All In The Family

To say that I'm analytical is a gross understatement.  Before I jump into anything I generally want to hear the whole story, get all the stats, see all the pics, and analyze all the angles. I prefer full disclosure myself, and I assume you do too.  That's why I generally pass all that information along to you.  So this post is a bit more difficult for me to write because I can't give you those details.  For legal reasons, I don't even have any pretty pictures to post.   There is normally an immense amount of competition for donors and dollars in the non profit world, but I believe that as the body of Christ we should all work together as a family;  after all, our Father owns the cattle on a thousand hills. So I'm writing to you today, not on behalf of Loving InDeed, but on behalf of another organization here in Guatemala called Mujer de Proposito (Women of Purpose). The woman who founded this organization, Haydee de Perez, is a dear friend of mine.  In fact, she's one of the few here that I consider to be family.  Years ago, God put a dream in her heart to found a safe place where abused women could not only find physical refuge, but be fed, clothed, educated, cared for medically, given the gospel, and loved in the name of Jesus.  Together with her daughter and a very dedicated team of other women, she did just that and the battered womens' shelter has been up and running for 5+ years now. Over the course of that time, the shelter has morphed into a place for women of all ages to find refuge, although more often than not it ends up being teenage girls who would otherwise have no where to go. Today, the shelter has 31 women, teens, and small children who are there because they have been beaten, raped, abused, or abandoned. And they need our help.  We are looking for donors who are willing to give up their right to details: the right to have a pretty refrigerator magnet with your sponsored girl's name, age, and picture--the right to know some of the details of her life and history--the right to even be able to pray specifically.  We need people who are just willing to help. I know that's asking a lot.  Haydee shared with me this morning that to support one person in the shelter for one month costs about $50.  That includes their food, housing, medical care, clothing, education, and transportation costs for those who can study outside the shelter.  A monthly sponsorship or a one-time gift would be equally appreciated. Either one would be not only a huge financial blessing, but also a tremendous encouragement to Haydee and her team who have struggled against all odds to keep this place open.  There is NO OTHER SHELTER for women in our entire department.

I know you all trust me to handle your money with integrity, and I can't begin to tell you how much that means to me.  Please know that even though I can't tell you specifically who you are supporting, any money you send to me for Mujer de Proposito will go directly to them in its entirety.  And if you ever come visit me, I'd be thrilled to bring you by the shelter to meet Haydee and visit the girls. To give, visit www.cten.org/lynnannmurphy and click on the donate button.  It's tax-deductible, and you can choose to send a one-time gift or set up a monthly automatic draft.  PLEASE send me a note letting me know that your donation is for the shelter, or the money is likely to end up in the Loving InDeed fund!  :)  Thank you for your endless support.  I wish I could hug all of you in person and then drag you down here to show you the tremendous work your generosity has enabled.  I hope Jesus lets me see your faces when we all get to Heaven and you receive your rewards for things you aren't even aware that you did.

A Hill of Beans

Coffee beans are, in my opinion, one God's most wonderful creations. There's nothing like a piping hot mug of liquid wonderfulness to comfort and energize first thing in the morning. Many of you know that Guatemala produces some of the best coffee in the world.  In fact, we have lots of friends who regularly travel all over Central and South America and could get coffee anywhere, but they specifically request coffee from Huehue because ours is just that amazing.  We're surrounded by coffee plants here, and this time of year they're so pretty covered in shiny, green leaves and red, ripe beans. I know some of you have toured a coffee plantation before to learn about the process of growing, harvesting, and roasting coffee.  It's really pretty interesting. But there's a side to the story that no one ever tells...a gut-wrenching side that infuriates me every January.  

Meet Marina.  She lives in Tuipic and is a faithful member of the church out there.  She's an absolute sweetheart.  Loving InDeed has grown substantially since its inception, and I desperately need an assistant. Marina is a perfect fit. I approached her about it the other day, and she was pretty excited by the opportunity.  But there's one little glitch. This time of year is coffee picking time.  In another couple of weeks, Marina will leave for three months with countless other men, women, and children to harvest coffee for the wealthy plantation owners.  I asked Marina to describe that job for me, even though I knew I wasn't going to like her answer. 

"You work from sun up to sun down six days a week," she said.  Pay is based on the weight of the beans you harvest.  If the beans are perfectly mature, a good picker can harvest 100 pounds in a day.   Each bean has to be individually separated from the stem so as to not damage the tree.   It extremely time consuming.  Since the owners want as much work out of them as possible, they are provided with a place to sleep right there on site. It's a large, drafty room filled with wooden boards like the one Marina is sitting on in the picture above, only smaller.  No mattress, no blankets, no pillow...just boards propped up by sawhorses or rocks.  People generally do this from mid January to mid March or April.  I don't think I could stand it for more than a day or two.  Now comes the part that really makes me angry.  Do you know what Marina will get paid to do this?

Coffee beans drying in the sun on someone's roof

Before I tell you, let me break it down a little bit; after all, no one buys 100 pounds of coffee at one time. So how much do you pay for a pound of coffee beans? Maybe around $7 to $15 a pound, depending on the store and the brand.  So let's go with the low end of that...$7 a pound.  I know there is a hierarchy of people who work in coffee production--the plantation owners, the harvesters, the roasters, the exporters, the retailers...and of all those people, the harvesters are going to make the least amount of money. But how many of those 700 pennies per bag of coffee would you guess goes to the person who picked that pound?   The answer is a whopping 5 pennies.  Less than 1%.  Marina will work from sun up to sun down for around $5, and then have to spend some of that to buy food and something to drink.  The plantation owners provide nothing.  In fact, some owners even charge them to sleep on the boards on their property.  It's sickening.  I'm sure you can use your imagination and figure out what happens to women and children in places like that. I've personally known kids as young as 8 years old who've been sent off alone to work the plantations. I'm not telling you this to make you feel guilty every time you take a sip of coffee.  I'm telling you this simply to share with you some of the difficulties my friends face here just trying to get by.  Imagine working 10+ hours a day for 6 days and earning $28 (if you eat nothing but tortillas and drink nothing but water).

So what should we do about it?  Honestly, I have no idea.  Buy fair trade coffee?  Maybe.  I'm not even sure how fair that is.  I wish I knew how to fix the system, but I don't.  This is one of those times that I can't possibly throw all the starfish back in the water.  Bunches of my Loving InDeed moms are leaving their kids with grandma to go work the fincas (plantations) for the next three months. Schools in indigenous areas will be half full at best because of the number of school age kids who will leave to pick beans instead of going to school.  I cannot possibly provide them all with enough money so that they don't have to go.  But maybe I can make it better for Marina.  I can pick one starfish out of the bunch and give her a break.  I still need an assistant.  It's a paying job, and she's still perfect for it. Pray for wisdom.