Jonathan Golden's Blog: Inklings, Coffee, Redemption.

Keep your eyes on the road.

I'm in the airport at Port Au Prince, Haiti waiting for my flight home. I've been here for a quick three days to see if the quality of coffee from Marmelade will meet the excellence standards of Land of a Thousand Hills Coffee. I also took the mountain road up to Chadirack to pray with our farmers and to have a community meeting about the Coffee Washing Station we will be building there.

I've had 16 hour days. Each kilometer traveled on this island was made possible by Tompy our friend, local leader and driver. Tompy is friendly, aggressive, quick and always has his eyes on the road. He is driven to get me to my destination. Sometimes he seems a bit rude, sometimes he drives to vit vit (quickly quickly). Yet Tompy alway gets me to my destination. He gets me where I need to be on time and even more important safe.

Tompy doesnt get distracted. He is focused. He knows his goal and does what he needs to do to achieve it. This means honking his horn, passing cars in a split second and often taking risks.

Living our calling and achieving our goals means staying focused and leaning into life.
What are your here for? What is really important to you in life? What do you need to finish today? Honk your horn, keep your eyes on the road, be a bit rude if needed. Reach your goal.

Drink Coffee. Do Good.

Jonathan

Giving Thanks

Giving Thanks,

 

Ahh, to rise early, prepare my morning cup, wait for it to brew (which, quite often, are the longest minutes of the day), then greet the day with a fresh cup of Rwandan, Haitian, or Thai coffee. To greet the dawn with a good cup of coffee and quietly read my morning prayer; for this I am thankful.

 

I am thankful for my family, for my wife, and my sons, for my newest son that we have been recently blessed to adopt.

 

I am thankful for my mother and father who are enjoying the grace of old age.

 

I am thankful for my team here at Land of a Thousand Hills Coffee Company, who work so hard to make sure you have coffee in your cup to enjoy.

 

And I am thankful for our farmers who pick each cherry, put it in a flotation tank, de-pulp it, dry it and sort it 7 times over for you and me.

 

I am thankful for you, our customers, our partners, who make this all possible.

 

Drink Coffee. Do Good.

Jonathan Golden, Founder of Land of a Thousand Hills Coffee Co.

 

Doing Good Around the World

Bonswa, Sah-Wat-Dee, Muraho, Hello!

Haiti? Thailand? Rwanda! We are the Rwandan Coffee Company, right? Well, yes and no!

Rwanda

When I first sensed God’s invitation to start the coffee project almost seven years ago, it was with the goal of impacting Rwandan coffee farmers by doing good. Together we have helped thousands of farmers and their families in Rwanda. Orphans are being fed, homes are being built, and coffee is being harvested!

Haiti

In 2010, Haiti was hit by a 7.0 magnitude earthquake. I remember watching the news and wondering how we could help. Haiti was once one of the world’s largest producers of coffee. It is interesting to note that both Rwanda and Haiti have a population 10 to 12 million people who underwent a horrible tragedy and have begun to experience healing and reconciliation through coffee. 

I first asked our friends in Rwanda to pray. Then I went on a coffee-hunt to Haiti and met with farmers in Marmelade and Chadirack.  In March of 2011, we roasted our first Haitian Bleu coffee, Café Marmelade. We are now building relationships and making a difference. We have recently distributed nearly 100,000 coffee seedlings to the Haitian people.

Thailand

Earlier this year we began exploring a new Community Trade™ partnership with farmers in Thailand who are working hard to grow coffee and provide for their families. My friend, Fraser, from Bright Hope World, asked if we would consider inviting these Thai farmers into the Drink Coffee. Do Good™ story. The same farmers that were once enslaved through the drug trade of opium poppies are today growing coffee, making a sustainable living, and protecting their daughters from the sex traders. 

Together, we are now engaging in Community Trade in Rwanda, Haiti and Thailand. Literally tens of thousands of farmers and their families are now experiencing a better life, and we get to drink a good cup of coffee.

Expanding our Community Trade model also allows us to now provide you with seasonally fresh coffee. Coffee, like any other fruit, is seasonal and best when fresh. The green coffee will have a shelf life of around 10 months. In line with our seasonal offerings, I am proud to announce that our first container of Ruli Mountain coffee has arrived from Rwanda and initial orders will be delivered next week.

As we drink Rwandan, Haitian, and Thai coffee together, we will continue to seek to do good wherever God gives us the opportunity. 

Mesi, Khawp Khun, Murakoze, Thank you. 

You are doing good!

Jonathan D. Golden, Founder

 

Follow the Bean - Haiti and Coffee

"Follow your heart, any other way will only lead to sorrow" - Triumph

"Follow the bean, who knows where it will lead you" - Greg Martin

My friend Greg likes to tell me to “follow the bean." Looking back over the last five years, following the bean, really the adventure of integrating life, work and faith, has led us to a marvelous work in Rwanda.

Together you and I have built a coffee washing station in Bukonya, one of the worst areas ravaged by genocide. Today, people are working side by side for a common purpose, and in return, experiencing the beauty of reconciliation and grace. We have built a soccer field for playful children and homes for displaced orphans. Together, we have planted lots of coffee trees, provided bikes for weary farmers, cultivated a sustainable farm, and begun work at Ruli Mountain Coffee Washing Station to reach another 2,000 farmers and their 8,000 family members.

This work with coffee began by following an inkling. You followed the inkling too. We worked, and God blessed.

A little over a year ago I sensed another inkling, and the bean has lead you and I to yet another adventure. After the earthquake in Haiti, I found myself wondering if God might be inviting us to work in Haiti, as we have done in Rwanda. I discovered a few interesting facts about Rwanda, Haiti, and Coffee.

Rwanda and Haiti:

• Are home to 10-12 million people.
• Are densely populated with very little land.
• Are French-speaking countries.
• Have both experienced a horrible tragedy.
• Have a history of being Coffee Growing Countries

When I shared a vision of venturing into Haiti with my Rwandan friends, Pastor Ildephonse and Manny, both said they would pray for their brothers in Haiti, and testified that God has used coffee to help them heal and make their land prosper.

I’m glad to share that I have had five coffee-hunting expeditions to Haiti. Last week I shared with coffee growers in Marmelade, Chadirack, Gouivar and Café Nan that the very bean that enslaved their ancestors 150 years ago could now be used by God as a means of their freedom.

Today, we have 14,000 pounds of Haitian coffee from Marmalade and 200 pounds from our washing station in Chadirack, ready to be roasted. We are ready to engage redemption.

You, my coffee-drinking friends, get to once again be a partner in this.

Will you help us be good stewards of this adventure by helping us to once again Drink Coffee and Do Good?

 

J

Drink Coffee Do Good