RAW Coffee Company is part of a global coffee initiative with Raw Material, to support our farmer partners and their families in Shyira and Vunga who were devastated by rains, flooding, and landslides earlier this year. The beautiful Rwandan Nyabihu coffee that RAW purchases, roasts and you enjoy comes directly from our friends in this community where 28 lives were lost, homes washed away, and coffee farms destroyed.
As part of our Direct Trade ethos, we visited many of these farms and their washing stations last year when Matt and I travelled there to purchase our green beans, and had planned to be there again this year when the floods came through in May.
We wanted to thank you, our customers for your support (1 dirham for every cup sale over July / August / September this year has helped raise valuable funds that has gone directly to these families). We thought you might be interested to see what this social initiative has achieved, as the contribution we have collected has joined other coffee businesses from all around the world, and amazingly, considering these Covid times, has raised more than $100,000 USD, completing phase 1 of the recovery plan.
So far, our combined efforts have been able to:
- Clear 170 debris sites
- Distribute food (rice, maize flour, beans and sunflower oil) to 312 families
- Distribute care packages (gumboots, kitenge, towels, rain jacket, cooking pot) to 312 families
RAW will be continuing to support our Rwandan partners as there is still much more to do, so please feel good too, as by purchasing a cup of coffee with us, you are also doing your bit to help our marginalized partners, as we continue to donate 1 dirham for every cup sold, raising funds for phase 2 and 3 to:
- Rebuild 35 houses
- Rebuild 10 non-residential buildings
- Replant 4,500 coffee trees
- Replant 15 hectares of beans and maize
- Replant 7 hectares of banana
- Replant 4 hectares of sweet potato and yams
- Replant 507 assorted fruit trees
- Provide income support 247 farmers whose livelihood will be lost or affected before these new crops harvest
Really, a big thank you for your support!
