Simply Smiles Coffee
The Goal: To create a coffee company in order to bring back the traditional way of life in this region.
The traditional way of life in southern Oaxaca has always been through the cultivation of shade-grown coffee. For generations, the indigenous Zapotec Indians of this area have grown and sold coffee for a living. A young, strong, farmer could produce several sacks a year, garnering enough money to feed his family.
But that way of life is gone. Globalization has killed the coffee industry in southern Oaxaca. The coffee company has long since pulled out, and now the farmer’s hard-earned sacks of coffee aren’t worth enough to even buy rice and beans.
It is our goal to make being a coffee farmer in this region viable again. We are in the very beginning steps of creating a coffee company that will buy the beans from the villagers at a “fair trade” price.
If we are successful in launching this endeavor, a child born in this region will have the option to reach their “bright future” by being a coffee farmer.
Much more to come…
Precious coffee plants. Pictured is Simply Smiles volunteer Jillian Dufresne.
A few coffee beans drying in the sun.
