DCCW International Concern’s goal focuses on the poor of Guatemala

by Judy Hoffer

DCCW International Concerns

Raising the standard of living of families in San Lucas Toliman, Guatemala by promoting the purchase and sale of their hand grown coffee - is a goal of the New Ulm Diocesan Council of Catholic Women (DCCW) International Concerns Commission. San Lucas Toliman is the Mission Parish of the Diocese of New Ulm.

Coffee is the sustaining cash crop but the local market price fails to give the people of San Lucas Toliman adequate income from which to provide their family’s basic daily needs. The Asociacion Accion Cristiana para el Municipio de San Lucas Toliman, under the guidance of Father Greg Schaffer, purchases coffee beans from families, paying them considerably more than the open market price or the Fair Trade coffee price, thus giving them personal dignity and financial independence. This price is agreed upon by the growers, the Asociacion, and Father Greg. The livelihood of the Mayan people at San Lucas Toliman is dependent upon the land and centers around growing coffee trees, as coffee is the best cash crop that can be raised.

Growing coffee is entirely manual labor, starting with planting of coffee beans, tending to young coffee trees, and carefully grooming them for three years, when the first beans appear. In January, when harvesting the ripe beans, picked one at a time, entire families in the mountains work hard together. Early morning finds the families walking as long as one hour up the mountainside - women carrying the mid-day meal in large baskets on their heads and families working together picking the ripe, select beans. In late afternoon the families walk down the mountains carrying large bags of coffee beans on their backs - hard, manual work, but a good harvest is a happy time.

To process the coffee beans, the hulls are removed, the beans are washed three times, dried in the sun for 6-9 days, gathered into piles each evening and covered to prevent rain and more moisture from collecting on them. Then another thin shell is spun from the beans, after which they are hand inspected and roasted. Six hundred pounds of coffee beans picked from the tree are reduced to one hundred pounds of coffee ready for roasting. Each season more families come to the Asociacion and Father Greg asking them to buy their coffee beans.

Sadly, the coffee price at the present time is extremely low, even though these are high quality coffee beans. Father Greg explains it is some of the best coffee grown in the world due to three factors: it is grown at high altitude, in rich volcanic ash soil, and in a climate with warm days and cool nights.

The coffee’s price covers only the expenses. Distribution in the USA is basically done at no cost, so the producer receives the income. The producer is able to set the price charged for this high quality coffee.

When we purchase this coffee, we are helping families earn a living and support themselves. We can be directly responsible for the livelihood of many small coffee growers in the San Lucas mission parishes.