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February 1, 2011

Running Towards Sustainability

Posted by kriosconsulting under Children, Chris Treter, Coffee, Community, Culture, Family, Poverty, Run Across Ethiopia, Schools, Values | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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POST BY CHRIS TRETER

Tuesday February 1, 2011

One realization from meeting thousands of people while running across Ethiopia and spending time in coffee growing communities that supply Higher Grounds with our Ethiopian Yrgacheffe Light Roast and Ethiopian Unwashed Sidamo Medium Roast, is that the coffee industry should learn a lesson from “Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs”.

Abraham Maslow, the founder of Humanistic Psychology, has been immortalized through his creation of “Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.” Outlined in “A Theory of Human Motivation,” published in 1943, the work has affected many fields, including education. In the Hierarchy of Needs, Maslow explains that first level needs must be attained before a human can satisfy higher level needs. Basic needs (survival) must be met before Safety Needs (comfort) and Psychological Needs (well-being). If all three can be met, a human can then work to find self-actualization and Peak Experiences.

In modern-day Ethiopia, despite the country’s coffee exports accounting for nearly 60 percent of the national GDP, many coffee farmers and their families live in dire poverty. Education, health care, and access to water are all very limited. In the Yirgacheffe region, where some of the world’s most unique and sought-after coffees originate, little more than half the region’s children complete primary school. The adult literacy rate is 36 percent. Life expectancy is 53 years. Unfortunately for coffee farmers (and most rural peoples) in Ethiopia, the most basic of human needs are not met. These needs reflect human’s needs of water, food, shelter, and clothing.

As a buyer visiting coffee growing communities in Ethiopia many times, one thing that has been quite evident is that fair trade pricing alone is not nearly enough to bring growers out of poverty. However, it should at the very least be the baseline price for any ethical coffee buyer. And, in a high priced coffee market, price alone will not resolve issues of poverty. For most coffee growers, their basic needs of survival are not met. Buyers who attempt to talk about quality of coffee without simultaneously speaking of quality of life are simply not in touch of the reality on the ground and contribute to the development of an unjust coffee trading system.

Children in a village near Yirgacheffe, Ethiopia

When one travels through coffee growing communities, the lack of basic needs is quite clear to see. Children smile and wave to you without shoes in a region where podoconiosis, a debilitating foot disease that is caused by walking barefoot, affects nearly 1 million Ethiopians. Their stomachs are large due to malnourishment as their diet is heavy in the false banana (a starch) with limited access to protein. Over 90% of the children never attend high school. Many of those in school study in classrooms with over 100 students, in buildings that have no access to water, and without any food to eat throughout the day.

Alimazi Bedhaso, a 14 year old girl from a growing community that supplies coffee to over a dozen brands in the U.S. and Europe approached me while touring a new high school built with fair trade premiums which she will attend next year. When asked about her education thus far she quickly responded, “For girls it is very difficult. If we do not attend school we are forced into arranged marriage at a very young age. If we are in school there are not enough teachers or supplies and we have no time to study. We must walk for hours to return home where we must fetch water and wood, feed the animals, and cook.”

When asking a group of growers representing 6 different coffee cooperatives, what their largest challenges are as an organization, one is quick to realize that their needs are much different than that of an organization in the United States or Europe. While a U.S. company might talk about a need for an improved accounting system, better trained employees, or access to capital, an Ethiopian co-op will quickly state that water, roads, schools, electricity and health centers are the primary needs. Thoughts of better organizational efficiencies are not even a thought when an organization is still grappling with the survival of its membership.

Women sorting "green" coffee beans at a cooperative.

The largest issue for any farmer I have spoken to in Ethiopia is access to water. As one told me, “Water is life, we spend much of the day looking for water. In fact, women sometimes give birth next to the well while they wait for their turn to get water for their family.”  This need for water is evident when anyone walks through a community with an empty water bottle. Children quickly approach you for even just a container to carry water.

Solutions to these problems are not found in foreign minds. As the manager of Homa Cooperative, the co-op that grows some of our Yirgacheffe coffee states, “You cannot provide our solutions, only we can. Our general assembly determines our priorities. Your role is to buy more fair trade coffee and provide us with a premium.” Fair trade is the best alternative in the global coffee system. But, it is not nearly enough.

Higher Grounds believes that while we continue to push for a higher price to growers we must also bring together our community of coffee drinkers to support these communities in Ethiopia struggling to meet their most basic needs. For that reason, On the Ground was formed, a non-profit that works to provide funding for access to water, health care, and education around the world. The first major campaign of On the Ground, the Run Across Ethiopia, was an overwhelming success – raising enough money to fund the construction of three schools. Thanks to many of you reading this, together we are quickly making a difference in the lives of thousands of children in the coffee growing regions of Ethiopia. Such a campaign has never been realized with an audacious amount of support from nearly a thousand individuals throughout the U.S.

While all our activity to date has been an overwhelming success, it is just the first of many steps needed to bring real lasting change to our coffee growing partners. Through your continued support of Higher Grounds and On the Ground, we will walk down that path toward sustainability and be sure to bring you along the way while you enjoy an amazing cup of coffee. With each sip, you can be sure we are busy running toward a better world for all players in the coffee industry.http://www.highergroundstrading.com/

Chris Treter is President/CEO of Higher Grounds Trading Company in Traverse City, Michigan and founder of On The Ground.

www.runacrossethiopia.org

 

January 28, 2011

What Age Do Your Parents Force You To Marry?

Posted by kriosconsulting under Amalia Fernand, Art, Children, Coffee, Community, Culture, Environment, Family, Poverty, Run Across Ethiopia, Schools | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , |
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POST FROM AMALIA FERNAND

Friday January 28, 2011

The desperation in the eyes of a child as he holds out his hand to beg reflects upon all of us.  Ripped and dirty clothing lay tattered across his shoulders, bare feet stand amidst rocks and burrs, flies gather at the corners of his eyes and below his nostrils where snot and sleep have accumulated, but there is no water to clean it off.

A Young Child on an Ethiopian Roadway

“You, you, you!” he cries, pointing at my sunglasses, belt, water bottle.  “One birr!” (1/16th of a dollar) he yells while pushing his hand close to my face.  And I never give him anything more than a smile and a “Salam” (a greeting meaning peace) because if I did, it would cause mobs and misunderstandings and serve merely to perpetuate the situation .  We are giving in a bigger way, but for people whose lives are based on moment-to-moment survival, that is hard to understand.

Extreme poverty is defined by the World Bank as those living on $1.25 or less a day. 21% of this world, or about 1.4 billion people live in extreme poverty.  When coming from the perspective of a country that holds 80% of the world’s wealth, we rarely stop to think about how lucky we truly are.  Even the poorest person in the United States is better off than the average Ethiopian.  There are no welfare or unemployment programs, it is every man, child and woman for themselves. Since 1990 Ethiopia’s population has risen to 80 million from 52 million and the per capita annual income is $180, one of the lowest in the world.  Rates of deforestation in coffee growing areas are estimated at 25,000 acres per year.

In Ethiopia, the birthplace of wild coffee, farmers get as little as $110 off an entire crop.  Well-paid workers at coffee plantations receive 66 cents per day, the average is 55 cents per day, which is not enough to provide a decent standard of living for a family, even in Ethiopia.  Starbucks sells Ethiopia Sidamo whole bean coffee for $10.45 a pound, yet maybe a penny or two of that goes to the actual farmer.  Brochures state that Starbucks protects topical forests and enhances the lives of farmers by building schools and clinics.  In some places in Latin America, Starbucks does do these things, but not in Africa.  Starbucks opens an average of 25 new stores a week in the United States alone, where we have 5% of the world’s people, that drink 20% of the world’s coffee.  We have a responsibility to make sure that the farmers that grow our coffee are not starving.  You can not look into the desperate eyes of those begging children and ever be the same again.  For more information about Starbucks and coffee growing in Ethiopia, please read the article:  ”Starbucks calls its coffee worker-friendly, but in Ethiopia, a day’s pay is a dollar” by Tom Knudson in the Sacramento Bee at:

http://www.sacbee.com/101/v-email/story/383817.html

Chris Treter with Tadesse Meskela from OCFCU

After Chris Treter of Higher Grounds in Traverse City had spent years visiting poor coffee growing regions around the world, he came up with the concept of “Beyond fair trade” and started the non-profit On The Ground that works to improve standards of living in coffee growing regions.  He works directly with the Oromia Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union that has about 100,000 Ethiopian farmers as members, receiving fair trade prices for their coffee.  But, yet, is it really fair?  They receive pennies and the middlemen get rich.  There is so much more that needs to be done and so much more help to give.  As the Run Across Ethiopia finished it’s final day, joined by coffee buyers from around the world, we arrived in a village in the coffee growing region of Yergacheffe.  We were once again greeted by thousands of smiling faces and an outpouring of generosity, love and thanks.  Each runner was given a gift of traditional clothing and dressed for the crowd.  The people spoke of what the money from the Run would do for them and what they still needed.

This is only the beginning, a jumpstart into the aid that is needed in Southern Ethiopia.  Do we build 3 schools, or 2 schools complete with bathrooms and furniture?  Which will help more?  Can we continue to get donations and do it all?  Will this work ever really be done?  Can we give the people the tools and the responsibility they need to improve their own quality of life?  That is the goal: involve the community, provide hope, structure, stability, and education.  Without education, the problem is systemic, a wheel of poverty and suffering, rolling through the generations, never understanding that there can be a different way.  There is nothing we can do that is more important than to educate that begging child, to teach him how he can make a better life for himself, without relying on hand-outs.  Soon, we will have a community of educated children, working to improve their own quality of living.  Why the Run? You might ask, what could possibly be the point?  Raising $175,000 to build 2 schools in a matter of months with few corporate sponsors is an incredibly difficult task.  Involve 10 separate runners, working towards the smaller goal of $15,000 each and suddenly it becomes possible.  To excite and involve the community, both in the States and in Ethiopia, to involve the media, raise awareness, give people hope, bring understanding to the world, and bring a team of people that have seen that desperation first hand and whom will never forget.

McLain poses a question to her Ethiopian counterparts

In a cultural exchange of questions between children from two northern Michigan schools, (the Pathfinder School and the Children’s House) and children from the village, the dichotomy of our two worlds became shockingly evident.  The Ethiopian children watched the American children on a computer screen, then they asked their own questions.  Young girls asked things like: “What age do your parents force you to marry?”  and “What age do you have to quit school to take care of your family?”  while young boys asked about what crops U.S. children care for, what jobs they have to do after school, and how far they have to walk to get water.  This touching video should be able to be viewed in the documentary that Traverse City filmmakers, James and Jamaica Weston are creating about the entire RAE experience, hopefully to be released in May.  James and Jamaica have only a few days left on their kickstarter for the documentary.  Buy an advance DVD today and help them to create this much needed film! http://kck.st/eu9TUc

My last few days in Ethiopia provided me with an experience that helped me to feel closer to the people.  After days of being so sick that food or water was impossible to keep down, my body was going into dehydration and starvation mode, my vision was swirling and flashing colors, and in this state, I entered the emergency room of a hospital in Addis Ababa.  Scared of the prospect of an African hospital, but more scared of whatever parasite was lurking inside of me, I laid on the thin hospital bed to gaze through blurred vision at the simplicity around me.  Accustomed to the long waits of bustling ER’s in the States, I was surprised to be greeted quickly and immediately assessed to need an IV and glucose.  I asked them to open the packages of the needles in front of me and with tears streaming down my face, I gripped my interpreter and friend Betty’s hand.  The nurse put the IV in and then stood at the end of my bed to stare at me and pick his nose while the Doctor told me that he suspected either Malaria or Typhoid.  The nurse donned gloves and drew blood for testing.  Waiting for those test results felt like the scariest half hour of my life.   Negative, the Dr. said, and I cried in relief.  More tests revealed that I had “an amoeba,” or amoebic dysentery.  Little amoeba’s were waging war in my intestine, eating away at the wall and expelling anything else that entered as my stomach reeled in pain.

After some anti-nausea and anti-stomach cramping meds through my IV the Dr. thought about keeping me overnight but decided I could go as he wrote me a prescription for 3 days of medication to get rid of the amoeba.  The hospital bill totaled about $35, nothing compared to what we would expect in the U.S., but months worth of income for an Ethiopian.  I was lucky, I could receive care, but what about those who can’t?  What about the millions of people whom do not even live close to a clinic, much less a hospital?  Amoeba’s are common for Ethiopians.  For a brief time, I felt their suffering, I saw the world through their eyes.  I was sad and afraid and helpless.  Imagine a lifetime of feeling like that and please remember that no matter how little extra you think you have, it can mean the world of difference to an Ethiopian.

You can still donate to the Run Across Ethiopia cause at the On The Ground website http://onthegroundglobal.org/On_The_Ground/DONATE.html

This is an ongoing project, our work is not done, and we need your support now more than ever.

Follow Amalia’s travels on her own blog here,

The Traveling Educator at http://site.natureexplorersinternational.com/

 

www.runacrossethiopia.org

 

January 24, 2011

RAE Daily Update #18 FINAL

Posted by kriosconsulting under Amalia Fernand, Anne Stanton, Bill Palladino, Children, Chris Girrbach, Chris Treter, Claire Everhart, Coffee, Community, Culture, Dan Zemper, Dena Piecuch, Hans Voss, Jacob Wheeler, Jamaica Weston Lynne, James Weston Lynne, Jeffrey Metzler, Mary Moore, Matt Desmond, Music, Nigel Willerton, Norm Plumstead, Partners, Run Across Ethiopia, Running, Schools, Seth & May, Shauna Fite, Timothy Young | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , |
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POST BY BILL PALLADINO

Monday January 24th, 2011     Our Final Post… for a while.

“Hear me, four quarters of the world – a relative I am! Give me the strength to walk the soft earth, a relative to all that is! Give me the eyes to see and the strength to understand, that I may be like you. With your power only can I face the winds.”
– Black Elk, (1863-1950)

The Flaw of Odysseus

We are at the closing point of this journey.  A year in the making, it is now time to turn our ships homeward.  I want to bring you back to an idea I mentioned last week.  It was in reference to heroes and specifically regarding Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson series, which I’ve been reading over time to my eight year-old friend Sam.  That series, and many of the characters within it, is derived directly from Greek mythology and more precisely Homer’s Odyssey.  Homer’s nearly perfect protagonist, Odysseus, is sent on an incredible adventure spanning years.  One after the other he first seems to seek battles with gods, monsters, and mortals, managing to defeat or outwit them.

Only once does Odysseus falter from his state of grace.  After escaping many villainous characters, and spending seven years imprisoned on an island, he tricks the great Polyphemus by first blinding his one eye then telling the cyclops his name is “Noman.”  The cyclops is bereft as he tells his supporters that he was blinded by “no man.”  Odysseus, as he sails away from Polyphemus’s island, triumphantly shouts back to the giant that “no one can defeat the great Odysseus,” thereby ruining his original illusion.  The result of which was the cyclops’ plea to his father Poseidon to help him, whereby the great god of the sea sentences Odysseus to years of turmoil wandering the oceans.

I tell you this because the one bad trait Odysseus is credited with is “hubris”, that is arrogance and pride.  It would be very easy for us, On The Ground and the Run Across Ethiopia team, to fall victim to this same device.  To look back on our work in Ethiopia and say, “look at us, look at what we’ve done.”  We have taken great pains from the earliest planning of the Run Across Ethiopia journey to avoid such pitfalls of ego.  While we are not without fault, we have taken care to honor the people in Ethiopia first and last.  It is their dreams of education for children we’re trying to make a reality.

There was some worry early on that frankly this might look like a phalanx of white do-gooders running through Africa so they could throw down a big fat check.  We addressed this through comprehensive conversations and partnerships with the organizations, communities, and people this project would impact.  From the Tesfa Foundation taking our own team through hours of cultural immersion, to their Team Tesfa runners being an active component of the event itself, every grueling step of the way.  To Tedesse Meskela’s close relationship with his 800,000 coffee farming families through the Oromia Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union.  Our team of runners didn’t run a protected ribbon of highway through Ethiopia, they ran through and with living communities of the very people we were there to serve.  The team was sent with a mission to be stewards of the trust that our 700 plus donors gifted to them.  As our team left the U.S. en route to Ethiopia in early January they were asked simply to “be well, travel safe, and come home changed in some way.”

Homer himself would ask no more from his heroes.  It is assumed that the Odyssey was not intended to be read, rather scholars seem to agree it was likely designed to be spoken from memory by the bards of the day.  Even here we strike some resemblance to Homer’s classic in sending our own modern day bards Seth Bernard and May Erlewine along on the trip.  They, along with our filmmakers & journalists, were asked to experience, catalog, and record the journey so that it might live on beyond the event itself.  We hope in the coming months to bring you this odyssey, the Run Across Ethiopia quest, so that you might experience, learn from, and allow yourself to be changed in some way too.

The posts from the team have diminished to very few.  Chris Treter left a beautiful tribute to our team medic Mamoosh on our blog.  Please click this link to see it. http://onthegroundtc.org/2011/01/24/bizuayehu-sees-all-things/

And last night most of our team made it home safely to airports and homes around the U.S.  Many of them returned to Traverse City.  We’re very happy they have made it back home to their families and loved ones.  Two of the last to arrive were filmmakers James and Jamaica.  And that reminds me that they are still seeking funding to allow them to complete their documentary of this journey.  Please click this image or the following link to view their Kickstarter project online. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/weston/run-across-ethiopia-feature-film

We find ourselves conflicted now, pushed home by the winds of our own circumstance, having to leave behind the many friends and relationships we’ve made along the way.  I thank you for spending this past three weeks with us exploring this place half a world away.  Sometime later in 2011 On The Ground will likely launch another ambitious endeavor.  If you’d like to be part of that, and hear more as new plans develop, please stay subscribed to this newsletter.  If your quota for vicarious adventure is filled, feel free to unsubscribe using the link at the bottom of this page.

Here’s a final quote from Norman Cousins -
“The new education must be less concerned with sophistication than compassion. It must recognize the hazards of tribalism. It must teach man the most difficult lesson of all—to look at someone anywhere in the world and be able to see the image of himself. The old emphasis upon superficial differences that separate peoples must give way to education for citizenship in the human community. With such an education and with such self-understanding, it is possible that some nation or people may come forward with the vital inspiration that men need no less than food. Leadership on this higher level does not require mountains of gold or thundering propaganda. It is concerned with human destiny. Human destiny is the issue. People will respond.”

To read full-length stories posted by our RAE Team members please visit our blog pages athttp://www.onthegroundtc.org

Remember too that you can follow us on Facebook and on Twitter where we post frequent, if short, snippets about the adventure.

If you want to see our stream of photos as they arrive you can go to the website (see below) or go right to our Flickr Photostream using the link below. http://www.flickr.com/photos/57872575@N05/

This should be the last of our email updates for a while.

You can also help us continue this important work by clicking the Donate button below and contributing what you can afford to On The Ground.

With sincere and continuing gratitude,

Bill Palladino signature

Bill Palladino
Executive Director – On The Ground

Our Mission
“On The Ground works directly with communities around the globe helping them gain sustainable access to fresh water, education, and quality healthcare.”

www.runacrossethiopia.org

 

January 24, 2011

Bizuayehu – Sees All Things

Posted by kriosconsulting under Anne Stanton, Chris Treter, Coffee, Community, Culture, Family, Language, Partners, Run Across Ethiopia, Running, Schools, Shauna Fite, Values | Tags: , , , , |
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POST BY CHRIS TRETER  (Still in Ethiopia)

Monday January 24, 2011

Bizuayehu, or Mamoosh, as he is known to his friends was born in the town of Nekempte 24 years and 2 months ago. Following his father’s untimely death of an illness not fully revealed to him when he was 10 years old, Bizuayehu had to find work to support himself and his Mom, brother, and sister.  Working on the streets as a shoe shiner and porter in a town of 85,000 he quickly became known as “Mamoosh,” or “little boy,” a name that he uses today.

Mamoosh, ever ready with our needs.

He used the money earned as a shoe shiner to pay for his school materials and uniform through secondary school. In high school, a neighbor, who did not have any children, sponsored him to complete his education. He then went on to get his nursing certificate. He is a natural born caregiver. That’s a very good trait to have in his family as his Mom is in late stages of AIDS, his brother is paralyzed and with severe seizures, and his sister is sick with asthma. Before his job interpreting and acting as run support and nurse for the support bus on the Run Across Ethiopia, Mamoosh, last had a paying job nearly 4 years ago as a guard for 30 pigs in his hometown. He would sleep in a dirt shack that acted as the guard house and would feed the pigs each day. For the service, he was paid an equivalent of  $30 for the month.

Sitting back under a tent as the rain gently fell and lightening danced on the horizon last night on the eve of our departure from Ethiopia, Bizuayehu spent some time reflecting on the Run Across Ethiopia and the next steps. With a bible in his hand, Bizuayehu explained, “You have to treat visions as if they are a finish line in a long race. Don’t stop in the middle of the run to talk to people. Don’t let them entice you with a banana. You will have many bananas when you arrive at the finish line.”

Mamoosh in Hase Gola

Mamoosh in the middle of the Hase Gola celebration.

Today Shauna, Bizuayehu, our driver Absolom, and I are careening through the Rift Valley swerving around cows, goats,  and donkey carts filled with people and yellow water jugs on our return to Addis Ababa. This afternoon we’ll have a series of meetings to discuss future plans for school construction and other proposed projects from a few different Ethiopia organizations before we hop on a plane for a much needed break.

Mamoosh will be with us until we part ways at the airport. He’ll be staying with a friend in Addis while he looks for his next paying gig. He’s told his Mom he has a new job and says he can’t return home until he finds more work. We’ve assured him that upon our next journey to Ethiopia we’ll be looking him up to help us get to the finish line.

These comments on Chris’s tribute to Mamoosh were added by RAE teammates Anne Stanton and Nigel Willerton.

From Nigel: “Mamoosh is the man! He is featured on the home page of the Wholesome Sweeteners website grooving it with the choir in Hase Gola! “

From Anne:  “Chris, What a wonderful tribute to Bizuayehu, with whom I was lucky enough to spend a lot of time. His name, “sees all things,” really fits him as he could really anticipate what you needed … water bottle, bandaid, you name it! And what a smile!”

www.runacrossethiopia.org

 

January 23, 2011

The First Step is Hundreds of Thousands of Footsteps

Posted by kriosconsulting under Chris Treter, Coffee, Community, Culture, Environment, Run Across Ethiopia, Shauna Fite, The Land, Water | Tags: , , , , , , , , |
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POST BY SHAUNA FITE  (Staff Member of Michigan Land Use Institute)

Sunday January 23, 2011

It was pretty quiet after the team headed out of town the day before last. What a journey. Our last day together was spent running 10k to Afursa Waro where another huge celebration was held. There must have been 5,000 people there to greet us, along with music, singing, and dancing.  The team was presented and dressed with beautiful traditional clothing. It was certainly a moment of accomplishment for the blood, sweat, and tears put in by each and every runner. Chris Treter was asked to say a few words and was clear that building a school is really just the first step when he said, “this is not the first time we have visited Afurso Waro, and it will not be the last.”

We are making our way north back to Addis Ababa with the Coop Coffee folks. Yesterday we visited more schools and a birthing and family planning clinic. We also sat with a family in their home as they shared stories and struggles. We were miles away from the main road. The clearest, most dire problem in these communities is certainly the lack of access to water. It’s amazing how many aspects of life are affected by water. It’s not just about drinking water, it’s about kids not having enough time to study because they have to walk two hours each way to get water. It’s about not having dietary options because there is no water to cook with or not having irrigation to sustain food crops, or coffee.

As I sat in the Coop Sol annual meeting, this was only reiterated by each and every farmer that explained the challenges associated with growing coffee. Top three needs – water, roads, electricity. I tried to relate this to my own life, working for an environmental advocacy organization and something became very clear. Our list is not much different, except the title of our list is consumption of water, roads (driving and oil use), and electricity (energy of all forms).

So as Chris said, this is really just the first step. But, there is defintiley something to celebrate when that first step is hundreds of thousands of footsteps across Ethiopia!

www.runacrossethiopia.org

 

January 20, 2011

Another Humbling Experience

Posted by kriosconsulting under Coffee, Culture, Music, Norm Plumstead, Running, Schools, Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , |
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POST BY NORM PLUMSTEAD

Thursday January 20, 2011

Norm Plumstead - Honor Michigan

We ran from our hotel in Yerga Cheffe to the village of Afursa Waru – approximately 10K.  When we reached the village, we were treated to a huge community celebration.  The love and support they  gave to us was overwhelming.  Over a thousand people were cheering, clapping, and signing.  All the runners took time to congratulate one another, and then we sat down while the village gathered around. The crowd was treated to songs, dancing and formal speeches of congratulations.  Chris Treter was given a chance to speak and shared some moving words.  All the American runners were presented with traditional Oromia clothes.  In the video, you can see some of the runners in their garb.

After the speeches and formalities, we were invited into a school where we ate lunch.  Following lunch we toured the village, visited the coffee processing area and interacted with the villagers.  It was at this point that I was able to grab my video camera and do some recording.  The attached video contains some of the sights and sounds from today.

Today was yet another humbling experience in Ethiopia.

Timothy Young posted this about Norm yesterday

I’d like to report that Honor Bank’s VP, Norm Plumstead, has just completed his 250 mile Run Across Ethiopia in great form along with our team of 16 Ethiopian and US runners. Thanks to Honor Bank and many other supporters, Norm is part of team that has raised over $150,000 to build schools in the coffee growing region of Jirge Chefe. Yesterday, in Hase Gola, where one of our schools is already under construction, Norm and the team arrived to a cheering crowd of over 2000 community members celebrating the team’s efforts to bring educational opportunity to this region.

www.runacrossethiopia.org

 

January 19, 2011

A Smile Is Universal

Posted by kriosconsulting under Amalia Fernand, Art, Chris Treter, Coffee, Culture, Dancing, Environment, Language, Music, Poverty, Run Across Ethiopia, Seth & May
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POST BY AMALIA FERNAND

Wednesday January 19th, 2011

People love to smile.  People love to laugh.  People love to dance.  People love to love and to be loved.  I have never felt more loved than I have in the last few days of traveling across rural southern Ethiopia.  A smile and a wave can mean so much, to those that have so little.  How excited they are, just to know that we care about them, just to have a momentary reprieve from the tasks of everyday survival.  Many have never seen a person with a different skin tone, and how glad I am that their first impression is that of friendliness and compassion.  We can both stare at each other in intense curiosity, but when we add a smile, the whole dynamic changes.  There is nothing like a true and genuine smile to let you know that love is involved.

Today, we were greeted by thousands of people from the community of  Hase Gola to thank us for raising money to build them a much needed school.  As we walked off the bus, the smiling faces surrounded us and lined the streets, clapping, singing, laughing, and beaming with an excitement that is so difficult to describe in words.  We walked through the crowds as policemen kept those singing, smiling people back and settled ourselves in the middle of a circle of thousands of expectant eyes.  Speeches commenced as the crowd sat to listen to thank you’s, prayers answered, dreams realized, goals yet to achieve, and accomplishments in progress.  Children watched from the tree branches as hundreds upon hundreds of faces clapped, cheered, and emulated gratefulness.  Behind us sat the ongoing construction of a school that these runners had worked so hard to help build.  The school will educate 480 children in two shifts each day, affecting a total of 8,700 people in the community when all of the people in their families are included.

We toured the current school house, tiny rooms with cracked floors and little furniture, it was hard to imagine that these rooms accommodate 90 children at a time.  The children that can’t fit have to walk a half an hour to another crowded school.  That is, if their family can afford a notebook and lunches, and if they want an education, and the possibility of secondary school remains dim.  There are no bathrooms, no running water, no electricity and tiny windows,  It is hot, dark, and crowded, yet math problems cover the chalkboards and children fight for the opportunity to become educated and the chance to improve their quality of life.   The people in this community are in dire need of education, health care, and drinking water (there is a 3 hour walk to the nearest water fresh enough to drink).  And what do they do for a living?  They grow our coffee, our fair trade, organic coffee that we pay top price for.  Yet, no matter how much we pay, such a small percentage goes to the grower and his family.  If you would like more information about the issues of the coffee growing region of Southern Ethiopia and what is being done about it, please watch the film Black Gold, available on netflix:  http://www.blackgoldmovie.com

The central figure of that film, Tedese Meskala came to the village with us and his Coffee co-operative is responsible for 1/6 of the funds needed for the school.  The other 1/6 is provided by the community itself and 2/3 by the run.  It is important to form alliances in international development, Chris Treter, founder of On The Ground, explained, because we need the community itself to feel invested and we need the coffee co-operative to continue the investment.   Tedese encouraged the people to join a coffee co-op if they had not already, because they deserve to be payed a fair price for their coffee.

How ephemeral it had felt the day before, almost as if we were a traveling carnival, offering only a temporary window, a glimpse of a better life, and causing a lot of confusion and questions.  Seth and May had played at the runners water and food stops as we blew bubbles and 9 year old Stella Young did cartwheels and the villagers gathered to dance, smile, and stare.  How much different it felt today to feel the appreciation of people that understand why we are here, that our sole purpose is to help and that so many have worked so hard to do just that.  A beautiful African choir had been serenading us throughout our visit to the community and when Seth and May began to play “My Family,”  they appeared as back up to lift their voices to the magnitude of the crowd that pushed in from all around,

We returned to the hotel in the city of Dilla along bumpy dirt roads as children ran along side us, waving and smiling, only to encounter another celebration  It is Epiphany day in Ethiopia, the day that Jesus Christ was baptized, and a giant crowd gathered in the streets outside our hotel to watch a traditional parade.  We joined a traditional dance with sticks on the way to our restaurant as the smiles continued to trail behind us…

Please remember to follow more details of the run on the live streaming page and if you are interested in learning more about my favorite musicians, Seth Bernard and May Erlewine, please visit: www.sethandmay.com

I have started my own website!   www.natureexplorersinternational.com/

To return to the Run Across Ethiopia website, please click this link. www.runacrossethiopia.org

 

January 19, 2011

A Film On The Way To Becoming

Posted by kriosconsulting under Art, Children, Coffee, Culture, Dancing, Jamaica Weston Lynne, James Weston Lynne, Music, Run Across Ethiopia, Schools
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POST BY JAMAICA LYNNE WESTON

Tuesday January 18th, 2011

While it is said that it takes a village to raise I child, we can now say it also takes a village to make a documentary. James and I went to Hase Gola this morning to finish an intricate part of the film; a day in the life of Teriqu, a student from Hase Gola. The energy was so powerful in this village with their kindness and curiosity, that I couldn’t have guessed the dire need for basics to survive.

We filmed Teriqu’s morning with his family of 7, 1 cow, 1 dog, and 4 sheep that lived in a homemade hut a few miles from school. Since we arrived at 7:00, Teriqu was already up so his family was kind enough to re-enact a morning scene. Although this morning was different from last, because it was water day. His mother has to walk 3 hours to get water and by the time she arrived back home it was time for Teriqu to go to school, without breakfast.

We followed Teriqu to school and he took us through a few miles of the reddest dirt, the rockiest road, and the luscious green grass I have ever seen. When we finally reached the school, we were the first to get there. BK, the greatest translator ever and a very good friend, told us that because of the holiday and runners coming later, the communities canceled school in preparation for the festivities. We watched the ox and sheep walk behind the school, knowing we’d see it later as a gift of dinner from the villages to the runners. This was our only chance to capture this school shot with Teriqu and we really wanted this shot as we had already done it with Timothy’s children in the states before we left, so people could see the differences and similarities. Now, we didn’t know if it was going to happen.

After awhile of sitting in the grass and watching limbs go from the back of the school to a classroom for preparation, kids started coming from every corner with their school papers. Soon we were surrounded with shining faces of curiosity and a million hand shakes to seal the deal, we really were going to re-create a school day. With the help of BK, a rising director, the Tesfa teachers and the talented new actors of Hase Gola, a film was on it’s way to being made. It was a powerful 2 hours to be apart of, but the kids were just as excited as we were to get out of their scrunched classrooms. While the new school was being built in the background and will be open in June, I looked around as I was surrounded by children and thought, the love that these children gave us today is not something that is taught in school, it is innate.

In more ways than one, the fertile soil here is so rich in nutrients but without water or other basics it will never fulfill its potential.

 

January 18, 2011

I’ve Taken You for a Loop

Posted by kriosconsulting under Coffee, Culture, Jacob Wheeler, Music, Poverty, Run Across Ethiopia, Running, Schools
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POST BY JACOB WHEELER

Tuesday January 18th, 2011

For the past nine days, my blogging has focused on running — that is, the 10 harriers running nearly 250 miles across southern Ethiopia. I’ve catalogued their aches and pains, daily mileage and terrain, and how the runners have interacted and boosted each other through this painstaking endeavor. In other words, I’ve been a sports reporter.

But I’ve got news for you. I’ve taken you for a loop. The running was never the true story here.

Today, Day 10 of the Run Across Ethiopia, after jogging a slight 12 miles through hilly coffee country, we met the true gravity of our purpose here — in the form of thousands of excited rural Ethiopians waiting for hours down a rutted dirt road for our arrival in Hase Gola — the hamlet where the first On the Ground Global school is already being built. Immediately upon disembarking from the bus around 1 p.m. today, our entourage was swarmed by an untold number of joyous local villagers, clapping their hands, singing in gospel choirs, dancing with sugar cain sticks, playing whatever instruments they had on the floor of their meager hut. The welcome was beautiful, intense, and seemed both triumphant and tragic at the same time. Imagine the kinds of crowds that turn out to greet the Beatles, or Obama. Now you have at leas

t an impression of what this felt like. I looked from face to face of our contingent — American and Ethiopian runners/journalists/musicians/interpreters, alike — and couldn’t spot a single dry eye. Many of us have traveled extensively to developing countries before; others have rarely left the Midwest. And no one — no one — had ever experienced anything like this before.

Our new friends numbering in the thousands mobbed us as we found our way to makeshift tables where Tadesse Meskala, head of the Oromia Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union, Chris Treter and others gave speeches about the importance of this new school for the community. Its construction is already underway. It will include four classrooms, which can hold 480 students (240, twice a day); it will reach 10 different rural communities, and ultimately change the lives of nearly 9,000 people whose sons, daughters, brothers and sisters will attend school here. Music took over after the speeches. Our interpreter Mamoosh danced like a jackrabbit along with the choir. Seth Bernard held hands and danced up and down with the pastor. Timothy and Connor Young joined Ethiopian youth in climbing a tree to take in the scene.

Our entourage was treated to a delicious meal afterwards in the new school, including a plate of fresh raw meat from this morning’s animal sacrifice. When offered a gift of luxury in an impoverished village, you never turn it down. so runner Matt Desmond, myself, Maureen Voss, Shauna Fite and Timothy Young tried the raw meat with berbere spice. Whether the cuisine will come back to haunt us is unclear. But what is clear is that today’s powerful visit to Hase Gola will remain lodged in the hearts and minds of our Run Across Ethiopia team. It’s clear now that the run, itself, is only a vehicle, a conductor. The school and the community is what the journey is really about.

To return to our website please click this link, www.runacrossethiopia.org

 

January 18, 2011

A New School and Hope for Hase Gola

Posted by kriosconsulting under Chris Treter, Coffee, Culture, Partners, Poverty, Run Across Ethiopia
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POST BY CHRIS TRETER - (Founder of On the Ground and owner of Higher Grounds Trading Company)

Tuesday January 18, 2011

Since the first time I stepped foot into the coffee growing communities of Yrgacheffe, Ethiopia I have been conflicted. I earn a living, in part, from a community of people that cannot send their children to school (as there is no school), where the average life expectancy is only 51 years (as there is no health care), and where life-threatening diseases arise from lack of access to clean drinking water.  I can sit in a nice cafe listening to music, leaning back in a comfortable chair, sipping on a latte, or breve’, or cappuccino, while I know, first hand, that the farmers who produced that coffee spend their days toiling away in fields, eating false banana (known as the famine buster for its ability to stay edible for a long period of time) and only having access to the food which they grow or kill.

Most coffee growers’ lives are bound by poverty, while the product they produce, some of the most sought after coffee in the world, is placed in the hands of the rich – the 20% of the world’s population that controls nearly 80% of the world’s wealth. That is, you and I, those in the United States, or Europe, whose entire population lies within the wealthiest segment of the population.

The Run Across Ethiopia was first conceived to help support the coffee growers of Yrgacheffe, knowing that although Higher Grounds, and many other coffee companies in Cooperative Coffees, pay above fair trade prices, a price will never be enough in a community so stricken by poverty. Fortunately the idea of the Run has taken off and many people in our global community have jumped in to combat poverty. (Editor’s note: Cooperative Coffees is the buying coop that Chris’ company Higher Grounds participates in to buy Fair-trade coffee in a large quantities from around the world, including Ethiopia.)

The Run Across Ethiopia is funding a four classroom block in Hase Gola that will serve 480 students a year coming from 8 feeder schools in 10 villages, thus benefiting a total population of over 8700. This project is in conjunction with the Oromia Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union, the organization with which Higher Grounds has formed a long-term relationship.

Current School in Hase Gola

It will be constructed and furnished to the standard of Oromia Regional Government and handed over immediately after completion to the Government to administer the school. This is extremely important as in Ethiopia, 86.3 percent of the population lives in rural areas such as Hase Gola. They subsist on agriculture which accounts for 55 percent of the GDP and creates 80 percent of employment and 60 percent of exports.

According to international poverty line estimates, 46 percent of the Ethiopian population gets below $1 a day. In such a context, access to health services, modern transportation, clean drinking water, education, & other activities and services are beyond the reach of the majority of the population.

Data Source: UNICEF 2003 (For Reference Only)

The school project in Hase Gola is the first (of many) major successes in the Run Across Ethiopia. And while our runners today received a joyous and overwhelming reception from over 2000 people, it is just the first step toward a community reaching long term sustainability. Thanks to many of you who have contributed to helping the community of Hase Gola begin its walk down the path of sustainability. Your generosity will serve nearly 500 students who will now receive a secondary education!

If you would like to continute to support this work please visit

http://www.runacrossethiopia.org/

 

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