Forest Regeneration Project in Peru (and Guatemala)

In 2005, through our social equity premium program, we gave $5,000 to the Pangoa Cooperative in Peru. With this money we are working with Ashaninkas indigenous coffee growers of the Pangoa Cooperative to reforest their sacred lands, which provide food, medicines and sacred objects and sites to this tribe. The lands have been severely degraded by illegal loggers since the 1970’s – as part of an earlier “development” project. To date, 500 trees have been planted.

In addition, the Cooperative used $3,000 of their social equity premium money to initiate a successful revolving micro-loan fund for women – the first time these women have ever had access to credit.

From the Deans Beans website:

During last year's visit to Pangoa Cooperative in Southern Peru (we purchased the first Fair Trade coffee from these good folks, which added substantially to the income of the community), we walked through deep, untouched primary forests high in the Andes. These are the lands of great medicine and culture for the Ashaninkas peoples who have lived there since beyond memory. During our walk with Fredi Nyako, a young coffee grower and community healer, Fredi would stop and point out important plants, give me samples to chew or bring back, and "sing the plants into being". It was a moving experience for me to touch so deeply the heart of a people through their "medicine". We also walked through large tracts of mountainside and valley denuded of forest, invaded and destroyed by decades of illegal logging and mining. The Ashaninkas have suffered tremendously under colonization and settler invasion for the last fifty years, with its resultant deforestation, land grabbing and generalized discrimination. In fact, our visit offered the first opportunity for most of the directors to meet Ashaninkas on their own territory, since "colonos" are forbidden to enter Ashaninkas lands. It was a little tense and awkward for many people, and the atmosphere wasn't helped much when the wife of the tribal elder gave a welcoming speech that translated as "You people have come here to steal our coffee and our lands! Go away! You are not welcome here!" I responded that she was right, in the past that was exactly what happened, and it was understandable for her to be suspicious. Let our actions speak in place of our words. She grudgingly agreed to wait and see. This last encounter was the highlight of the trip for me, as it provided a powerful opportunity to bridge not only the north/south divide, but also to confront the internal divisions within this microcosm of Peruvian society.

We held a council on what to do about healing the divide between the members of the cooperative and healing the land. Fredi suggested that we could all work together to replant and restore the degraded lands, as the Ashaninkas had begun to do with what little resources they had available. We then created this project, funded by Dean's Beans and managed by the coop and the Ashaninkas, to restore the primary forest and plant community and imbue it anew with social and spiritual significance for the Ashaninkas. In this way, the coffee that they grow could bring more than needed income. It could heal the divisions in the society and the wounds in the earth.

Update on Guatemala:

During a visit in early 2006 to the Nahuala Cooperative, Cooperative leadership stated their hope to start a reforestation project. We are currently collaborating with the Cooperative to kick-off this very important initiative.  Their hope is to replicate the success of Peru in this cooperative, meeting their specific needs.

See the website.