Coffee 8: Politics, and a Conclusion.

So, the country’s poor. But its widely thought, and reported every day that the big wigs in the government (who incidentally are most of the revolutionaries who fought for the rights of the workers against the dictator Somoza in the 70’s) are creaming cash left right and centre. But this place is full of NGOs, and trade certifications, and volunteers, and international organisations donating money for infrastructure… it doesn’t fit. The Fairtrade premium is spent on things like schools and roads that are frankly the governments job, and there’s little evidence of the government actually doing anything.

BUT the thing about the Fairtrade certification is that it does far more than give money for things that should be statutory… it supports education and farming methods that will avoid erosion and flooding and death, and in my book that’s a bloody good thing because despite it being charming and beautiful there are definitely 2 big problems in this country – ignorance, as evidenced by the chucking of litter around by everyone, and weather. Cities have water problems because too many trees have been cut from the hills around, and the rains cause huge mud slides in the more rural areas for the same reason.

So it seems to me that, as ever, hard cash on its own is never a solver of problems in itself, and that’s why Fairtrade is a damn good thing – but hard to explain why. And we, over the other side of the world, need to have something to rely on that we can trust. One thing though – the premium doesn’t seem to have changed for quite a while, and we know that prices of everything else have gone up – perhaps that’s the next job for the Fairtrade middle men like Sopexxca. They are the voice of the farmers after all.

That´s probably about it for coffee. It´s 3 weeks ´til home time, I´m starting to run out of steam and the broken and battered remains of my working life in London are calling. All that will remain is for you to find your way to Hackney in a month`s time and sample some of the classy Miraflor coffee flowing from my sexy recycled kitchen that I miss so much.

x

It wasn´t Canyoneering

Wikipedia describes canyoneering and canyoning as technical descents, so I don´t think I can tick either of them off the list but I did climb down some quite big slippery old rocks at the mouth of Somoto canyon and then swim in my clothes when I didn´t have a change of clothes with me.

















Oh yes. Danger is now my middle name. Or Indiana Rebs, someone else suggested. This was verified by a quick look in the Footprints guide on our return to Esteli... Good heavens I´m extreme.




We also waded through the river 4 times there and back, that took all the concentration I had as was very stony and unstable. But SO beautiful!

Anyone want to teach some English?

If possible, we are looking for a Nicaraguan worker to continue teaching the computer classes here in Yali, but I've also been teaching English to a great bunch in El Regadio which is near Esteli, and the group of workers in the not for profit hostel I stay in in Esteli. I think those two sets of classes would be a great combination for a volunteer, Regadio is a friendly and interesting rural community and Esteli is a great city to relax or go out or what-not. So if anyone you know is thinking of travelling to this part of the world, has a TEFL and can support themselves financially and emotionally for 4-6 months or longer tell them to get in touch! There's also alot of opportunity to help out with publicising and developing tourism in both sites too.

Bubblegum Biscuits and Bugs

ah. I see that a large quanitity of information and thoughts on coffee is not the way to elicit comments. Well then, how about BUBBLE GUM FLAVOURED BISCUITS?? The good people of Yali cannot rely on a regular water or electricity supply, or paved roads, but they do have 24 hours a day the possibility of, for just one cordoba, floating off to bubble gum biscuit heaven with chicle galletas. It´s odd - they taste like overly sweet biscuits, and smell like bubble gum.
















So, I´m back in Yali. The more observant will have worked that out from the banal blog. I also have success to report... I gave my computer students a test in Word before I went away, and the results have been counted and verified. If we take a pass mark as 55%, well over half of my students passed! about 65% of them. That´s alot of percentages isn´t it. Here are some more... The scores ranged from between 2% and 88% - which proved what I was hoping to prove, that some people actually are LEARNING! Hurrah. I´ve only got three weeks of teaching left, so for the computing classes it's PowerPoint fun all the way.

...If I don´t finally get eaten alive by bloody insects. That is one thing I will not miss, I itch in every place and it´s a rolling ailment, when some stop itching you just get more. However hard you try to avoid it. And, even though I seem to get found by any old buzzy flying crawling thing, it had to be Luke that got the exciting one! The coolest of them all - a nice large tick behind his knee... This is the culprit being removed by the woman we were staying with, the trick is to poke them with a hot bean and then they stop holding on to your skin.

Coffee 7: What’s wrong with middle men? Flora’s Farm

A while ago, I went to my colleague’s family farm for a day out, and great day out we indeed had. I met her sister in law, and brother, and her small niece…

She was blowing raspberries when I was taking the picture...

I only discovered afterwards that Flora is a member of Sopexxca (aforementioned coffee union… keep up) and very recently have discovered she is on the Peet’s Coffee website

http://www.peets.com/who_we_are/community_hermanas.asp

as a shining example of the marvellousness of well-priced coffee, as there is another certification called Las Hermanas that is sold in North America. Well, she was very happy and friendly, and due to money invested by Soppexxca has cabin-style rooms for tourists to stay, they’ve also built trails with viewpoints and they do a coffee tour.

Their life – even with this extra income from tourism – is still pretty basic. A wood burning stove for cooking, a car battery for some radio entertainment, and a half hour walk to the main road. Buses into Jinotega take about an hour and come about every hour. Fairly standard for these parts. But when you walk between their and their neighbours’ fields you can see the difference between organic practices and non, and it would have been hard to implement these changes without the support of their ‘middle man’, Soppexxca. And in contrast to city dwellers, they have good land producing a large quanitity of what they’ll need: corn for tortillas, beans, milk for cheese, and of course coffee. Always coffee. Hmmmmm.

Cut to Soppexca’s offices in Jinotega. In comparison, pretty plush. It’s easy to see what some people mean when they say that the social premiums and higher payments get lost in the wages of the new middle men. They’ve even got a website (at the side of the blog in my groovee little links section!)

But when you think of the work they’re doing on certification, education, negotiating with buyers, even stuff that should be the government’s job like repairing roads and financing schools, that’s not something one small farmer can tackle. So you’re glad of a few middle men, even if they have got better clothes than you and electricity in the office.

Coffee 6: What´s a small farmer?

So who’s better off with Fairtrade? There are many different levels of quality of life for small farmers and they don´t seem to correlate with certification...

So, for example, you might have a small farm, but you also buy coffee from other farmers and sell it on to the middle men. Then, you are still a small coffee farmer but you´re making money off the others, so you´re doing okay. And if someone in your family has been to the US and come back with a bit of money all the better. You get a poorer family to work on your farm, and you have another job and live in the town. And how well you’re doing will probably depend on other things you’re growing too… beans, corn etc.

I went to visit someone in a smaller community outside Yali a couple of weeks ago, whilst still mulling over this whole business of small farms. The family who are doing alright for themselves: basic conditions, still have outside pit latrine toilets, we´re not talking fitted kitchens or bathrooms but they are making money. For example, they are one of the few families with a gas oven and hob in their community, as well as the usual wood fire set-up. He puts this down to being prudent: he started with a small bit of land 20 years ago, and now he has 2 families living on a fairly large bit of land and managing it for him. When coffee season comes round, he buses in temporary workers from other parts of Nicaragua for the picking. And he sells to Starbucks, who buy the majority of their coffee without certification.

Now it strikes me that someone like him is probably no better off with Fairtrade; as he’s already a middle man of sorts. I didn’t see the living conditions his temporary workers have and I did find out the wage they get paid but it´s so hard to guage: it’s such a seasonal thing that the money needs to last all year round… and I also didn’t see the families that live on his land, so it´s all speculation but I have seen enough others to know that this is mostly very basic: a wooden hut with a couple of rooms, maybe no electricity, maybe no running water and very little inside space.

Of course a beautiful setting, plenty of outside space and most of the time damn good avocados and bananas… but pretty much bound to their boss. Who also isn’t rolling in money either, and is pretty much stuck in his rural life too.

But in terms of personal wealth, for the medium guys, maybe it doesn’t pay. As long as you’ve found someone poorer than you to be on your farm day in day out. But whoever you are, you still have to transport your produce on godawful roads and send your kid to a school lacking resources. Personal wealth in the campo doesn’t sort those issues, Fairtrade premiums do…

There a are a lot of people here, and a lot of opinions. And these are just the small farmers in this country, the size of England. Other people have said that even Fairtrade systems are different again in other countries.

The day I got made redundant...

I was faffing about with kayaks and rubber rings in a laguna in the extinct crater of a big ole volcano. That's the way to do it! Get over here lads!

That was just one idyllic day of a number of them, I can now confirm Nicaragua is a MARVELLOUS tourist destination and our little sojourn included...

More volcanoes (Masaya - still steaming!)

Jumping...

Climbing up the insides of hollow trees...

Revolutionary celebrations...

And spending more than the average amount of time talking about, and looking at, leaf cutter ants. More research needed on that one. Why do they travel so far? Why only some leaves? Why don't they have more predators? They are freaking everywhere and so damn busy!!

Some of the more interesting bits will seep out in time I'm sure... Like seeing a large portion of the department of Esteli and beyond following Daniel Ortega into town to celebrate the liberation of their city on Thursday. It certainly blows some of the jaded feelings away about the current situation seeing that many people so passionate and happy. Although even the most passionate Sandinistas agreed that he didn't need to talk for hours and hours and most seemed to be using his long speech as a reason to catch up with family... and why not?!

For now, I´m going to let the dust settle a bit and get on with some work.

Viene el guapo

He got here! And now we´re off to explore the touristy side of Nicabloominragua. Luke says...

Greetings blog fans! My spanish needs to improve rapido to catch up with Rebs. I´m borrowing her for a week or two so no more updates for a bit... Everything is sticky and hot!

See you when I´ve stopped being a tourist!