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 [...]
Archive for the ‘Africa’ Category
Oprah Discovers Mirembe Kawomera!
Posted in Africa, Fair Trade, Interfaith, JRC Africa Trip 2008, Uganda on August 4, 2008 | No Comments »
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 | 1 Comment »
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 | 1 Comment »
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 [...]
Guest Posts from Rwanda
Posted in Africa, Environmentalism, Food, Genocide, HIV/AIDS, International Health, JRC Africa Trip 2008, Rwanda, Women's Issues on July 14, 2008 | No Comments »
There have been several instances on this trip in which smaller groups have opted for side trips separate from our main itinerary. I’ve asked two participants to share their experiences with you - our first report comes from JRC member Rich Katz, who visited a Rwandan organic farm with fellow JRC’ers Ray Grossman and Jonathan [...]
“Amahoro” Means Shalom
Posted in Africa, Children's Rights, HIV/AIDS, Health Care, Human Rights, Hunger, International Aid, International Health, JRC Africa Trip 2008, Poverty, Rwanda on July 13, 2008 | No Comments »
On Shabbat we began our day with a study and discussion of the Torah portion - the central themes of Parshat Pinchas (zealous violence and its complex aftermath) were uncannily appropriate to our experiences of the past few days.
The central experience of our Saturday was a visit to CHABHA (Children Affected By HIV/AIDS) - an [...]
