Because of my hyper-managed schedule, it’s difficult to comment on every interest I have. Grad school, working nights, chores and workouts have put too many dents in my available time. However, to connect with you here, I collect notes and observations in hope of later transfer and expansion when the opportunity arises.

There are a number of issues I’d like to know more about. The most important, at the moment, are investigations on aspects of commodities that affect me personally, such as petroleum and food.

For example, there’s the story of the Ogoni people of the Nigeria Delta. You know when gasoline prices spike because of a destroyed pipeline in Nigeria? This is their struggle. Because of our inconvenience of paying $4 a gallon for gas, we see them portrayed in the media as terrorists. But this is a clear-cut case of one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom-fighter. I know this much, their traditional lands were co-opted by British-controlled Nigeria when Shell discovered oil there in 1958. Now they own nothing. Their once lush and fertile farmlands have been polluted beyond supporting basic need. Their children die from gas flares erupting from the earth and the initial leaders in their struggle, poet Ken Saro Wiwa and 8 others, were executed on trumped-up charges in November, 1995. We get pissed because it costs more to drive to McDonald’s. But they have been disenfranchised, lost their lands and murdered. Think about that the next time you visit the drive-thru for that must have Big Ass Mac.

Ogoni Protest

Ogoni Gas Flare

Aside from Big Ass Macs, there’s the issue of food itself. As I age, I’m learning to eat healthier. Part of my new imperative explores how food gets to me (I worked produce briefly for grocery giant, Kroger), how it was processed, what benefits it has for me and the farmers who grew it. So the issue of food becomes an expansive one and encompasses organic versus non-organic farming, land ownership and fair trade. Obviously this is a huge topic and future notes will be serialized. Your suggestions and comments will be appreciated.

organic Romanesco cauliflower

Trade Not Aid

Interfaith Coffee Cooperative in Uganda

By now, the phrase ‘trade not aid’ is (or should be) commonplace in our conversations. In the case of Africa, ample evidence exists to support that most financial aid from wealthier nations does not reach its poor, hungry, sick and uneducated. According to Ugandan journalist, Andrew Mwenda, between 1960 and 2003, Africa received 600 billion USD in aid, yet poverty is still widespread. Corrupt bureaucracies, war, the failure to invest in infrastructures, crushing debt and the lack of self-incentives continue to siphon aid money from the Africans who need it most. Instead of continued addiction to foreign aid and subsequent debt, what if Africans utilized more of their vast natural and human resources to empower themselves economically?

At the 2007 TED conference in California and its sibling, TED Africa 2007 in Tanzania, leading proponents of wealth creation for Africa were showcased. Along with Mwenda, economist and author (Africa Unchained) George Ayittey, pioneering Nigerian finance minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and others asked us here in the West to see beyond typical media portrayals of African helplessness. Instead, we should be looking to stories of self-reliance and ingenuity that show how Africans themselves are healing their continent from the inside out.

Many such success stories are surfacing across Africa. One that caught my attention is the Mirembe Kawomera Cooperative of Uganda, the best example of trade not aid I know. Mirembe Kawomera (meaning “Delicious Peace” in the Luganda language) had its beginnings in a request for neighbors to put aside old differences. In 2004, Joab Jonaday (”J.J.”) Keki, an Abayudaya coffee farmer, walked door to door asking his neighbors to come together to discuss collectively improving their lives. Previously, these fourth generation coffee farmers had struggled to survive on the low prices offered by local markets. Keki reasoned that if there were marketplaces with higher prices, every farmer could realize higher returns. Subsequently they formed Mirembe Kawomera to combine crops, refine techniques and seek new markets. Through the joint efforts of the cooperative and the fair trade Thanksgiving Coffee Company in California, the cooperative has been a success, growing to over 700 members. They have increased coffee yields and now fetch four times the former price.

They are investing profits in land and equipment, diversifying to include vanilla beans, offering microfinancing to members and contributing a fixed percentage of every sale to a variety of community public health and education projects. This new economic prosperity is only part of their success. From the beginning, they realized that theirs is a unique story. Their current, elected leadership represents each religious group within their community. The co-op president is a Jew, the vice-president, a Christian and the treasurer, a Muslim. They are all African and, in doing something together that none of them could have done alone, they have become self-reliant to build a sustainable business.

The example of Mirembe Kawomera is a blueprint for fair trade that can be applied to opportunities throughout Africa and the world. Given the current climate of class inequity, religious competition and war, a successful, African cooperative with interfaith members should be an inspiration to all of us.

Related links:

Visit the Mirembe Kawomera website for more on ‘delicious peace’. You can watch a video about the cooperative and buy their excellent coffee there.

Andrew Mwenda, Let’s Take a New Look at African Aid (video), TED 2007 Conference.

Andrew Mwenda and 3 others arrested in newspaper raid, Global Voices Online, April 28, 2008.