• Out of Adversity, Community by Tripp Pomeroy
• Newsletter Special: Peru-a-Palooza 
• How 'bout a Little Green Bean Celebratin'?
• Following the Beans to Peru and Back by Bill Harris
• Community Caravan
• Quote of the Month
• Past Issues of Fair Grounds

by Tripp Pomeroy

As readers of last month’s Fair Grounds may remember, Bill and I had been planning on filing a joint trip report on our recent visits to CAC Pangoa in Peru and Fondo Paez in Colombia in this edition of the newsletter. A lot has changed though since our last newsletter went out and as a result we’re going to save Bill’s Colombia trip report for April and focus instead on our visit (Tripp and Bill’s) to Peru. You may be scratching your head right now, wiping the driblet of coffee from your chin and saying OK, what’s the big deal?

Well, on Thursday, March 1st, at around 9:30 PM or so, an F3 tornado touched down on the southwest side of Americus and hop-scotched its way across town, devastating a large swath of our city along the way, until it finally left town via Route 49 - the northeast spoke out of town. While Café Campesino and our staff made it through unscathed, not everyone was as fortunate. Authorities say the tornado traveled 38 miles from start to finish and was one mile wide when it passed through town. Sadly, two folks lost their lives, dozens were injured, and literally hundreds of homes were destroyed. Sumter Regional Hospital, along with our Winn Dixie supermarket and numerous other businesses were also destroyed. Families have been displaced, jobs have been lost and the landscape of this beautiful "city on a hill" scarred and forever altered.

Despite this tremendous blow to our small town of 17,000, we have witnessed a truly extraordinary, awe-inspiring outpouring of support from folks both within and outside of our community. Local police, fire, and rescue were joined by their peers from all over Georgia and some as far away as Florida and Alabama to help those who had been injured, restore order, and pave the way for rebuilding. Our local, county and state governments sprang into action to coordinate relief efforts and inform the public. Georgia Power hit the streets, restoring electricity at nothing short of a heroic pace. Contractors from both near and far pitched in to help with the cleanup and restore basic infrastructure. One contractor came in from Alabama to help with the clean up of the hospital grounds — completing what had been scheduled to take three weeks in just one weekend.

Meanwhile, neighbors came together to help each other and strangers alike as non-profit groups and other disaster relief organizations streamed into town to lend a hand. Volunteers assembled to "tarp" damaged roofs, cut up fallen trees, and provide food and shelter… and although fifteen days have passed since the tornado touched down in Americus, folks continue to arrive, asking how they can help. How fortunate we are.

On behalf of all of us here at Café Campesino, we heartily thank everyone who has come to our town’s aid.

As Fair Traders, we often tend to seek a better understanding of who we are and what we are experiencing by reflecting on our friendships with our producer partners, our limited understanding of their day-to-day lives, and the relevance of our lives to theirs (and visa versa). Bill and I agree that our recent visit with our friends at CAC Pangoa in Peru puts Americus’ recent traumatic experience into context best. Why? Because unlike us, our friends at CAC Peru and their neighbors have to deal with frequent natural and man-made disasters on their own, with little or no help from their government or local private sector. Because our friends at CAC Pangoa overcome seemingly insurmountable odds to produce and deliver wickedly great Fair Trade, organic coffee despite inadequate if not altogether lacking infrastructure. Because on top of laboring to provide for themselves, the members of CAC Pangoa contribute day-in and day-out to improving the quality of life for their members and surrounding community. Because the members of CAC Pangoa have learned to do something that we seem unable or unwilling to do unless challenged by adversity: live with an appreciation for each other and harness the true power of community.

Caring about the well-being of others and acting on that concern are what create community. A strong sense of community, in turn, drives our ability not only to overcome adversity but to impact positively the well-being of others. Our friends at CAC Pangoa are brilliant examples of what is possible when individuals come together to work as a community every day, not only when challenges emerge.

The challenge that Americus faces in the wake of the recent natural disaster is the same that plagues our global community: How do we sustain a sense of community without requiring the impetus of a crisis? I’m confident that the answer lies with our producer partners at CAC Pangoa and elsewhere throughout the coffee lands.

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That’s right, this newsletter is a celebration of our friends (and role models) at CAC Pangoa. Order Pangoa’s smooth, delicious Peru Full City, our House Blend Decaf Full City and/or House Blend Decaf Dark (smooth, and delicious, minus the caffeine!) and get 10% off of the regular listed retail price. Be sure to enter promotional code pangoa when prompted at check out or let us know if you call in your order.

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by Bill Harris

We often use the expression "follow the bean" here in the office when discussing the trail of paperwork associated with importing coffee, or the flow of funds, or production procedures. Our latest adventures in Peru provided remarkable context and new meaning to this phrase...

We landed in Lima last month intent on "following the bean" into the Andes and out to the farms that surround San Martin de Pangoa, where CAC Pangoa, our trading partners in central Peru is headquartered. The first leg of the journey took us over the highest paved road in the world, rising right out of Lima to 4,818 meters (over 15,000 feet!) before winding our way down to arrive 10 hours later in San Martin. During this drive on one of Peru's major arteries, we wound our way around several recent mudslides that still partially blocked the highway. We lunched beside a raging river while our friends from Pangoa pointed out the ferries that stand ready to take vehicles across the river whenever the bridge washes out. And we passed through a mud-ravaged village that was battered only days before by a slide that had killed 23 people, swept away possibly 60 other people, and destroyed numerous homes. All of this… before we had even turned off the main highway for the final hour on the bumpy unpaved road to Pangoa.

Read on...

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On Saturday, February 24th, Café Campesino hosted the first CRS Fair Trade training program in the nation. Thanks goes out to our friends Dorothy and Simone from the CRS regional office in Atlanta, our good friend and Fair Trade compadre Michael Sheridan from the Baltimore home office of the CRS Fair Trade program, and the wonderful program participants who came from all over the Southeast! Everyone here at Café Campesino truly enjoyed and benefited from participating in the CRS workshop and we look forward to making training sessions here in Americus a regular occurrence.

This Thursday, Bill took off for a three week trip to Guatemala, where he will introduce his wonderful folks to our producer partners along with everything else that makes the western highlands of Guatemala so special.

Heads up for everyone within range of Macon, Georgia…Café Campesino is thrilled to be participating in the inauguration of the Macon Farmers Market on Saturday, April 7th. Starting at 8:00 AM, Café Campesino will be at the market on Poplar Street in downtown Macon serving up coffee, sellin' it by the pound and talking Fair Trade. Visit the Local Harvest website for more information.

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"We don't accomplish anything in this world alone... and whatever happens is the result of the whole tapestry of one's life and all the weavings of individual threads from one to another that creates something."

~ Sandra Day O'Connor

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