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Coffee beans for Guatemala Kevin Allerston Northern News Services Published Wednesday, November 30, 2011
The Union of Northern Workers recently sent a few Yellowknifers to Guatemala where they helped build homes for residents in the community of Qishaih as part of the Education in Action project. They returned with hundreds of pounds of Cafe Justicia coffee from the area and have been selling it to help the Guatemalans. Jacquelyn Fraser was one of three union members who went to the Central American country for two weeks in May, where she was put to work as a roofer. She said it was a humbling experience. She is trying to get the word out about the coffee so more homes can be built. The homes are 4.8-metres by 7.2-metres with a tin roof, cinder-block base and cement floor. They cost approximately $2,500 each. The volunteers' host families stayed in three-metre by three-metre rooms with dirt floors and no running water. They used whatever they could find to act as a roof. "So, they produce coffee and the people who make the coffee, those farmers, the money all goes back into the community and back to Guatemala and the people who make it, the farmers, get more money, because it's not just fair trade but above fair trade coffee prices, so they get to buy more land for all these people," said Fraser. The coffee sells for $13 per brick and has been sold at Folk on the Rocks, craft sales and even in front of the post office. "We're trying to get the word out to sell the coffee because the more coffee we sell the more money is going back to Guatemala. We sold it at the trade show and a craft fair and I even stood in front of the post office just to sell some coffee," Fraser said. "The union, we're not looking to make a profit. All the money goes back to them. We just charge what we have to (pay) to get it back here." She said she got involved with the trip through a co-worker who is secretary-treasurer of the union. She knew Fraser had done similar work in Jamaica and let Fraser know about the program. "We probably sold 30 to 40 pounds of coffee," said Annette Wright, who went to Guatemala in 2010 with her husband. "The Public Service Alliance of Canada office also sells the coffee. We purchased 300 pounds of coffee for members of our local, equivalent to 2.5 houses that can be built. Some of the money goes to pay for a teacher in one of the areas where we go to build houses." The Aurora College canteen will soon sell the coffee and it will also be on sale at the Peace Cafe craft sale on Dec. 10. The union members are looking for more locations to sell the coffee. The trips were sponsored by the Public Service Alliance of Canada Social Justice Fund. Fraser said people don't understand how impoverished people in Guatemala are. "We think we know poverty. We don't know poverty," said Fraser.
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