For 11 years, Marisol Medina Camero has managed her family’s Colombian coffee farm in La Plata, Huila. She completes domestic tasks while also doing everything from picking coffee cherries, pulping and washing of beans, and preparing the coffee for sale to roasters. One of the founding members of Las Rosas, Medina Camero begins her day before the sun rises and works long after it has set. In that time, she feeds the chickens and dogs, milks cows, makes food, and completes a million small tasks related to the coffee.

While her labor may seem never-ending, she is proud to have used her business to benefit her family and improved their financial and societal situation.

“Thanks to the opportunities [the project] gives us through training and good prices, we have the opportunity that many people meet us and want to support us with better prices that we need for our families,” said Medina Camero.

Las Rosas

Partnered with Pure Origin Coffee, Las Rosas has supported 300 Columbian women coffee growers since being founded in 2010. A portion of the proceeds from Pure Origin’s Columbian blend goes towards giving these women technical training in their craft. Furthermore, it helps sustain agricultural practices throughout the region, and ensuring equitable wages for their labor.

“Thanks to the project, we have a revolving credit fund, we sell coffee and receive a cash premium, and we have trainings in gender equity and women empowerment,” said Medina Camero. “We are leaders of our coffee companies and leaders of women in the region. We can tell the world how much we have grown, how much we are empowered [by our business], and how visible we are, thanks to the project.”

Supporting Her Family

Earning extra money means she can help her children pursue education. Additionally, she can attend vocational training in the field of coffee growing.

“Thanks to our commercial partners such as RGC and [the Cooperative of] Huila, we have the opportunity to give our children what we never had,” she said. “The most important desire we have is to give education to our children, so they can get what we couldn’t. This project has made our dreams come true.”

Medina Camero says her family is the most important thing in her life, followed by her personal fulfilment as a woman, and then her coffee enterprise.

“One of the best parts of this project is noticing my personal growth,” she said. “We must as a group show to the world [that] we have grown as women and as families. There has been 11 years of training, of being strong, resilient women. That is what we are still doing today.”

The Importance of Sustainable Coffee

However, ongoing funding is important to Las Rosas, as a lot of work remains to be done. When asked why people should consider buying a cup of her farm’s sustainable Colombian coffee, Medina Camero said that it is about more than the coffee. It is about improving lives.

“There are a lot of things here that we do every day with love,” she said. “All of this is done by the hands of women looking for a better future for their kids.”

Though the years haven’t been easy, Medina Camero is immensely proud of the strides she has made with her family. In addition, her work as a woman coffee grower has also made a huge impact on her life.

“For 11 years, we have built up the empowerment of women,” she said. “11 years of struggle, 11 years of training. 11 years where no matter how small the contribution is, it has made the association and women move forward. There have been setbacks, but we have managed to overcome them. We can show to the world what we have achieved. We can give them good quality coffee; that is what makes me happy.”

Pride in Her Work

Medina Camero adds that being a part of the project means, for her, love for her family, and love for what they do together.

“It makes us proud to show to the world what we have,” she said. “Women can do big things. People can know that in one part of the world, there are 300 women who are doing special things to offer a cup of coffee that customers can enjoy.”

You can support Medina Camero and Las Rosas by purchasing the Pure Origin Colombian coffee. A portion of every sale goes towards the philanthropic efforts in Colombia.

Medina Camero’s quotes were translated from her native Spanish.

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Arturo Antonio Cañaveral has been a Peruvian coffee farmer all of his life. When he discovered one of his daughters had become sick from a parasite acquired from contaminated water, he knew he had to take action.

Cañaveral helped found Todos Al Agua, an initiative which combats contaminated water found in areas of Peru and Colombia. These regions have suffered for 25 years from water scarcity in the dry seasons and poor water quality during the rainy seasons. Every purchase of Pure Origin‘s Peruvian coffee funds workshops to combat climate change and protect water resources in the Amazonas.

“We decided on ‘Todos Al Agua,’ because it is like immersing ourselves in the water,” Cañaveral said. “I feel very good because I can contribute ideas and propose activities. Thanks to the project, we can do many activities: protect a basin, reforest. Before, without the project, we could not do this.”

Modest Beginnings

The project started with modest beginnings. Coffee growers from five villages in the municipality had the same problems that can affect cultivation. They united to combat climate change and water pollution, the things that are most harmful to their livelihoods. Since the start of Todos Al Agua, Cañaveral said they have planted 30,000 coffee trees.

“I know this is all a process,” said Cañaveral, “that little by little, our mentality is going to change more and more, that the pollution that we generate to the environment and to the water is being mitigated thanks to the project, and will soon be decontaminated.”

Cañaveral, 42, generally works from 5:30 in the morning to 6 in the evening during much of the year. During the harvest season, he extends this until after 10 or 11 at night. He picks up coffee, weeds, and does anything necessary around the farm. Whenever he has a spare minute, he either spends it with his family, who work alongside him, or works with Todos Al Agua in order to improve the state of water around him.

“The farm gives me a lot of peace of mind,” he said. “I manage my schedule, manage it my way. It is my company, and I have to take good care of it to take care of the well-being of my family.”

Looking Forward

Looking forward, Cañaveral said he hopes to continue improving the quality of the water and of his own farm. Additionally, he wants to keep spending time with his family, which includes his two daughters, one five-year-old and one seven-year old.

When asked why people should consider buying his coffee, Cañaveral stated the importance of outside investments in Todos Al Agua. These investments are hugely instrumental in improving the quality of life for his family and coffee-growing families around him.

“If the client stops buying from us, we run out of resources to carry out the activities, and we can hardly change our impact on the environment,” he said. “People are not very aware and cut down the forests, pollute the waters, and thanks to the project, all this has changed, little by little. They buy our coffee mainly due to the positive impact that the project generates on the environment, thanks to the resources that come from the sale of coffee.”

Incremental Improvements

Cañaveral said the improvements have been incremental, but noticeable. He also thanks everyone for purchasing the coffee grown by his family and neighbors.

“The coffee that we produce in this area is of very good quality,” he said. “The income we receive for the project has helped us a lot to take care of the environment. I am happy to be with my family and producing good quality coffee because this gives me peace of mind.”

You can support Cañaveral and his work at Todos Al Agua by purchasing the Pure Origin Peruvian coffee. A portion of every sale goes towards the philanthropic efforts in Colombia.

Cañaveral’s quotes were translated from his native Spanish.

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Meet KSU.Item Reje Gayo

“Reje Gayo” is a cooperative group of farmers located in the central Aceh region of Sumatra, Indonesia. These farmers work together to ensure export of great quality coffee beans for equitable wages. A portion of the proceeds from Pure Origin‘s Indonesian coffee goes towards supporting this collective as they seek to improve their farms and the region around them.

Conditions used to be quite poor, but since forming the collective, farmers work in teams. Together, they prune, clear weeds, and fertilize coffee plantations to ensure future success for all its members and their families.

“This activity will always be repeated every year by farmers to maintain the continuity of production expected by [the] farmers,” said a representative from the collective. “Maybe in the future, [we] will not rule out the possibility of cooperative items. Reje Gayo will make a planned nursery to replace old coffee plants and also as a learning process for member farmers.”

Prior to the formation of the collective, he said, the farmers struggled to obtain Fair Trade prices. This made it difficult for them to provide for their families.

“We farmers had never done anything like this before,” said the representative. The limitations on our ability and the information we had obtained so far had made us very pessimistic about this activity.”

Taking Great Strides

In the years since, the region has made great strides in cultivating the land in a sustainable fashion. As they do so, they also profit from their hard labor.

“We can feel the changes,” the representative said. “We have achieved profits, and even though it is not yet perfect, our economy has started to improve along with increasing our knowledge in increasing productivity in our gardens. Compared to the current situation, the change in my thinking, my attitude, my life, my economy is a lot different than in the past.”

He said farmers in the collective generally begin their work days at 7 in the morning and work until noon. At that point, they break for lunch and prayer and continue into the afternoon and evening, as the season requires. Farmers meet often to discuss their experiences and share what they have learned as they go.

“The thing we love most is when we are invited to come to the cooperative for new information or to have a meeting or to get a notification about training on coffee cultivation techniques,” said the representative. “It is very satisfying and the selling price is also very good. It is one of the moments that we look forward to.”

However, providing for his family remains the most important benefit of working with Reje Gayo.

“What was amazing for me was that I was able to deal with some of the issues that came into my family’s life [since joining the cooperative],” he said. “The unexpected [thing] was my financial ability to finance my family’s life, from the day-to-day expenses of my child’s education.”

The Importance of Support

When asked to address potential buyers, the representative underscored the sustainability of the coffee they produce in the Aceh region. He also noted the difference it makes for the individual farmers and their families.

“As coffee buyers, especially with export quality [coffee], [buyers] must at least consider the sustainability of their source of income,” he said. “The coffee revenue we produce comes from the care and support of a number of parties, and cooperative can present a recognized product in the international world. It is only natural for coffee shoppers to buy products that our farmers produce because there are benefits to [us]. The products that we produce are the products that everyone and the coffee lovers in the world expect.”

The representative also stressed the immense pride they all feel, working together to create quality coffee.

“It is a pride we cannot express in words,” he said. “It is only happiness that we feel as a farmer, as we have become aware of the needs of the people and we can provide a product that people from other [areas] rarely do. The quality is enough to impress our home region; the area of the Gayo plateau was not known [before this].”

Work Left to Do

Despite the improvements, he added Reje Gayo has a lot of work left to do. The group needs continued support , as a result.

“Our hope is that, as a coffee farmer from Gayo, not only to get here, but to know that there is more work to be done for the sustainability of such a program,” he said.

You can support Reje Gayo by purchasing the Pure Origin Indonesian coffee. A portion of every sale goes towards the philanthropic efforts in Indonesia.

Thank you for empowering growers at origin! With every story read, cup poured, and coffee sipped – you’re connecting with the world. 
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