Allow me another congregational kvell: the good folks at Mirembe Kowamera coffee recently informed us that JRC occupies the number 50 spot on their list of top customers this year!
Thanksgiving Coffee staffer Jenais Zarlin broke the cool news on the Mirembe blog:
(JRC member and Fair Trade Coordinator Elaine Waxman) pointed out that they have been [...]
Archive for the ‘Africa’ Category
Counting the Beans at JRC!
Posted in Africa, Coexistence, Fair Trade, Interfaith, Uganda on June 23, 2009 | 2 Comments »
A Rabbi Dad Kvells!
Posted in Africa, Fair Trade, Global Activism, HIV/AIDS, JRC Africa Trip 2008, Judaism, Religion, Rwanda, Uganda on January 26, 2009 | 7 Comments »
It’s Mazel Tov time. This past Shabbat, our family celebrated our son Jonah’s Bar Mitzvah with our family, friends and incredible congregational community. A joyous kvell-o-rama!
As you may remember from earlier blog posts, Jonah attended JRC’s congregational trip to Rwanda/Uganda this past summer. In honor of his Bar Mitzvah, he’s been selling Mirembe Kawomera coffee [...]
Oprah Discovers Mirembe Kawomera!
Posted in Africa, Fair Trade, Interfaith, JRC Africa Trip 2008, Uganda on August 4, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Shortly before we left Uganda we learned that the August issue of Oprah Magazine would feature an article about Mirembe Kawomera coffee! It’s a wonderful, informative piece – so great to see the efforts of the coop spotlighted in such a major way.
Holly Moskowitz writes in the Mirembe blog that the new crop has just [...]
JRC Says Farewell to Africa
Posted in Africa, Education, Fair Trade, International Aid, International Health, JRC Africa Trip 2008, Poverty, Religion, Rwanda, Uganda on July 24, 2008 | 1 Comment »
On our final day in Africa, we visited the Nankusi and Namanyonyi primary schools, both of which are supported by the Peace Kawomera’s fair trade social premiums. Both schools are engaged in building projects to create more classrooms and more essential educational resources. In each school we saw overcrowded classes (many cramming in over 100 [...]
Peace Kawomera in Action
Posted in Africa, Coexistence, Fair Trade, Interfaith, JRC Africa Trip 2008, Peace, Poverty, Religion, Uganda on July 23, 2008 | 1 Comment »
We’ve learned a great deal about how coffee is grown and processed on this trip and one of the most indelible lessons we’ve taken away is how interconnected and interdependent each step is to the next. Unlike the major commercial producers, rural coffee farmers like those of the Peace Kawomera coop must depend upon one [...]
Harvesting Peace
Posted in Africa, Fair Trade, Global Activism, Interfaith, JRC Africa Trip 2008, Judaism, Peace, Poverty, Religion, Uganda on July 21, 2008 | 2 Comments »
As promised, we went to the Abayudayah Jewish community on Shabbat morning for services. It was actually a fairly auspicious time to be visiting: last week their new spiritual leader, Rabbi Gershom Sizomu, was formally installed in his home community. Rabbi Gershom has been studying for the past several years at the Conservative movement’s Ziegler [...]
On Coffee and Coexistence
Posted in Africa, Coexistence, Environmentalism, Fair Trade, Global Activism, Interfaith, JRC Africa Trip 2008, Religion, Uganda on July 19, 2008 | 1 Comment »
That man in the picture above is JJ Keki – Ugandan farmer, musician, fair trade entrepreneur, local politician and interfaith activist (I’m sure I’m missing several more job descriptions…) JRC has gotten to know JJ well over the years through our our relationship to the Peace Kawomera interfaith fair trade coffee cooperative. JJ (a Ugandan [...]
Return to Nantandome
Posted in Africa, Global Activism, HIV/AIDS, International Aid, International Health, JRC Africa Trip 2008, Poverty, Uganda, Water, Women's Issues on July 17, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Today was another full day for our group. It was completely devoted to a visit to the Foundation for the Development of Needy Communities (FDNC) – an NGO that JRC visted three years ago during our first Africa delegation.
In April 2005 JRC was the first group hosted by FDNC, on a trip made in [...]
Sustainable Development from Rwanda to Uganda
Posted in Africa, Fair Trade, HIV/AIDS, International Aid, International Health, JRC Africa Trip 2008, Poverty, Rwanda, Uganda on July 16, 2008 | 2 Comments »
We’re in Uganda now, after one night in Kampala and a four hour plus bus ride to the town of Mbale. Before I report on Uganda, tho, I want to write about our final visit in Rwanda: a stop at the Millennium Village Project in Bugasera (which is in the same district as the Nyamata [...]
We Are Strong, We Are Healthy, We Are Fine…
Posted in Africa, Children's Rights, HIV/AIDS, Health Care, International Aid, International Health, JRC Africa Trip 2008, Rwanda, Uganda on July 14, 2008 | 1 Comment »
The highlight of our Sunday was a visit to the Islamic Center in Nyamyrambo, where we visited with the WE-ACTx children’s program. The young people from our group had already spent the morning with the WE-ACTx young people (above) while the adults went to visit with Mardge Cohen and several interns at their home in [...]
