And so to our first project... The Shema washing station in Muyumbu, Rwanda. Muyumbu is an area some 35 kilometres east of Kigali city, about an hour and a half drive.
Our relationship with Mr and Mrs Charles Shema comes about through our partner @aegistrust, who recognised Charles and the good work he was doing some 12 years ago. A community-focused leader, Charles from early on, supported the community with cows and pigs to produce manure for fertiliser and helped develop systems that allowed his farming partners in the area to farm more organically, he helped to drive quality and established markets for the farmers coffee.
Unfortunately for the washing station and the farmers within the area, Charles was called away and the washing station and its organisation fell into disrepair. That’s life, it’s one of those things, but the impact on the wider community has been significant. The NGOs and big names that once operated in this area came, trained, but left, leaving little in way of structure and left the communities at the mercy of the larger commodity trading organisations.
Years of devastatingly low prices followed (100 Rwandan Francs per kg of cherry, roughly 10-12 cents per kg of cherry, equaling 72 cents per kg of green processed coffee). The area and its economy are showing signs of strain with many farmers choosing to disregard coffee entirely and turn to a plain subsistence lifestyle, growing only what they need to eat and producing almost nothing to sell.. for a local economy that’s devastating and can put communities back by decades.
Step in Good Human and an open conversation about possibility and renewal. It was clear the washing station had real potential and that the surrounding community were ready for new challenges. And so we start, by understanding the systems, the flow of information, how much people are earning and where we can add real value.
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