Life on Earth

For 2 weeks (Feb. 12th-Feb. 25th) I will be at, or in transit to/from, the Source of the Nile in Rwanda’s Nyungwe Forest. I’m traveling with a group of North American Fair Trade coffee roasters/importers from Cooperative Coffees as they visit four emerging producer cooperatives. Rwandan coffee isn’t widely known, but has always had complex, distinct, high quality beans. Coffee is a critical key for the small country’s economic and social recovery from turmoil of 1990’s. Emerging producer cooperatives selling on the Fair Trade coffee market, have been an important element to Rwanda’s 5% growth since 2001. The story of reconciliation is an additional incentive for North American and European coffee importers.

Please check back here for reports from the field and future media presentations.

Resources of note concerning Rwanda:

1. PBS’s Wide-Angle: Changing Role of Women in Rwandan society
2. Out of Madness, A Matriarchy By Kimberlee Acquaro in Mother Jones.
3. Oxfam’s Rwanda Projects. Also see their introduction to the 1994 Genocide
4. Coffee, Fairtrade & Rwanda- Intro of Voluntary Service Overseas’ Project
5. Country Profile on the BBC: Rwanda
6. The New Times ~ Rwanda’s English newspaper
7. Radio of Rwanda

Photo Essays:

1. Through the Eyes of Children-The Rwandan Project
2. Children of Rwanda’s Genocide by Vanessa Vick
3. Birth & Death in Rwanda by James Nachtwey
4. Rwanda: 10 Years Later (graphic images)

Miscellaneous:

1. Rwandan websites Directory
   
2. Rwanda Cinema Center
3. Rwanda Film Festival
4. Learn to speak Kinyarwanda