The Church at Nyamata

A purple banner drapes the outside of the building which used to be the Catholic Church at Nyamata. Painted white letters on the banner boldly state, Iyo uza kwimenya nanjye ukamenya ntuba waranyishe – “if you know yourself and you know me, then you can’t kill me.”

Rwanda’s past is marked by one of the biggest failures of humankind. Faith in humanity was lost as friends killed friends, neighbors killed neighbors and one million people died. The story of the genocide has been told over and over; I won’t repeat it here. Countless news articles, books and films document what took place in 1994. Before coming to Rwanda, I read hundreds of these articles, several books and watched documentaries. I tried to remember where I was in April 1994; what was I doing? Since coming here, I’ve tried to put myself in the shoes of my Rwandan friends and colleagues. Where were they? What happened to them?

There is an unspoken rule or courtesy we respect in Rwanda - don’t ask people what happened to them during the genocide. In reality, almost everyone here was affected in some way or another. Almost everyone here has lost someone close to them (a friend or relative, or both) or they were perpetrators themselves. Imagine almost every single person was affected in a country with a population of 10 million, imagine. But we don’t ask. People go on with their daily lives; they respect each other, work together and live together. There is a time and place for mourning and remembering, for educating the new generations so that it never happens again. One of these places is the church at Nyamata, one of the many genocide memorials around the country.

The church ceased to be a house of God when ten thousand people were murdered there; 6,800 inside and another 3,200 outside. Charles was the young man who greeted us at the entrance and explained what happened. It was quiet (we were quiet) as he walked us through the church and the surrounding gardens. From the original broken down metal doors, to the tin roof with holes in it from grenades and gunfire 15 years ago, to the piles upon piles of dirty, blood stained clothes, he painstakingly explained what happened (it’s too gruesome to repeat here). Charles spoke barely above a whisper and sighed often, the stench from the clothes becoming more stifling by the minute.

We went outside and he took us underground to the mass graves. Some 40,000 people are buried at the church. The 10,000 that died inside and outside the church and another 30,000 who died in the surrounding area and whose remains were brought to the church for burial. Charles explained that the bodies which could be identified were put in coffins; all others were piled into the mass graves. Skulls and bones lined the wooden shelves as we descended the staircase. We were quiet. It was as if our breath had literally been taken away from us, you just cannot speak, and you cannot fathom what happened. You cannot.

No matter how much you read beforehand or how many films and documentaries you watch, it will never prepare you for what you experience when you visit one of these memorials. Why visit then? Because the memorials are some of the only ways families can begin to reconcile with what happened to their loved ones. They are places where victims can confront their perpetrators; they are places of education and understanding. They are not just places for Rwandans to visit and remember or mourn. Everyone, including foreigners, can learn and pay their respects. They are places where you meet people like Charles, one of only seven people that survived in the church; he was eight years old at the time. He is there everyday, sharing his story.

Sustainable Farming, Social Responsibility & Coffee…

Farming may seem like simple work, but for the majority of Rwanda’s population, it’s the only work. Most coffee farmers in Rwanda also grow potatoes, bananas, beans and cassava to live on. This type of subsistence farming provides barely enough food to eat on a daily basis; and paying for school fees, visiting the doctor and buying clothes or household items come second to making sure there is a meal on the table at the end of the day.
  
Growing coffee can help break this cycle of poverty for many farmers. As one of the only crops that can bring a supplemental income to farmers, coffee is becoming increasingly important in Rwanda. Coffee has been instrumental in the establishment of farmer cooperatives and business groups which have brought people together in this former war-torn country. Coffee is also now being consumed at the national level more widely than ever before. This awareness and spirit for coffee as an important cash crop and national beverage is a significant step for Rwanda as the country heals from the past.

The Rogers Family Company (RFC) has been buying green coffee from Rwanda for the last 3 years. As one of the biggest green coffee buyers in the country, we strive to make a difference in the lives of our coffee suppliers; the farmers. We ensure that the farmer receives a fair price for his/her coffee cherry by working directly with the washing station owners who buy their cherry and the Rwandan Coffee Board.

making organic fertilizer

Our agronomist teaches the farmers and station owners how to make organic fertilizer from the coffee pulp (pictures below) and implement proper insect control and plant management techniques in the fields.







insect trap



In addition, we invest in the coffee communities by building schools and health clinics for the coffee farmers and their children. In Rwanda, we have completed the construction of additional classrooms at two primary schools, built student desks and are in the process of building 2 more primary schools, a health clinic and bathrooms at one school. For each project we ask that the community contribute in some way, whether it is in-kind materials and/or labor. The community contribution fosters ownership of each project, ensuring its sustainability and helps to establish a positive relationship between the washing stations, the farmer and Rogers Family Company.

Specialty vs. Ordinary Coffee Processing

For simplicities sake, there are basically two ways to process coffee in Rwanda; specialty and ordinary. Specialty coffee is processed at the wet mill (or washing station) using large machines and tanks to de-pulp the cherries, ferment and clean the coffee. The beans are then dried on tables and hand sorted for quality and size separation. The process is expensive but allows for more careful quality sorting.

Ordinary coffee is usually processed by farmers at home. Pulp is removed using old, obsolete machines or rocks, (as shown in the pictures below); the beans are cleaned and then dried on tarps and mats on the ground. All beans, regardless of size, are processed together. The process is very time consuming and sorting for higher quality beans becomes challenging. However, if the right cherries are picked, and with proper equipment, care and technique, coffee processed at home can be ‘specialty quality’.

At the consumer level, ordinary coffee is sold in large volumes or bulk with unknown traceability. Specialty coffee is sold in individual lots with verification of origin. Rogers Family Company buys specialty grade coffee from Rwanda.

Vumbi Primary School

The small village of Vumbi is situated in what is quite possibly one of the most beautiful places in Rwanda – on the shores of Lake Kivu in the Western Province. Vumbi Primary school has an enrollment of about 1,400 students, with about 80-100 students in each classroom. Classrooms are so crowded that students sit outside to take exams so they can't look at each other's tests and cheat (as shown in the picture below). Vumbi Primary School sits on top of a hill and overlooks the lake and coffee farms below. The school also has about 500 coffee trees which the students take care of. Each harvest season they sell the coffee cherry to Caferwa Coffee Washing Station at Nkora and use the money to buy school supplies or repair the buildings.

Most of the students at Vumbi are primary school students; however, some classrooms are being used to teach the first three years of secondary school as well. Early this year, the Ministry of Education decided that some of the rural primary schools should be teaching the first three years of secondary school until more secondary schools are established and built. Currently, not every village has a secondary school, so many students have to walk 2-5 km to find the nearest one. Also, many secondary schools are private boarding schools and too expensive for the average child. These factors prove to be too challenging for many students and they simply forgo continuing their education. The Ministry’s decision is helping to ensure that more children have access to education and a chance to continue their studies. At Vumbi, our Community Aid Program built an additional 5 classrooms at the primary school (pictured below), finishing construction in May 2009 with the help of the community and Caferwa Coffee Washing Station. This new building will help alleviate the over crowed classrooms and provide a better learning environment for the students as well as accommodate some of the secondary school classes already being taught at the school.