Under the coffee trees

It was a baking hot morning, so I was glad that the coffee plantation was not too far from where we had left the car, on a narrow path high in the hills above Lake Kivu. This is a major coffee-growing area of Rwanda and we had come to discuss the purchase of a small plot for the Youth Association of the parish. As custom dictates, we sat on the ground in the shade of the trees and discussed the proposal, joined by a small group of children and openly eavesdropped by a few adults who had been working on their own patches of land. The idea of a private discussion in the open air is not understood!
We are developing a scheme whereby Youth Associations are given money to purchase small plots of land which they can work as a cooperative. The deal is that 25% of the first crop is given back, so that we can eventually become independent of the western donors who are currently funding this. As well as providing a small income for the members, the cooperative also encourages working together, enterprise and generosity (10% of the income is given away). It’s been an encouraging start. For just a few hundred pounds the lives of these young adults can be significantly improved and this group seem well able to rise to the challenge.
Even to my untrained eye, the coffee trees were obviously not well cared for and the harvest, due in 2-3 months will be poor. Before we left, we prayed under the coffee trees and there was a real sense that this group will do their best to ensure that the harvest in 2008 is significantly better.