I entered the coop in 1985. I have always had my plots and I run them in a natural way. Since I entered the coop with the organic technology, I have earned a better price and I was able to buy my house and my children have achieved a higher level of education.
My children and I get up early to gather firewood before they go to school and I go to the fields. I work during the whole year. The crop changes depending on the season. If a coffee plant dies I plant another. The coop is composed of 18 members who are on the junta directiva. I am one of the leaders of the coop. As members of the junta, we are in charge of overseeing the processing of the coffee crop, in the picking and drying of the coffee.
Because of the coop, I have improved myself materially. I have bought lands and a house. We do well depending on the administration of the coop. I work as a farmer and I have a small business where I also dedicate time. I have also earned a university degree with the support of the coop.
I will continue cultivating the earth, conserving it and teaching people to work and to value it, seeing it with different perspectives. As a professional I have enough ability to work in an office but I like to work in the fields because it is what God has created.
I like to be self-employed because if I had a boss I would receive orders. I want to be the boss of my own life and business, but I want to be of great use to society. As human beings who, in one form or another, interrelate, everyone has an obligation to be just. I would ask the buyers of our product to be fairer so we can practice justice. They should take into greater account the great work we do. As small-farm coffee growers we pollute the environment very little, but the big businesses contaminate more and they don’t think about how to stop polluting.
This interview was translated from Spanish by Sofia Flynn.
