The Young Entrepreneur Fund
The Young Entrepreneurs of San Miguel Escobar is made up of twelve participants, each of whom are the children of coffee-growers. De La Gente is nurturing both their enthusiasm for coffee and professional growth by providing trainings, accompaniment, and with the support of Nossa Familia, funding to these young entrepreneurs.
Celebrating International Women's Day by breaking biases
This year’s theme for International Women’s Day is #BreakTheBias, which serves as a moment to recognize the biases, deliberate and unconscious, that hinder progress for not only women, but our society as a whole. With this sentiment in mind, we use this issue of the Guate Grind to highlight how La Familia Collective, one of our newest formed partner cooperatives, is breaking biases and embodying the change they hope to see in their community and the larger coffee industry.
When they go low, we go high: combatting value volatility in the coffee industry
We spent the first weeks of 2022 visiting with partner cooperatives, engaging in a negotiation process unlike one to be found in the standard coffee industry. In these meetings to finalize prices for our 2022 contracts, space was given to farmers to detail the obstacles they faced in 2021 and transparently explain which they overcame and those that require additional persistence for the year ahead.
The “convivencia” of this holiday season
December is when two seasons in the coffee growing communities with which we work collide: The coffee harvest, which is currently in full swing, and the season of “convivencia.” Convivencia derives from the verb “convivir,” which means to coexist peacefully and harmoniously in the same space. The essence of this time of year in Guatemala cannot be captured without the use of this word.
Celebrating the season of giving thanks in Guatemala
Silvestre, a producer from San Miguel Escobar explains what this time of year feels like for him: “I feel very grateful when we meet as a group to talk about coffee sales or projections for next year. They are very gratifying moments.” Silvestre, who has been cultivating coffee for 25 years has first-hand experienced the advancement that this industry has brought his family.
Cultivating impact
Mercedes comes from a long line of coffee farmers from the community of San Miguel Escobar who has been teaching tourists about his work as a coffee producer for more than 12 years. As he reminisces about his experiences with visitors he says, “tourists come to know how our culture is here in Guatemala,” but “I want tourists to know about everything I do--my work, how it’s done, how it helps generate an income.”
La feria in San Miguel Escobar
On the outskirts of Antigua and tucked into the foothills of Volcano Agua, is the town of San Miguel Escobar, a coffee-growing town rich in Catholic tradition and cultural pride, which comes alive every September as the community comes together to celebrate the annual “feria.” Every September 29th, the town honors its namesake, the heavenly host of angels and one of only three angels referred to by name in the New and Old Testament.