nothing is certain. I wrote a letter of intent last month to help the group secure pre-financing through Root Capital, a micro-finance organization. RWASHOSSCO, led by the very capable and sympathetic Gilbert Gatali, took out a loan in order to bail out the coop this year and prevent the bank from taking the washing station. This season is critical. If anything goes wrong, it will mean the end of the cooperative. But I feel good about what lies ahead. They’ve pushed through incredibly difficult times and have grown smarter for it. The stage to succeed is set in a way it has never been in the past, and we are going to do everything in our power to make this thing work. The coffee here is incredible, and it was easily the best of the Rwandan coffees we purchased last season and the real potential has not yet been touched.
From Nyakizu we drove to Kibuye, a small town on the edge of Lake Kivu in the western part of the country. Kivu is a gorgeous lake separating Rwanda from the Congo, filled with delicious little fish called Sambaza. They are just about the only fish in there as the lake is full of natural methane that rises up from the bottom and makes it nearly uninhabitable.
After a night’s sleep we took off for Nyabumera, one of the washing stations we are buying from in the region. Previously there had been four mini-stations under one umbrella of management, collectively known as Rusenyi, but large geographic distance separates the stations (nearly an hour and a half drive over bumpy roads to get from one to another) and the coop leadership proved unable to keep things together. A bad accountant was removed from office last year and a decision was made to split the coop into two groups based on geography. Nyabumera and Ruvumbu now fall under one roof, independent of the others, and just as with Nyakizu they’ve got a new set of leaders and a new lease on life. The same issues apply here—motivating membership to deliver cherry despite the immediate appeal of the competing stations that are luring away farmers who have lost faith in the cooperative and are pursuing short-term fixes rather than trying to build strength through solidarity with the group.
Rusenyi is an enchanting place. It is one of the lushest regions in Rwanda, with softly rolling hills and gorgeous views of the lake. It also stands out as one of the only areas in the country that mounted a strong resistance to the interahamwe militias that catalyzed the genocide in 1994. They are a strong and impressively fearless people.
When we got there, I went immediately to the drying tables to have a look at the parchment. I was surprised as I reached out to grab a handful—one of the women sorting defects out stopped me, and told me I could not touch the coffee until I washed my hands. Never in 7 years of prolific origin work in well over a dozen countries have I ever experienced this! It was an inspiring moment. Touching the parchment with unwashed hands really shouldn’t make any difference (provided the hands in question were not covered in oil or paint or something), but they were taking no chances! They were protecting the quality with astounding vigilance. I went and washed my hands and then headed back to check out the coffee and talk with the women working on the parchment.
We met with the group for a couple of hours, discussing both the past and the future and strategizing on ways to push this thing forward. More communication, more pre-financing, more outreach in the fields, and more technical assistance form the backbone of the prescription. They thanked us for solar flashlights that they’d received last season and asked quietly whether or not they might be able to get more since the farmers really loved them and there were many who hadn’t gotten one. There will be more flashlights coming, we will see to that, one way or another.
When we finished our meeting we headed down to Kibuye again to stop in at the cupping lab and taste some coffees with Emerthe and Rose, two of the young cuppers who I had helped train years ago. It was great to see them again. They still have a lot of work to do to continue developing their skills, but it will come with time. After we cupped, I took a quick ride on one of the Yamaha bikes sitting around and was having a grand old time until I rounded a corner with a little too much speed and went crashing to the ground. Ayyy! I couldn’t restart the bike and ended up walking it back to the lab, feeling more than a little embarrassed.
From there it was a three-hour drive back to Kigali and an early end to the day, due mostly to the fatigue from lots of driving and lots of talking. After a somewhat refreshing sleep, we moved on to Humure, another coop we’ve worked with for the last couple years. It’s way up in the North, approaching Tanzania. Along the way you pass a lake where Paul Kagame, president of Rwanda and a captivating figure who I am still dying to meet, has a home. It takes just under three hours to get there, and when we arrived, we were greeted by the whole crew: Claude Sebamana (the new President), Veniranda Mukankusi (VP), Eustache Inite (Secretary), Principe (GM), Eugenie Mana (Acctounting), Jean de Dieu (Maintenance.), Gasana Gideon (Production Officer), John Bavumire (Security), along with Emmanuel Getera (Technician) and about 20 other farmers. Things looked much, much, much better than the last time I’d been there. Clearly they’d taken the advice from last year to heart, and across the board the systems for controlling quality were improved.
Humure started as a group in 1999, but back then it was a different ballgame altogether. I’m amazed they’ve stayed together, given the abysmal value that Rwandan coffee had in those days. Now they’ve got 372 members. They are still paying off their 2004 BRD loans that were taken out to pay for the washing station construction. But they are advancing. Of the three coops we visited, Humure is the strongest and best organized and accordingly are the furthest along in getting square with the bank. They’re also trying to diversify; many of the women have been weaving baskets and asked us if there was a way we could sell them in the States. I’m going to get that worked out…the baskets are gorgeous, very well-made, each one requiring about 30 hours to complete. I have lots of them at home, some that I’ve bought and many that were given to me as gifts over the last five years. You should have one too!
After a long and very productive meeting with the group in which we discussed plans for the current season and ideas about how to keep this thing moving forward, we drove back to Kigali once again. I have some friends there who run a media company, and they’ve just recently opened a cool bar attached to a cool Italian restaurant called Papyrus. I went up there with Peter Giuliano and Clara, a girl from Portland who directs a program called Bikes to Rwanda. The food was delicious, especially the cheese that comes from a nearby farm. The wine was cheap and gave me a headache, but at least it tasted OK. Still, I’ll give the place thress stars. One of the best food options in Rwanda, where one cannot be especially picky.
Right now I’m in Heathrow airport, sitting, and waiting. I’ll be happy to get back to Chicago tomorrow morning, or this morning, or however you want to reckon it. But the stay at home will be a short one…I leave the following morning for Colombia.
This week we are proud to announce the release of one of our newest Direct Trade Offerings: El Machete, Panama. Since this is a new coffee for us, I am happy that it is coming out now before all our old favorites from Central America are back in season. El Machete gets a couple weeks in the spotlight, and it will really shine. Sarah Kluth, our Chicago-based Director of Quality Control, says that you can expect “a mouth-watering syrupy body full of blackberry, caramel, fudge, and hints of citrus.” Sounds good to me!
As always, find our Nods at:
http://www.intelligentsiacoffee.com/origin/offerings.
Onward,
Geoff Watts
VP of Coffee
Intelligentsia Coffee & Tea
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