Just Coffee's Delegation to LaFEM in Nicaragua this year was one of the best delegations we have ever had. The synergy within our delegation group as well as between our group and LaFEM was really incredible. Instead of telling you all about the delegation myself, I will instead let those who came on the delegation share their experiences with you in their own words:

First, please have a look at this beautiful slideshow created by Mark. This will give you more information about LaFEM's structure and organization, about the activist, feminist, environmentalist, and coffee work that they do, as well as about their plans, necessities, and goals for the future.

Next, if you can read Spanish, and are interested to learn more about LaFEM, here is a very in-depth document called "La Fundacion Entre Mujeres y las mujeres rurales" published by an organization called CINCO. There is a map of the LaFEM communities (page 51).

I recommend reading Hector's observations of our delegation if you are interested in hearing about the trip from the perspective of a botanist and Permaculturist. Hector is Australian-born and has lived in Timor-Leste for more than nine years, and in aboriginal communities for many years before that, doing a wide variety of development with indigenous people. He has assisted in organizing and leading 3 delegations to Timor-Leste in the past and this was his first visit to Central America.

This was Brenda's first Just Coffee Delegation but will hopefully not be her last. Here's what Brenda had to say. Besides her new-found relationship with LaFEM in Nicaragua, Brenda also has a long-term relationship with Just Coffee and a coffee producing community in Tanzania. She has previously worked with Susan at Just Coffee on a fundraising project with Mt. Meru Coffee Project.

Besides creating the slideshow above, Mark also wrote this testimonial about the delegation. After the Nicaragua Delegation Mark went on to participate in the Just Coffee Delegation to Guatemala and may also come with us on another upcoming Just Coffee Delegation to Oaxaca Mexico.

Last, but certainly not least, here is a comprehensive journal of the entire Nicaragua Delegation written by Brenda:

Notes from Brenda's journal:
May 29th, 2009
We arrived in Managua on the 28th, and went to our hotel Casa San Juan. We rested, and arranged a tour of Managua for about 3 hours with Carlos on the 29th before we were to pick up Mark at the airport. The places we visited are better described in the guide book. We visited the Museum of the Footprints of Acahualinca, the Hotel Crown Plaza, the Plaza de la Revolucion, Las Ruinas de la Catedral Vieja, Tomb of Comandante Carlos Fonseca (father of the revolution & who overthrew the corrupt Somoza), the Plaza de la Fe (Faith), La Choncha Acustica, Parque Historica, General Sandino’s silhouette over Tiscapa Crater (Sandino trained the Sandinistas in guerrilla warfare and his silhouette is built on the destroyed foundation of Somoza’s house, and even had a tank given to Somoza by Mussoulini, his friend). Carlos also told us that Nicaragua was originally sought out by the US to be the Panama Canal (the Nicaragua River goes through most of the southern part of the country). At the museum, we learned that Nicaragua used to be completely underwater at one point. Carlos told us that the Pellas own the city, they own the Toyota car dealership (almost exclusively Toyotas driven here), a bank, a hospital, etc. and they managed to hold onto their money through the revolution. Carlos explained to us that there are really 3 classes in their society, and there is quite a separation between them, even down to separate shopping malls. When we were waiting in traffic, a man was walking down the street selling with a squirrel for sale as a pet (which you will see again later at a farm).
Felix Pinell drove us to the LaFEM office. We met with Juana (Juanita) Villareyna from the Miraflor area, Irma Olivas, Isabel Zamora, Rosibel Ramos, Jitzy Ruiz (daughter of Rosa Emelia), and Vince Terstappen, a student from Canada working on his Master’s thesis. She is an organizer of LaFEM. We also met with Isabelle and Rosibel, who are productoras of hibiscus and who run the organic market each Friday in Esteli and who are also part of the Development Committee. Alejandro is from the Foundation of Women, which is a technical team for cooperatives. There was a welcome sign for Just Coffee saying “Bienvenid@s a Just Coffee (I assume the use of the @ symbol for gender neutrality and not using the masculine generic ‘o’ commonly used in Spanish). Juanita gave a presentation, and the following are my notes from this:
-LaFEM (Fundacion Entre Mujeres) is a feminist organization that works with rural women. There are 24 members of LaFEM.
-Women are subjugated via a lack of land ownership by the women who work the farms, and this is the most important issue for LaFEM.
-Typically men rule households, and control women in their homes. This affects the care of children, and also means that men have control of women’s bodies with noted emphasis on women’s reproductive options, and there is much violence against women in terms of incest and rape. Some women have their first child at 14 years of age.
-LaFEM uses these issues to define their goals and their main emphasis is to give women ownership of land as a way of giving women their independence and reducing the aforementioned issues.
-Land ownership is defined by manzanas. 1 manzana = 7.0 hectacres. Las Estrellas has 13 manzanas and El Jocote has 7 manzanas.
-There is a diversity of production on the women’s farms. It is largely not coffee that is being grown on their land. The women needed to renovate their land to grow coffee. 3 out of 7 coops were coffee coops, and this wasn’t enough coffee production to access fair trade. So the women needed to change to coffee plants.
-All of LaFEM’s land is organic, but it needed to be converted to organic and shade-covered trees. For example, they planted banana trees for adequate shade.
-LaFEM approached more women to produce enough coffee for international markets in Germany and USA. Now they have 89 small women producers of coffee.
-All coffee produced is organic and has FLO certification.
-In the 2007/08 season, LaFEM produced coffee to sell to USA and Germany
-LaFEM is looking to export through organization called Las Diosas (The Goddesses) to the international and national markets.
-3 women have been trained in Las Diosas to roast coffee
-This gives LaFEM opportunities to focus on politics, social and anti-violence organizations
-The coop produces Rosa de Jamaica (hibiscus) tea, wine, and marmalade.
-Rosibel lives in a drier area where the growing conditions are good for hibiscus. She says that the hibiscus plant is from outside Nicaragua and that they got the seeds from 1.5 hours away. So the hibiscus is not native, but got seeds from Nicaragua (this statement contradicts the former).
-Honey produced from coffee is good but coffee is self-pollinating. Bees don’t pollinate (coffee) generally, but there are natural processes, like wild bees, that enhance pollination.
-Eduardo works for LaFEM and helps out on the technical team to support women producers of coffee.
-Hibiscus is suitable for export. Rosibel is a very big developer of hibiscus and is looking to expand the market out of the local Esteli market on Fridays to north of Esteli, like Oxatal.
-Also, LaFEM expands production to husbandry of cows and goats to diversify each part of land. 100 different women received diversified products (seeds, cows, pigs). This project, termed by our group as the Revolving Microcredit Program, started in 2001. The program gives a woman a pig or goat or cow or chicken, and then the women return a female pig or goat or cow or chicken. In 2008, the program ended and they are evaluating the effectiveness of the program. 330 women participated in this program. The women use this program to increase their production of animals, and then return the female animal to the program to keep the program going. This program extends out of their immediate community, and only women who are committed to the broad principles of the program, social justice, anti violence, and gender programs are allowed to participate. In this way, LaFEM ensures that the program continues and expands (as opposed to giving women animals who then just sell the animals for immediate profit). The program is comprised of local committees (Comité Social de Economía Solidaria), that make decisions about the direction and design of the program for local areas.
-LaFEM’s gender education is set up to sensitize women , especially young women, to empowerment. Adult program started with offering primary education and literacy programs, and these programs are 13 years old. Women can go on to participate in non-traditional skilled labor positions, like electricians who focus on solar power. 200 rural women completed the primary education (equivalent to the 1st through 3rd grades in the USA).
-800 women participate in the International Day of Anti-Violence against Women. 750 women are connected to the larger feminist organization and march and protest. For example, for the past 130 years, medically necessary abortion was allowed, until it was made illegal in 2006. LaFEM openly protests this.
-20 women are on the Sustainable Agriculture committee and provide technical support to women. There is also the Comité Social de Economía Solidaria for the Revolving Microcredit Program and another committee for the development of the products for markets.
-There are 5 coops in LaFEM. They want very much to become autonomous, and you need 5 coops to do this. They had 1 coop form in just this past year, and LaFEM wants this coop to do well.
-Difficulties: The assigned role for women continues to be domestic and reproductive, despite empowerment improvements. LaFEM wants to improve areas of production and consolidate areas to enchance selling of products in international and national markets. Commericializing of products is still young in its development. LaFEM receives a lot of cultural resistance to equality model for women. Working on organic development for all areas of production in expanding areas.
-Lessons Learned: LaFEM has taken their processes and made them their own so that women and men can have the same development opportunities. Organic production is seen as a link to women’s health, so LaFEM focuses solely on organic production as a social determinant. For women to become empowered, women need deciding power over production, their bodies, and their resources. In summary, this all refers to developing consciousness-raising processes for women to develop, expand, and choose their own life. LaFEM receives funding from European cooperatives. One organization, whose name I missed, means bridge in German and French (perhaps Hector will recall). They also received funding from a Catholic’s movement in Austria and a Belgium religious group that goes door to door to collect funds. These groups do not influence LaFEM and recognize, despite their religious principles, that LaFEM is a feminist organization. Catholic Relief Services (CRF) has a relationship with LaFEM through Just Coffee. There was some concern about continuing in an autonomous fashion now that funding has ended.
My general impressions of LaFEM: Their office in Esteli is a well made and nicely constructed building that functions more like a compound with its layout of rooms. It also has an excellent view of Esteli. Juanita made sure that everything was very well organized for our arrival, which is something I consider a very considerate gesture of welcoming. I was surprised by the level of care and organization put into our initial meeting, and furthermore the itinerary for the trip. I suspect that this accommodating nature is a reflection of both LaFEM’s structured organization and also their appreciation of LaFEM’s relationship with Just Coffee, or at minimum, LaFEM’s appreciation of Just Coffee’s principles and care for LaFEM. Juanita is very friendly, and I liked her immediately. I thought that we share an understanding that transcends language barriers. The presentation that she gave was very thorough, and did an excellent job of orienting us to the LaFEM organization. We also met Vince Terstappen, who is doing his Master’s thesis research on LaFEM. So much care is put into maximizing our ability to learn the most we can about LaFEM in a short period of time. We even have a driver for the whole time we are here, whose name is Felix. His smile is so warm that it immediately puts me at ease.
The women! They are warm and strong. Their strength and pride is immediately obvious, as well as their determination to succeed, to assist women in their empowerment, their feeling of community and its importance, as well as their desire to make us understand their lives, situation, and goals as well as curiousity to learn more about ours. Their pride is well-founded. This is a very efficient organization; it is well-organized and constantly evolving and seeking new ways to help women help themselves. I am surprised by their confidence and solidarity. The women are curious and are driven to learn about how to improve, other political movements, etc. They are also open to suggestions and learning new things. Many women have big eyes shaped like Will’s. These women are beautiful, and tend to dress well and look good, even during a hard day’s work on the farm, especially compared to our lax dressing customs in the states.

May 30th, 2009 – Visit to El Jocote (Mother’s Day)
Note: Mother’s Day is an important holiday in Nicaragua, where everyone goes to buy their mother a cake and balloons and spends the days with their families.
General Impressions of El Jocote and LaFEM in El Jocote: El Jocote is a lush green and mountainous land, and the ride there from Esteli is beautiful. Along the way, I rode in the back of the truck with Hector and we talked about how the original flora has been stripped from the land and about the usefulness of what was left. Also, we saw a Sandinista flag on a truck, and many people waved and greeted us. Arriving in the office of El Jocote, the warmth and sincerity of their welcome is obvious and overwhelming. Flowers have been hung as an awning over the entrance. In the area where we are sleeping, the room has been arranged with beautiful wood beds made up with pretty blankets. Next to each bed is a table stand with a mosquito net, additional toilet paper and extra blankets. The sincerity and simple beauty is overwhelming, and I got a little teary-eyed.
The building was built by LaFEM and designed by the women of El Jocote. The meeting room is hexagonal, airy, and well-constructed. Attached to the main room is a room where our beds have been set up. As you walk around the whole hexagon, there are smaller rooms that are attached to the center, and a wide sitting area near these rooms. We are currently sitting in a circle on wooden benches and plastic chairs on a tiled floor in the main room. There are balloons, flowers, and cray paper hung as decorations throughout the compound. Feminist literature and posters are posted throughout. And lots of smiles. As a woman and a feminist, this is truly an honor.
The president of the El Jocote coop is Rosa Emilia, mother of Jitzy, who travelled last year to Madison. We will get to see a traditional Nicaraguan celebration of Mother’s Day from the perspective of fair trade. We started with a Mother’s matching game. The game consisted of a slip of paper with a fruit featured on it. The slips were cut in half and handed out randomly to all of us. Our goal was to find the other person who matched our slip, interview each other and then present the person to the group. Each woman from LaFEM first presented the fruit, described its importance, and then each pair introduced the other. My partner was Reyna Benavidades, who said in Spanish that she couldn’t understand me, but I understood what she said and started laughing. Then we all started laughing. The rural campensino accent is a little harder for me, especially compared to my castillian accent. Nicaraguan Spanish does not pronounce the ‘s’, especially when it ends a word. There are other differences. Reyna Benavidades trabajo en la cooperativa y es una productora de café. Ella tiene cuatro hijos, 3 hijas and 1 baron (local term for hijo). Ella trabaja en la café and esta viviendo en El Jocote. Reyna tiene 30 anos, y tambien ella no puede leer ni escribir.
I talked with Juanita for a bit afterwards, and learned that she has a partner (husband?) to care for her child and works with Tierra Nuestra Cooperativa. I have noticed how most of the women I meet (later note: throughout the entire trip, and not solely limited to the women in LaFEM), most woman have children and are not married. Relationships seemingly end quickly, and women raise the children.
After the game, some young girls danced traditional Nicaraguan dances in pretty traditional dresses. Then, we divided up into 6 groups and met in separate rooms to talk about maternity (motherhood) and fair trade and home and farming life. I felt really welcomed in my small group, and I was amazed by the openness of the women in my group, a familiarity I usually only see among women from the states who are friends or are participating in a support group. Rosa Emilia directed the group such that each predetermined question was asked of each woman in my group. I gleaned from the women the following information: Motherhood is difficult because it’s not always a choice and in the case of single motherhood, it is difficult to work and raise kids…both are a big responsibility. It’s hard for them to imagine a different way of motherhood and working as a single mother. All support must come from themselves. The fact that motherhood is not always voluntary is a big concern for many, and this was brought up many times. And in Reyna’s case, her man left and she shares the responsibilities of motherhood with her daughter. Grandmothers frequently watch kids if they are able and not working themselves. The women want more opportunities for their children to learn and study and succeed. Being equal (to men) is a way to achieve this, and fair trade is viewed as a means. The women strongly feel that they need self-autonomy to give them freedom. Without health care access, many young mothers die and then their children have no help, and when they become mothers, they have no help either. Their goals as mothers is to support and orient their children to their perspective. They want to be a mother by choice, and with a chance to choose their life, to study, and to have a career. Fair trade gives them that choice. They feel that LaFEM has given them a lot of support. They feel different from other Nicaraguan women because they work together in their cooperative and help each other out, and other women (not part of their cooperative) work alone. The women feel this gives them more support, and hence they feel that this organization gives them more respect and support from their children and society. This allows them to be healthier and sustain themselves with better food and education. The cooperative increased benefits for mothers since it started 14 years ago. Motherhood is no longer seen as a compromise by these women. It used to be if you were a mother and her husband left, then this was the fault of the woman. The woman had to have as many kids as the husband wanted, and with no ability to work the land, the women were poorer and it was harder for women to respect themselves. Women of the coop have more choices, and this benefits younger people such that they can plan their lives and careers and have a different kind of life. The coop gives women more equality with men in their relationship and over their own sexuality, which can now be of their own choosing.
Juanita’s prepared statements:
Rural women have a much higher rate (double) of child-bearing death than urban women. The physical act of becoming mothers allows the women to care about children and in general these women think that this gives them an enhanced ability to care for things and look after things and this translates to their farms. They believe that motherhood is culturally learned, and we are mothers of all.
A woman who becomes sexually active at a young age has the ‘punishment’ of being pregnant at a young age. This is a hard life for a young person. Young women arrive at the hospital to give birth and are poorly treated and they have a lot of pain. A consequence of sexual violence is also pregnancy, which is a physical and mental pain. Society and government control the lives of mothers and judge them. Raise a child differently then society says and they will isolate you. For example, the women here left their kids at home to come to a meeting, and society will judge them.
3 myths about motherhood that LaFEM counteracts and provides a different model for:
1) LaFEM challenges that not all women want to be mothers, and are not bad or lesbians if they don’t want to be mothers.
2) LaFEM challenges that when a woman becomes pregnant, they do not simply become secondary to the fetus or child. Not having access to medically necessary abortion (note: recently outlawed in 2006) sends the message that the fetus is more important than the life of the woman, and now they are expected to die as a sacrifice to that fetus. This lowers a woman’s standing in society.
3) LaFEM challenges that women are ‘naturally prepared’ for motherhood because they believe that motherhood and fatherhood are socially learned constructs. Both people can learn to be good parents.
Women need to be watchful of these 3 myths and combat them. Women learn to be mothers. Society says that there are good and bad mothers. But motherhood is learned. Society judges mothers who work in fair trade. A secondary myth to this is that women have to renounce themselves as a sexual being, a woman, and her independence. As mothers, we need to not just care for our children, but give to others and care for all. Because of this, 95% of domestic work in the world is done by women. Mothers get the blame for most problems unjustly especially if they do not live for their children. There is no role for the father in the domestic setting to receive blame. If children fail to meet father’s or society’s expectations, it is the fault of the women.
So defending our autonomy and reproductive rights is key. When we separate sexuality from reproduction, we learn to enjoy our sexuality (anti-contraceptives). Pregnancy is social, cultural, and not natural. Religion and the law dictates that they cannot decide to become mothers, but LaFEM feels that motherhood is a choice. Fair trade allows for equality in society, and their lives. The law and the state have a role to provide access to anti-contraception and abortion and sex education and access to health care. The state needs to provide men and women with information and appropriate education and give support to women and men to make the right choices in their lives.
Rural women have higher child deaths, STDs, and causes that could be prevented with public health and policies and access to health care. The state takes away rights of women by removing medically necessary abortions, and this reduces the rights of women. There is the morning after pill, but it is illegal in Honduras, but there is little education about this pill by the state and frequent misuses leads to other illnesses like anemia. The radio educates people somewhat about sexual reproduction. LaFEM has sex education for their young and have regular PAP smears and gives them more education during their appointment, like learning to prevent uterine cancer from HPV.

Mother’s Day Tradition:
We stood in a circle after the gifts were handed out, and we lit the candles and randomly gave out toasts as the spirit moved us. It was very emotional, and truly one of the most interesting and emotionally gratifying celebrations I have participated in. Toasts were given out, and the we said “salud” and lifted up our cups of hibsiscus wine.
Later that day we had dinner at Rosara’s house and we discussed permaculture and hibiscus growing and horticulture. Then we hung up our mosquito nets and we were invited to dance at a local house. We all participated and gained insight to teenage and young adult interactions, and better understood sexual interactions after having participated. We were asked to dance repeatedly and after about a half an hour, we stopped.

May 31, 2009
Visiting Productora Susanna’s Farm
Coffee seedlings stay in the pre-planted garden (nursery) for 3 months. She created a gully (suelo) to retain water and decrease water loss. Coffee trees live about 25-30 years before getting cut in order to last another 15 years, and then cut again to produce coffee for another 15 years. This is the entire lifespan of coffee production for the tree (Note: Coffee trees are actually plants, not trees, but they can grow quite tall like trees). Susanna has planted shade trees that are nitrogen-fixing, however, it’s too warm under the trees and so the type of trees that Susanna has planted may not be ideal. Also, she made retaining wall to keep soil erosion from happening. The coffee develops on the plants by first having a bud, which turns into a white, fragrant flower, which then turns into a cherry, which contains the beans inside (1 if peaberry). Susanna also planted sugar cane used for soil retention and in lower lands thiese are also used for water retention. Susanna is growing hacetura (Hector can translate it) and yucca in a line to separate the two parcels of corn and coffee and create a natural barrier. A shade tree that is ideal is mango. More ideal because doesn’t create excessive warmth below the tree. Lemon and banana trees were also planted throughout the farm. Planted cactus to grow into a long, strong inpenetrable fence. She had started the revolving microcredit husbandry program, received 1 animal (chicken, I think) and had 4 more born. Now that the program has ended, she will develop the land further. Susanna lets foliage fall to the ground and naturally compost on the land. The Cassia tree is better for roadside shade than incorporation in farms, and this is what Susanna has planted currently. She also has a separate compost area which includes banana husks. She fills up the area with water (or rain fills it) and the nutrient rich water spills into the gully to fertilize and irrigate the farm. Susanna’s compound, like many others, are fenced in with sticks and barbed wire. She has a feeding and salt troughs for cows and also a pigpen where excrements goe out into the coffee field and water carries it to the plants. This is an excellent model of permaculture because it creates less work for farmers and is better for the animals and crops, too. The Nami tree is planted for pest control. There is a grinder for corn in the chicken coop, and next to the chicken coop is a raised stand for food storage (outdoor pantry).
Colleen showed me what Hector had taught her, that if you crush or rub the leaves of a citrus tree, you can tell what type of citrus tree it is by smelling the leaves. I noted that the greeting in rural Nicaragua is different from Managua. Here you greet with a Dios (to God) instead of Buenos Dias (pronounced Bueno Dia in Esteli).
Visiting Productora Ester Ruis’s and Elieth’s Farm:
To get to this farm, we rode horses and I rode a mule. Having no experience of riding horses, the lack of control and my inexperience trusting an animal to proceed safely down steep declines without sufficient ability to command it made me highly nervous. The horse I was originally on was small and fast, and Felix must have understood that I was very nervous riding it. So I got a mule instead. I was still quite nervous, and I saw Felix in the truck, and so I said to him in English because I didn’t know how to say it in Spanish, “I’m trusting you, Felix” I’m pretty sure he got my meaning because he gave me a look that said, “It will be okay.” Felix and I seem to understand each other best despite my poor Spanish because we both communicate by eyes better anyways. Mules are stronger, so I trusted that it would support my weight better. Nicaraguan people are in general smaller, weigh less, and shorter than white people, and so all of our saddles were too small and the horses too small. For example, Juanita told me that she weighs 20 pounds more than I do, and so I only feel like I’m not a fat American around Juanita and Felix. We all managed. The 20 year old boy that asked me to dance in El Jocote (I refer to him as the “fetus” or “leering boy” to reduce my discomfort of dancing with an unknown boy who is far too young to be dancing with me in my culture and who kept leering at me), consistently, throughout the whole ride, kept hitting my mule on its ass with branches from a tree to make it go faster. I gave him eyes that I’m pretty sure transcend language barriers to stop, but it didn’t stop him. His leering eyes sure transcend language barriers! Sue told me that she finds horse riding peaceful. I got dragged through trees and had to duck frequently, plus given my anxiety, I didn’t find it relaxing, and although I said that I didn’t find it fun, I think it was fun. Or at least an interesting new experience. I wasn’t going to let my fear stop me, but I definitely wasn’t relaxed, especially going down those hills of rocks! Sue told me to extend my legs out far in front of me, and this really helped me to feel like I was going to fly off the front of the mule.
There is a compost that allows for nutrient rich water to fun down and feed the plants. Outside is a clothes washing area with a cement washboard for washing clothes. Under the Cieba tree, which is Nicaragua’s national tree, coffee grows much better. There is a coffee nursery out in the open and set on the ground with no fencing off of the plants. Last year, LaFEM gave each member several hundred plants. The women showed us how they bend over the tall coffee plants branches to pick the cherries. We saw the new house for the daughter, and they have to cut all of the boards flat with a chainsaw, and this is a lot of hard work!
Visiting Wet Processing area (Beneficio Humedo):
Point of clarification here: Does wet processing remove the cherries and mucilage from the bean, or do they use a depulper first, and then wet processing refers to washing and removing the mucilage? The women carry the coffee to the raised area and put the depulped beans down the wooden shoot along with water. They have to carry the water up by hand on a ladder to reach the raised area. The water helps to remove the pulp the remnants of the cherry from the bean, and is also used to remove the mucilage that envelopes the beans. They use clean water and hook up the hose from the well. In the large concrete holding tanks where the coffee are processed, the sections are blocked or partitioned off with wood, filled up with water, and then the coffee are left to sit in the washing side only. Transferring the water is very difficult. They can block off the partitioned areas with wood inserted into slots, and then flush out with water, and also change the water if necessary. They mix and churn the beans to let ferment for 12 hours on the washing side. They use fermentation to remove mucilage around the bean, but not actually ferment the coffee bean itself. In Timor Leste, the coffee ferment for about 36 hours, and they would change the water to not allow actual fermentation of the coffee beans occur. After the coffee is washed, the non-washing side has a shoot that extends out for the honey water (the remnants of the cherries sweeten the water and this is what it is called) so that it can empty out into the wells and not just run out into the land. Honey water has toxic phenols in it, so they don’t want the honey water contaminating the nearby stream or the ground water or the farms. After all of this is done, they sort the coffee beans out by hand and bring it to the drying plant. Beans that float to the top of the water are no good because this means that they have holes in the beans from the bugs. They don’t sell these beans, they compost these damaged beans. The phenols from cherries build up, however the cherries can be composted and let to break down because they have sugar that helps break down the cherry and ferment it. But until the cherry breaks down, the phenols are very toxic.
The nearby river is most full in October, and most picking of the cherries occurs in November to December, and mainly in December. For drying the coffee out before bringing it to the plant, they lay it down on mesh containers to dry it out in the sun. In Spanish, they call cherries “grapes” or uvas. In one year, there are 4800 pounds of pergamino that they produce. Pergamino means parchment, and it’s the coffee bean in its semi-dried state which means that it has been processed, but not yet dried, as opposed to oro (gold) which is the dried coffee bean. There are no dry processing plants in the area, there is one but it is outside this area (note: commonly refer to drying of the bean as dry processing, not the actual water-less processing I refer to as dry processing). It takes 20 sacks (latas) of cherry to get 200 pounds of pergamino. From this 200 pounds, you get 1 quintal of latas of green coffee. Conversion notes: 1 quintal = 100 pounds. Ratio of cherries to coffee is 2:1. 5 gallon pail = 1 lata. We don’t know how much 1 lata weighs in cherries. They use the 5 gallon balga (bucket) for referring to 1 lata.
We also learned that there were 8 benficios in the LaFEM cooperative, which is comprised of 5 farms. The national flower is the Frangapani and the national tree is the Madroni.
I believe that it was on this day we went to this really fantastic swimming hole. It had a large rock where you could jump off, a rock slide by the waterfall, and a nice swimming area. Colleen, Mark, Hector, and the kids were jumping in and swimming, and it looked like a lot of fun. I would have really liked to join, but I was afraid of getting my toe infected (open sore from losing my toenail) from the Wii-tarded accident I had with Elizabeth because there would be no real way for me to treat it if it got infected or worse, infested. I left my water bottle there, so some kid probably has a Nalgene bottle with the words “Property of Brenda L McKee) on it. This makes me smile. I watched everyone swim, and held glasses, and chilled out by 2 girls and Felix, none of whom swam. There was this girl, Jitzy’s sister, whose name I cannot remember, who was really excited for us to dance, show us the water hole, and learn English phrases. I was excited that my silliness transcends my poor Spanish. I also believe that today was the day where the guys showed us how to turn an old tire into a planting pot. It was really cool, and a great example of reusing old tires! I told the guys who made the tire planting pot, Felix, and leering boy about my football training and Kung Fu and boyfriend Will who was a Marine and is now going to be a cop. Felix initiated this story-telling event because I had asked him about a gym in Esteli where I only say men lifting weights, and I asked where women lift weights. He said that girls mainly do cardio, and only men go to the gym by our hostel (Café Luz y Luna). I told Felix that I used to lift weights, especially when I was training for football. They were quite interested and amused by the stories, and I got this reputation for being a tough girl. This entertains me. Since we were telling stories and showing things, they showed me their pet squirrel, which I let run up and down my arm. I’m not accustomed to making pets out of wild animals, but I found this very interesting. The squirrel was rather domestic, behaved similarly to a rat, and was housed in a large rectangular bird cage. All of the others in our group were talking with the women about business stuff, so this was not shared with the rest of the group. It is so much fun for me to meet new people, and just talk about life and adventures. In the US there is so much focus on what a person does for a living, and it drives me crazy sometimes how people ask questions about what I do before they ask questions about who I am as person. I enjoyed not having to be a scientist, and just getting to be myself and share stories and laughs. What I also find interesting is that the focus on questions for me, as a woman, in Nicaragua are about my life, who I’m dating, am I married, and not having to do with anything related to work. My appearance is valued more than my work, and this is a very big change for me, as I am accustomed to having to prove myself as an intellectual, as a scientist, and I don’t have to be pretty. I couldn’t seem to communicate that pretty isn’t even really part of how I see myself at home because it’s such an emphasis here. As a case in point, Susan, Felix and I were discussing how the women kept pointing out my appearance, my eyes, my body shape, (and even my boobs! – story later), and I said that I thought people were just saying that because I’m an extranjera and I look different, and how my appearance isn’t a topic of conversation or even something to note at home, and that in the States I’m not regarded for my beauty because I’m not particularly beautiful in the States and lots of white people have blue eyes. I didn’t seem to win this argument, Susan countered it, and Felix asked the other male driver for validation of his argument. I’ve decided it’s fun being beautiful here, especially since you have to go back home and be average! All of these conversations took a long time, largely due to my poor Spanish (curse me for not keeping up with my Spanish!).
That evening at Pasora’s house at dinner, I asked about politics. The whole group minus Colleen was there, as was Pasora and Rosa Emilia. I had seen Sandinista flags driving to Esteli and when we arrived in Managua, there were several large Christmas light displays where lights were hung in the shape of a tree and a sign saying ‘30’ was at the top to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the 1979 revolution. And, when we did our tour of Managua for 3 hours with Carlos (from Casa San Juan) on the first day that we arrived before picking up Mark, we saw Daniel Ortega signs all over the city in billboards. Ortega, elected in 2006 as part of the Sandinista party, has been criticized for allowing interanational buying up of land and businesses and not taxing international businesses. Rosa Emilia spoke the most, essentially saying that the old 1980s and 1990s Sandinistas were helpful and helped the rural people and farmers, but Ortega does not care about village people, rural people, or farmers. He is not doing what he is saying he will do. There are 4 parties in Nicaragua; 2 are Sandinista parties (they have split due to internal politics and because of Ortega’s interaction with the party) and 2 others; 1 liberal and 1 more conservative. Juanita said that the government doesn’t have funds for farmers, i.e. no grants, and does not work to really help rural people. She said that the Sandinistas of the 80s and 90s really helped people, but not these new Sandinistas. She pays taxes, yet foreign owned corporations do not.
June 1, 2009 (Children’s Day)
Visiting la communidad de Los Llanos

The Spanish word for roaster is tostadora.
We met with the cooperative in Los Llanos, which is in the Pueblo Nuevo municipality. Colleen wrote down that we met with Las Estrellas and La Coopemujer collectives, which are part of the Mujeres del Norte Cooperativa. We met in their office, and sat in a square facing each other. There are 36 members in this cooperative. The women average 2-3 manzanas each, and the range is 1-4 manzanas. There are 41.8 hectares of certified organic coffee through their certification with FLO and BioLatina. FLO certification covers 9 cooperatives under Miraflor, 4 of which are LaFEM. We were introduced to everyone by Isabella. The collective is called Las Estrellas. Isabella, who we met the first day, is the Treasurer and is part of the Development Committee in Esteli, which is part of the LaFEM. Mercedes is the President of the Cooperative Mujeres and is on the cover of the Just Coffee LaFEM label. Another woman named Mercedes is the Junto Viglencia (Vigilent Director) and oversees the administration according to the cooperative’s instruction. Their FLO certification includes mutual coop oversight and critiquing over other cooperatives. There are 236 houses in their community, 4 chapels (1 of 4 is Catholic, the rest Evangelical), 1 school with 5 grades (primary), 1 nurse and 1 doctor at the clinic, and 105 people in their community and they have potable water. Las Estrellas was a collective of 5 women prior to LaFEM, and now they have 12 members. LaFEM started in 1995/1996, and first started with a health (sexual and reproductive) program. Las Estrellas has 5 manzanas of coffee, and 7 manzanas for animal production (largely cows). Parsela is the Spanish word for collective of land. When they first formed, they had an instdututed eduation program, and got training in capacity building to change how they think of themselves, to be able to cultivate the land. After forming and learning and changing, they have gone through 3 phases of changing psychologies, and have been adding women to their group. There are 30 women in the Cooperativa Mujeres. The Collectiva Las Estrellas founded the cooperative, which has the FLO certification. The cooperative uses the revolving program to be able to add women to cooperative. Also they have a committee to protect women against violence, a program of defense. Women have died because of violence, and violence is often used against women in in the community and their houses. This is the work of LaFEM = sustainable agriculture and lifestyle. They have other things besides coffee that they cultivate like cassava to support their sustainability. The vigilance community is monitoring and evaluating their farms to enhance them. All LaFEM cooperatives have defense committees in their communities. They defend the women by accompanying women when they need it, and consoling victims, and announcing the violence to reach out and not live in fear. They also help women to realize their own value. There was nothing to protection for women before the revolution. After the revolution, there are laws to address different types of violence. There is a women’s commission inside the police to help through reporting violence. Their cooperative’s defense committee helps women through this process.
Sue asked if there was education in their houses or by LaFEM to educate children about gender equality and anti-violence. In one women’s house, she shares the domestic responsibility with her children and her husband. In another woman’s house, there are 3 daughters aged 11, 13, and 15 and she lives with her father. Her daughters study non-traditional careers like carpentry and work in the field. So she doesn’t have men that cuase problems, but women take on and learn “men’s” roles. They share responsibilities, but keeping cultural traditions like women making corn tortillas, and men may help with other food preparations. In Mercedes’s opinions, women do everything in house, and now they are learning that women don’t have to do everything. She has a son who is 11, and if she tells him to do something, he will help and does what she says. She is very strong and commanding.
LaFEM Programs:
80 women learn in 8 learning circles with 3 levels for adult education. Beneficiaries can be any woman in the community. 8 programs = Literacy (3 levels, goes to the level of 6thor primary education), learning program about their bodies, a learning program about illness, how to defend themselves, and job training. The first level of the literacy is reading, and writing is 9 months. The first level is the equivalent of 2 grades, and the second level is 2 grades, etc.
There are 3 jobs, electrician, soldering (welding), and carpentry. These job training options are available after complete basic education (essentially primary education). The women can choose a job or years of secondary school. Can do all 3 jobs or continue onto secondary school. The government’s ministry of education created the curriculum as a natural program for teenagers or adults, but only for women. LaFEM modifies it by adding a 45 minute reflection period to lesions and adds a self-esteem component. I looked at the books that the Ministry hands out called “Our Bodies.” It asks questions about body differences between genders, birth control, pregnancy, and repeats basic math throughout the book. It does not discuss body issues or inform about anatomy or sex. These books are funded by a Swiss organization and the EU that funds them all.
The cooperative receives social criticism because many believe that a cooperative should not be formed, especially of all women. LaFEM was formed in 1998 after the education program put out the books by the Ministry, and helped make the books. Isabella estimated that maybe 30% of women in rural areas are literate. Many don’t want to learn. This Nicaraguan education system is based on Cuba’s and Venezuela’s. Some women can solely sign and write their name. The government program is only 3 months long and it doesn’t give support or accompaniment to the books. The lesions comes with a DVD and TV program, which won’t work in most rural places. LaFEM has found it takes about 9 months to complete and the tv is too impersonal, not interactive, and so the motivation to complete it is low. LaFEM uses active participation to teach literacy and uses real life examples to educate. This makes the program more dynamic.
Difficulties in producing coffee:
Mercedes (president) seays that they had to learn what organic met and how to meet the standards. What was also difficult was transporting the coffee to the processing facility. Also, when you have to cut the trees to increase production, you have to wait 3 years and it is unclear what to do in that time. Some didn’ have machines to depulp coffee. A teenager said that she didn’t know anything or have anyone to help her and LaFEM taurght her everything she knows and supported her when no one else would.
Now the difficulties include the following: In order to produce coffee, they need a credit. LaFEM has one, but it’s not always sufficieint. And each woman needs creit. 2 manzanas may need about 1200 cordobas. A manzana costs about $700 to $3000 USD, depending on the quality of the land, if it has access to water. This is a lot of money for these women, who earn less than this a year. Also, the credit is for renovating the coffee fields that had 40 year old trees to manufactiure. Also, have no income whne waiting for the coffee trees to grow. Also, they need credit for cleaning, supporting families until they are paid for the crop at the end of the year. 1200 cordobas (about 19 cordobas to 1 USD) is for maintaining life, eating, etc, and was a number just picked for example. They use the coffee credit money to support other agriculture and husbandry. Another difficulty is that women do not get much information about new technologies. As women transition into organic agriculture, they don’t have tools to develop organic culture even though they may have learned the methods. It takes 60 sacks of solid compost to fertilize 1 manzana. There’s no information about which species are best to plant for shade trees, etc. There is no horticulture or permaculture information available. In the Sandinista time, there was more technical assistance for farmers but there isn’t any now.
Hector had an idea about getting information from other countries, like the Dominican Republic, and photocopy and send it to Nicaragua. This information would be about basic horticulture and general technical information about coffee growing. Juanita was excited about her idea to have a conference where the women could learn about Hector’s expertise and could discuss information. We need more details about specific problems ot know what information to distribute and answer.
Another difficulty is that in the beginning, they had to depulp (remove cherry) by hand. The coop bought a depulper (depulpadora) and need information about how to maintain equipment like this depulper and how to fix it. Sometimes they have to wait weeks to get it fixed because theire is only 1 mechanic for huge areas up to 5 kilometers, and in other communities. I offered to download the manual and send it to them, but it is not clear to me that this would be helpful because they seem to already have the manual. They have this same difficulty with processing facilities, because often times there is not 1 processing facility per community, and they can sometimes be very far away. This is the same problem in other communities. They could team up to learn the maintenance and repair of the depulper and they could have a woman mechanic in each community. Maybe have 4th profession of their job training be a mechanic. There is an institute close by the teaches about coffee farming. They have 1 depulper per community now and this is the same in all communities.
To Do: We need to follow up with Vince on his observations of their ‘needs,’ particularly in the simple ones or things or information we might have better access to or be able to coordinate getting to them.
LaFEM = check for documentation of needs of community between technical person and agricultural experts.
NGO is ONG in Spanish. Just Coffee is looking for an opportunity to better help producers through NGO. Colleen wants to come back to discussion of land ownership. LaFEM was receiving a lot of funding but that terminated last year.
I could look up grants, especially small grants that could benefit the community.
We talked about how coffee isn’t the only way nor is it sufficient by itself to solve their economic problems. They are thinking of developing an organic fertilizer factory because they need more compost to make more coffee. Also, some farmers do not have enough access to water or springs, which hinders develop in the dry season.
Another problem is that they do not have a good roaster and it’s too small of a space to fit coffee coming in and they do not have a laboratory to cup. And they have a generator that keeps breaking down in the middle of roasting causing them to lose the whole batch. All aspects of roasting coffee need to be fixed.
Juanita wants to be able to sell coffee, bread, and healing organic food and treatments so that they can sell all the products the women make in the community in a store but need land to do this.
They are interested in starting another coop to form an union with the women in this coop and to move away from Miraflor. Miraflor is the group certifier by FLO (of 9) and is formally called Miraflor UCA Heroes & Martires de Miraflor. They have 4 coops now in LaFEM and want another cooperative so that they can move away from Miraflor, and they need 5 coops for group certification. Note: earlier I wrote that they have 5 coops, and this is incorrect.
Visit a farm of Productora (name unknown):
This farm was large, new and young plants, and had no developed shade trees. The sun beats down on you without the shade trees. It is in desperate need of water. This land is just getting developed. They planted bananas, coffee, beans, and sugar cane. When they planted it, she had to carry water for each plant! There is a well and a nursery and a tilapia pit for fish. They had to clear the land and there is a lot of food for people and animals. She has been working this land for 6 years. She has 3.5 manzanas and it’s in her name because the land was given to her by her father. Most women struggle to get the land in their name, and often times they are given an oral agreement that they can work the land that is owned by someone or their family, e started with a but then when they get it to be productive, a man can and often does take the land away and kicks the woman off the farm and won’t let the women work the farm. LaFEM works to put the land in women’s names.
Hector recommended that they plant la cana, which is the nitrogen fixing and feeds the cows and provides shade.
Visiting Vertaluz’s farm:

Note that this depulper machine is not known for producing quality, but recently, I think in the last 2 years, they won the Taste of Nicaragua cupping competition, and they received a rating in of 86 out of 100 for the cupping.

June 2, 2009
Visiting la communidad de Las Manos (north, close to the border with Honduras):
We drove with Juanita and Felix, which I have decided are my favorite travelling companjer@s. Anielka also joined us from Esteli. They told me that Vince is leaving on Saturday, and they invited me to Vince’s goodbye party and then Felix will drive us back to Managua for the airport! That rocks, and then I don’t have to stay an extra night in Managua. I am really excited to be invited to the party, and I consider this a super kind gesture.
We arrived at a farm that had an outside area for meeting, where we were given a presentation. The farm and housing area was a veritable paradise (yes, Mark, I am using your word). They had flowers everywhere, and coffee plants with the white flowers on them, and baby duckies and a green parrot to play with (again, I let the parrot sit on my shoulder for awhile). This is an extremely hilly area, and the roads appear unpassable in the rainy season.
The women at this meeting were Santo, who is the President and working in administration of Cooperativa de Mujeres and has a small farm. She said that all of her coffee is organic and that this is important. She also makes worm compost. We also met Aire, who is the VP of the cooperative and is of Los Planes. Airelata supports the cooperative by helping women strengthen themselves. Aida is an educator of Las Manos in the first level. Sandra is a hucadora (educator) of the cooperative and is a coordinator of the education committee, which is made up of 11 members. Alexis is a primary educator. Carmen is an educator and vice-coordinator of the education committee. Julia is a third level educator, and there was another woman whose name I did not catch. Maria Ascela is a member of the cooperative from Ojo de Agua, which is 1 hour away. There is no way for her to drive from this community and so she must walk. While I was introducing myself, Felix and the other driver were talking loudly, and Juanita or the president shushed them, and they became quite embarrassed and hid under their newspapers.
We are in the city of Las Manos. Las Manos is part of the Comutradi cooperative (name is made up of 3 words, Communidad Mujeres Trade), which is made up of members from 7 micro-communities in the areas: Las Manos, Los Planos, Ojo de Agua, Loma Fria, Buenos Aires, La Laguna, and Cambalache. There are 32 members of this cooperative, and they are not all coffee growers. They produce 100% organic coffee and she called it women’s coffee. Junta directive – fair trade group with only the VP and president here today. Through LaFEM, this cooperative started commercializing their coffee through fair trade. Before this, they sold to intermediaries and they did not like this. They have access to credit through the Pueblo Nuevo account, which has an accountant.
On the sign was written the following:
Certification (BioLatina)
-cronograna de acctividades para el manejo organica agricultura
-Diagnostico de fincas con café organico para elaborar planes de trabajo
-Visitas periodicas de los technicos de FEM para support and vigilance to make sure following rules and preserving suelos.
-Apoyo de LaFEM en talleres (International focus and participation with different groups, especially in Hondoras Costa Rica)
-Ecological and whole farm planning
Here are some of the workshops that they talked about:
-They learned how to process coffee via wet-processing course that they took
-They took a workshop about credit in San Juan del Rio, Nicaragua. They attended othe workshops in Costa Rica.
-They had a conference for organic production. SECA (or SECADOR) is the name of an organization that gives funds for education and support, and they also act as consultants to LaFEM.
-In Costa Rica, they had a workshop on helping themselves strengthen their farms through diversification and improve self-sufficiency by linking to local markets. Also, there was a workshop there to strengthen commericialization.
-They has a workshop on Technicas de Injertos (grafting) for other fruit trees. Grafting is the process of getting good soil and the right fruit tree to match such that you choose the right plants for the right top soil.
-In Panama, there was a workshop for sustainable agriculture in changing politics and for big changes in climate
The women reported that they used to receive a very low price for coffee. The President likes working for fair trade because they receive better prices and focus on preserving and protecting animals and water. They like being organic, not using chemicals is very important to them. I think this must be very true, because it is reflected in their beautiful care of the land and the animals. Coffee is hard work, and the bulk of the work is in 3 months. They depulp coffee, wash coffee, dry it to 12% water content. They like having access to workshops for improvements. They truly care about land preservation and the environment, and are less concerned about money. One woman said, “Healthy land makes healthy women.” We can be assured that the coffee produced here is 100% organic and all female produced.
The finance person for their coop is in Esteli, so we cannot meet with her. They took out about 220,000 cordobas ($11,579 USD) to support this collection of coffee. The land here is extremely expensive, for some reason being near the Honduras border makes it very valuable. 18 of the 32 members work with coffee. The biggest problem is transportation, especially in the rainy season because on the steep mountain sides they must carry the coffee on their backs in the rainy season because the roads are not drivable. Furthermore, there are no pastures for horses, and the roads are too steep for horses anyways. This area is a very wet climate, and it’s hard work hauling all their produce on their backs in the wet season! (Note, they also have quite the steep hike on their own farms, too, not just on the roads).
Difficulties that limit production:
Very poor people do not have depulping machine or an ability to bring their coffee to a depulper, so transportation is a big problem. Before there was a depulper in their area, they used a hand depulper that is very small. They have mesh rectangles (1 x 1.5 meters) needed for washing coffee. With the 18 members producing coffee, to maintain high quality, they cannot use patios because ducks and chickens and cats use the patios. In discussing dry vs. wet processing with Colleen, she told me that dry processing is much harder than wet, and is discounted by many coffee aficionados.
There are 35-45 manzanas for the 18 coffee productoras. This is an average of 2 manzanas per productora. One productora only has ¼ of a manzana, so some farms are really small. In all 4 LaFEM cooperatives, 150 farms are certified in total, so something is less than 80. In this community, the men leave for work in Costa Rica, so it is predominantly women and children. Women are left to work the farms, and the children work in the fields and the kitchen as well. Many children go to school, and work the fields afterwards (in general for rural areas). Women do own their manzanas here, however there are some examples of women who work the land but do not own it. Women have few partners in this area, and are largely single mothers since there are not many men in this area.
In the Agrarian Reform of the 1980s, farm land was willed or given to families, which means that it was given to the men of the families. Patriarchy is very present, and although women may have a verbal agreement to work the land, men can take back the land at any point. Hence LaFEM’s push to get the women legal ownership of the land. Women got verbal agreements to work the land in the 1980s Agrarian Reform but not legal ownership. The land in Los Llanos, for example, is legally owned by the cooperative. Right now they are going through titles and changing ownership of 2 manzanas per woman and marking the land. In Las Manos, there is no agrarian agreement here, so some women access land through inheritance and so some male members of families are coming back from Costa Rica and claiming the land for their own.
Land costs $10,000 USD for 1 manzana regardless of whether the land is bare or has coffee plots on it. This is extremely expensive! This land is so expensive because they are 2 km from the Honduras border and tourists come through this area, and hence the land has lots of value. 5 years ago, the land cost $2000 USD per manzana, and now it is $10,000. There are lots of wealthy landowners here. For example, 1 family has 200 manzanas. Little farmers son’t want to let go of their land because it is so valuable, so there is not much land for sale. The coffee from this region is excellent and very high quality. It was last years Nicaraguan “Cup of Excellence” in Esteli and also has won several other years. This area does not have an official office meeting area (casita), and so we met at the Gomez and Perez home.
Education committee:
There are 4 components to their holistic educational approach: Salud (health), Cooperativa & Collectiva Production, Education, and Anti-violence. LaFEM was born on July 4, 1996 by 4 women. 80 women started in their educational program, but now there are actually 90 students (women), 11 educators, and the education circles seem to be common. There are 11 education circles, and hence 11 educators. They select the theme for education, analyze it with the students, tie it into their lives, and then make conclusions and make sure during the reflection period that the lessons are clear (reflection periods seem common), and then continue with the theme of the class. The class includes math, Spanish, laws/rights, anti-violence, health, self-defense, production and parcela, and socionatural. There is a follow up to the class after students complete the 3rd level, some students go onto secondary school, others go to work with other rural women. 10 women go onto secondary education and inspire other women to finish secondary school. Now the educators and the students evaluated the education, and presented their findings to us. In the opinion of the educators, their relationships with women as a result of this education are much better, and there is more trust, and they feel the students are building knowledge and self-esteem. The educators value this experience and it boosts their own self-confidence and knowledge of different subject matters, and it boosts their own relationships with their families. The students also gave their opinion of the training program. The women are very happy with the education program and they learn the alphabet and write their name, they learn how to defend themselves, they like being organized, they learn addition and subtraction, they have improved self-esteem and self-value, and they learned about their bodies, their rights, how to demand respect, self care, and their emotional and physical health. The students say that they have learned more about organic agriculture, a little about administration, more love to their own person, self-care (taking time to eat, etc), negotiate with their partner, learn scientific names for the parts of their bodies, and how not to let anyone do an act of violence against them. The students feel that these are their successes: enhanced motivation, increased interest in participation, advanced their knowledge of science, defending their physical space, gained sexual health and reproductive knowledge, building trust between students and teachers (educadoras), asserting their right to study and participate in workshops.
Once again, at this meeting, as well as all of the others, I got teary-eyed listening to the stories of how these women’s lives have changed for the better. That teenager in Los Llanos touched my heart as well.
Defensorras: The self-defense, anti-violence support group
There are 4 women in each community. 1) In cases of violence, they offer support to victim. 2) For all types of violence, LaFEM has workshops 3) Women experience the bulk of violence, hence they have an obligation to all women (earlier it was also mentioned that the women of the world do the majority of domestic work). All together, 13 communities of LaFEM have 4 defensorras (women who defend and help and learn to support women through workshops). The defensorras also march and protest and are politically active. I asked if there was a lot of alcohol or drug abuse because this area seems particularly high with domestic violence, and they often go together. They said they see alcoholism more than drug abuse. They went on to say that violence is related to alcoholim and is associated, but it is not the only cause. Gender based biolence is just one part of gender inequity. ***More problems comes form the social construction of gender! Many (majority) of LaFEM members are survivors of domestic violence. This ia big reason, in my opinion, as to why they are so strong. They share the knowledge gained with other women and children in their community. The challenge in anti-violence is to break the cycle of violence you take 1 step forward, and 1 step back. 1 day without violence, the next day has violence. 4 days ago in Esteli, a man professed his love to his wife after being estranged, drove her to the countryside, and strangled her to death (this was all over the news when we arrived, I saw the blanket strewn over the body of the strangled woman on the front page of the newspaper). In less than 60 days, 4 women were killed by men in the state (departmento) of Esteli. LaFEM is now mobilizing against this. There is a man’s group against domestic violence on women in Managua, though its results or influence are not felt in the community. They know violence begins in the home and continues through the generations, sensitizing them. In their anti-violence program, there are reflections to reduce violence in home. Women in this community have links to organizations that work with children and children’s rights, but don’t have them instituted in LaFEM, and there is not official children’s group in LaFEM. FEM has a SECA or SECADOR-based program to reduce violence against all women. Men who kill women are condemned. Their mobilization is focused on pushing for the maximum pusinshment because the man is already arrested. There was a child raped by an evangelical priest recently and is now serving 15 years in prison. This was a child from the local area. LaFEM feels it is important to report violence and supported to do so because if men know that violence will be reported, the violence reduces. There is an all-female police victims unit but no gender education and often times they victimize victims. They have low resources, so have asked women in LaFEM for resources when going to confront a man. Recently a women that runs the victim’s unit in the police department was killed by her partner. There are in general fewer women police than men and the same in government. Female politicians do not represent women’s interests and many women in parliament recently voted in 2006 to repeal medically necessary abortions. LaFEM fundamentally believes that women cannot become self-sufficient if they are not safe in their homes.
Note: Women run everything in LaFEM, and the few men who are involved are on the outskirts. LaFEM asked Just Coffee in a previous meeting to work with more women, because Just Coffee had too many men involved. They also kicked the men out when discussing their business.

Parcels – Successes:
-Revolving Reproductive package was 9 chicks, 1 rooster, 1 female pig, chain mail for pig and chicken pen, and seeds. From this package, women don’t have to buy eggs, onions, etc. and can save money for the family. Don’t have to be a woman of the cooperative to participate or could be any student. Local committees have to analyze the situation closely because they don’t want to give the chain mail to a woman who will just turn around and sell it or will just eat chicken right away. They must participate to keep the program revolving. This program is also open to women students. 30 cycles have gone through but not finished yet in this area (had finished in other areas), so they are not yet on hold for 1 year to evaluate like in other areas. This area will not sustain cows, so no area for pasture, and hence they cannot access the cow program. One woman said that she was given the materials to make a pig pen and 1 female pig, she had 10 pigs and gave back 1 pig and sold 9. She used this money to build her house. Before this she lived under a plastic tarp. She didn’t have to use funds to buy this, and wouldn’t have access any other way.
The government’s Ministry of Health vaccinates dogs, chickens, and pigs for diseases.
Meeting Structure:
Each community we visited had a specific agenda laid out for us. The organization of each meeting was impressive, and so was the enthusiasm of each community to share their lives with us, to show us their farms, and also their inquisitiveness about our lives and desire for feedback and furthering relations. We consistently sat in either an open circle or an open rectangle facing each other. We started with a long opening of introductions, starting with the most senior women in each community. Then they would present to us, often with the most important information listed on long sheets of paper and given by different women who would share the responsibility of the presentation. I enjoyed each meeting, even if the subject matter was repetitive because it gave me an opportunity to better understand the information being presented and the details about their lives and organization. At the end, we would exchange thank yous for the information, and the heads of the local community would be sure to thank not only us, but also each women for being present. I felt like all women were encouraged to participate and share with us, that there was little need to only have the most senior people speak, and that all opinions were encouraged and valued. This comraderie was very obvious, and I liked that each women was valued for her insight and opinion. I think this would go a long way to build self-esteem outside of a formal education program. Juanita especially enjoyed getting out to each community and talking with the women because she doesn’t get a lot of opportunities to do this. I valued the opportunity to act as a secretary, which helped to relieve my guilt that I offer no expertise or direct value to LaFEM or Just Coffee, and it is often hard for me to be distinctly aware of how much I value this trip and these interactions and these relationships and not be able to reflect my appreciation in a form of assistance. This is a feeling that I am often acutely aware of, in all my activities, because my scientific expertise is limited, and most of the work that I am engaged in is mentoring, work with prisoners, etc., nothing that holds direct value to these women (except perhaps for my love of coffee!). So I chose to introduce myself as a feminist, of which I am a staunch feminist, so that my political and intellectual solidarity with the women would be understood by them. Every group we meet extends their gratitude to us and LaFEM and hopes that we return and that our relationship does not end here. Our visit seems to bring a fair amount of excitement to the local communities, and perhaps raises morale. Colleen then says our thanks, our appreciation for their hospitality, their hard farming work, their time, their presentations, and gives each area a bag of the LaFEM Just Coffee. Colleen also gives a statement about getting photos for the Just Coffee labels so that Just Coffee can give a face to their coffee for consumers and gives out Just Coffee stickers, which I see posted in every community, including people’s homes.
We then visited a house of a women who used to live in Philly for 7 years. We all noted how fancy her house was, with sofa chairs and modern electronics and art work and a concrete floor (as opposed to the usual mud floor). She has the hilliest plot of land. Her farm is hard to reach from the road, and is a super steep climb up and down. There were a lot of dogs barking here, and we took the picture of Felix with bananas on his head. He told me that he has a dog named Tosca and a cat named Noctumbre. We also went to see her wet processing area, and I saw a little black scorpion there. Walking to it is walking on a thin, uneven path in the middle of a steep hillside, such that to fall would mean dropping several hundred feet.
Then we went to visit Santo’s farm. She was super excited and proud to show us her coffee. She could care less about anything other than coffee and prefers to grow it because she loves it. She spoke so much and so fast that Vince couldn’t even translate. Vince managed to translate that out of all the nursery coffee plants handed out, only hers lived. She has a debt of $7500 cordobas because her husband left. She has 2 types (varieties) of coffee, café and café mara. I didn’t hear a word she said. I was too busy laughing hysterically (despite my attempts to control my laughter) at the scarecrow with the giant cock (in proportion to his 6 inch waist) intentionally placed outside of the jeans. I thought I was going to be better, but then Santo said that it has been like that for 20 years, and I lost it again. The more I kept laughing, the more Juanita and Felix laughed at me. It took me at least 30 minutes to stop constantly laughing, and even now I’m laughing.
Visit to Prodocoop – the drying facility (dry processing plant):

June 3, 2009 (Last day of delegation)