The weather is getting cold and will only get colder. There are a few people who love this kind of weather, but for most of us we just want to curl up beneath a blanket with a hot drink. And what is the most popular hot drink in America? Coffee! It’s not only the most popular hot drink, but it is more than likely the most well known fair trade product.
Coffee is grown in many locations around the world. One particular fair trade organization that The Welcome Mat supports, Singing Rooster gets all of its coffee from Haiti.
Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere and there are many factors contributing to that fact. Because wood is the only available fuel in Haiti, and there is a constant demand for it, over the last 200 years the trees of Haiti have been cut down and not replanted, causing massive soil erosion which is detrimental to agriculture. In addition to this there is a corrupt government and lack of sufficient education of the populace. All of these things and more have contributed to the poverty of Haiti. Poverty is like a deep hole, its going to take a lot of work to get out of it, otherwise you’ll be stuck there forever.
Coffee is grown in many locations around the world. One particular fair trade organization that The Welcome Mat supports, Singing Rooster gets all of its coffee from Haiti.
Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere and there are many factors contributing to that fact. Because wood is the only available fuel in Haiti, and there is a constant demand for it, over the last 200 years the trees of Haiti have been cut down and not replanted, causing massive soil erosion which is detrimental to agriculture. In addition to this there is a corrupt government and lack of sufficient education of the populace. All of these things and more have contributed to the poverty of Haiti. Poverty is like a deep hole, its going to take a lot of work to get out of it, otherwise you’ll be stuck there forever.
Singing Rooster has been using coffee as part of a long term solution for Haitians to get out of poverty. Haiti has had a long history with coffee, making it a great place to start. Around 1770 the Jesuits were spreading coffee plants in Mexico and the Caribbean islands to be grown in plantations. By 1788, Haiti, at the time a slave nation, was providing half of the worlds coffee. The Haitians led themselves in the first successful slave revolution in 1804 and coffee continued to be one of their leading exports. By 1949 Haiti was the third largest coffee exporter in the world. However their contribution to the market began to decline, and eventually the Haitians lost the skills.
So how does Singing Rooster use coffee to help Haiti? Like many other fair trade organizations, Singing Rooster is providing jobs, and providing the Haitians with some of the skills that they have lost that they can help themselves out of poverty, but are giving much higher than fair trade prices. They continue to create new markets for the coffee to allow for continual production, and then return proceeds to Haiti in the form of grants which is why The Welcome Mat is happy to have Singing Rooster coffee for sale on our shelves.
So drinking a hot drink on a cold day can be about so much more than a moment of comfort. If that drink is Singing Rooster coffee, it’s about a better and brighter future for Haiti.
You can purchase Singing Rooster on our website at www.thewelcomemat.org!
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