If it worth a sip, it worth a living price.

If it worth the sip, it worth a living price
Is it only a drink? Probably not
Is it only a seed? Could be a seed to life
That’s how we see it out here at the origin
It is a life to some
It is livelihood to others
It is an occupation to some
It is love and passion to others
If it worth a sip, it worth a living price

“ Where is that seed from? “
Is a question, some may ask
It is from all around the belt of the planet
But I am now talking about
That golden seed, the one I know better
From the country of thousand hills
Grown by families,
Led by a strong women who never bow down,
Or allow others to fix their crowns
who Let it shine on its own, see what I have become
who hold hand to hand with all of their sisters
very confident, hopeful women
But only stronger together
In all the obstacles, they have overcome
they are more powerful, like never before
Don’t let them forget, what they are fighting for
Because some, that’s what they are living for
If it worth your sip, it worth a living price

What makes this seed so special?
Is a question, some may ask 
Take a look at the facts
It is a delicious seed when roasted and brewed
But what makes it more than just a seed
It is its impact on the people behind it
People who grow it
People who sell and buy it
People who grind it
People who roast it
People who drink it and those who live it
It is grown by strong invisible people
Who spend most of their lives away
From their families, shoeless, hungry, thirsty
Carrying kilos and kilos of coffee cherries on their heads
Sometimes with babies on their backs
Walking miles and miles, to get coffee processed,
For us to have a reason to have a coffee house
Sit together, build our own empires over it.
So if it worth your kind sip, it worth a reasonable price

“We love our coffee no matter what” Agnes strongly said
“Coffee means nothing to me, I can not survive” Claudine bitterly said
“Imma take out these trees and grow potatoes at least I can eat” Gerard sadly said
“I wish I can get out of this selfish world, But I also wish it can change so I can stay” Samson said
“Coffee is our lives” Bampire hopefully said

“I will allow none to demote my coffee, As along as I can breathe” Mutugarugamba savagely said
“I thought it was just a drink, but it is truly more than that. I am now attached to the souls of the coffee, I admit that” Beauna (ma vie ma passion) said

” Every time i drink coffee i think about people behind it, and it reminds me of every moment i have spent with the coffee farmers.” DeeAnn deeply said

“Coffee has framed my approach to see the plight before the purpose of my work. But we should be selfish to be selfless “ Arthur heartily said

“I shall listen, learn, educate, aware, build, help, buy, roast, brew, draw, drink, and write coffee for the love of the cup and people behind it” Smayah deeply said
“But do you really see hope and better life in this world or we just enslaved? ” Donata asked
“we shall do our best level best to improve the Quality “ Asterie confessed
“But what else can I do, I have gave my life to this seed Smayah” Helen said
“we still have hope for better cup, better future” Martin heartily said
“ They have corrupted mind, they would starve instead of growing something else. They have a very strong belief in coffee” Eric B said
“For they know no other way, their soul strong. They wake every day with only one goal in their minds to make coffee better to be profitable” Uwajeneza said
“We will make coffee better and for all” SCA said
“We believe in relationship coffee” David deeply said
“Investing in a woman is investing in a whole community” Verna said
“They deserve fair price for their coffee, to survive” Brown said

“There will always be changes and that is the only thing that will never change that there won’t be changes.” Adam said

If it worth a sip, it worth a living price, I say
My lady! Although coffee growing is hard
And even harder for those whose lives depend on it
Yes! It is a painful and difficulty system that has forged your character and made you who you are
We still looking at you
Your belief in it, then is never hard to craft
Take pride in being a coffee queen
Not matter how invisible you seem
I know it can be hard to deem
But tell you what, you are truly seen
You are the warrior we all dream of becoming
You were given such life because you are strong enough to live it.
If it worth your or their sip, it worth a living price

You make it taste strong and bold
It is worth more than its weight in gold
You make our dreams worth chasing
You give a reason to be called coffee people
Without you there is no that seed
Without it there is no coffee house
There would not be coffee people
And so is coffee professionalism
So you are a queen and a king
That displays her power by producing the fine seed
If it worth a sip, it worth a living price.

How you feel no one knows
Burdens felt but never honored
However, the fire is to refine us, hopefully not to distruct
A way you live! May the structure change
We know they deserve better
But they are limited on the tables
Our people are not just coffee farmers

Their paths do not just lie in the mountains
Yes, I am speaking for equality
I am speaking for diversity and inclusion
I am also advocating for a rethink
To make their lives better, to make them feel valued and
Strengthened in their work so we can guarantee the future for our daily cups
Once again if it worth your sip, it worth a living price
Dear coffee queen and King, you are both functional and profound.
A strong person, a (s) hero, a blessing to the world.
You stand and You bargain.
If it worth a sip, it worth a living price.

Dedicated to my beloved coffee people. _ yours forever! that girl from the origin.

I am, As I.

I am learning, As I grow.

I am whole, As I heal.

I am blessed, As I find my way.

I am capable, As I discover my passion.

I am brave, As I let go and let in.

I am worthy, As I do what’s best for me and people around me.

I am trusting, As I change.

I am brewing, As I drink.

I am embracing, As I roast.

I am representing, As I talk.

I am hustling, As I work.

I am reading, As I write.

I am observing, As I travel,

I am loving, As I live.

I am breathing, As I remain.

I am drawing, As I see.

I am Leaving, As I go.

I am rising, As I grow.

I am learning, As I grow.

 

How Coffee Healed My Country.

                   How Coffee Healed My Country.

I grew up in a country where the lives of innocent people are our guiding lights:
Rwanda’s tragic story is a lesson to everyone and everywhere. reflecting on my personal experience working as a specialty coffee professional in
Kigali, Rwanda.
I was born after genocide (in 1997) and brought up by the lovely community who taught
me the value of life and the treasure of generosity.
I was lucky enough to grow up in the good governance that put lots effort in education for all
(boys and girls), to go to schools that strongly encouraged us to desist from using potentially
divisive labels. I had mentors and teachers who encouraged us not to identify ourselves as Hutu
or Tusti, who instead asked us to focus on the building of a common, peaceful Rwanda as the
next leaders of our country – so I grew up knowing that education is the key to life.
Though, growing up without my extended family affected me. I was raised by my mother most
my life as we lost our father in 2002. She has been everything to me – I grew up watching her
struggling to educate 14 children, she couldn’t afford to support everyone in the family to
attend university.
When I finished high school, I knew nobody was going to help with my college tuition but me. I
started looking for a job the day I finished high school and I fortunately found an opportunity to
attend trainings at Question Coffee (Sustainable Growers), the social enterprise that unlocks
women’s potential to learn how to make coffee. It was at this time, I was introduced to coffee
as a career. For me, it was a challenge even to drink coffee for the first time. My first sip of
espresso will never leave my memory! Regardless, I needed to save money for college, so I had
to transform this challenge into an opportunity. I started drinking and understanding the story
and science behind coffee.
I was lucky enough to work for a company that works directly with women farmers, offering
them free training on best agricultural practices (seed-to-cup trainings) and giving them access
to trading partners. I started visiting these farmers and, whenever I’d be at the farms, the
stories I would hear there helped me to understand that coffee was not just coffee, but is our
life. They gave me a hope to begin the coffee life journey that I was just starting, and the need
to save money for college turned into the love and passion I have for my job. Two years after
starting at Question Coffee (2018), I began law school.
The government strongly encouraged farmers to work in cooperatives, not only for the sake of
economic development, but also to work as a team and to bring back unity and reconciliation
among Rwandans, which I believe it is one of the keys to our peaceful country now. Coffee
exportation was one of the drivers to pull up the economy of our country. We coffee people

understand very much that our quality standards should continually improve in both our supply
and value chains, and we have high expectations for ourselves. Coming together again was a
start; keeping together was a process; working together successfully allowed us to resolve
conflicts within Rwandan society and rebuild our peaceful strong nation. It was once a chaotic
dark, bloody nation that we all believed was impossible to heal. But it has.
I can smile – because the pain has gone – but still cry because it is where I am from. I am glad
that we are one nation, one language, one message of love and hope. We are strong again.
Coffee has given me a professional focus: I feel proud, strengthened, connected, motivated,
valued, and inspired by it. Now, I use it as a platform to inspire those around me to believe,
work, and achieve. To give hope to the hopeless, and to help our leaders to forge the future for
Rwandan society. And of course, to contribute to the development and sustainability of our
coffee industry that played such a big part in helping my nation to rebuild itself, so that I could
also build a life I wanted for myself.

EDUCATION

Father, Mother

Provide me with pen and slate

I want to learn

Land is gone

Cattle and sheep are not there

Not there any more

What’s left?  Learning, learning

Mother, if you had many cattle and sheep

I would ask for a spear and shields

But now –

I don’t want a spear

I do not want a shield

I want the shield and spear of learning

Mother,

The war of shields and spears

Is now ended

What is left?

The battle of wits,

The battle of the mind

I, we all want to learn

We have to raise our voices higher and higher

Saying that education is life and the key for the future

Yet it is and let’s do more and more

Become better beings, educated and later at our end, leaving a legacy to empower others

Let’s make it real and perfect,

And learn.

 

MY NAME IS COFFEE!

A cup of coffee that opens my eyes
And make my face lights up at everyone who enters our coffee house
Which was memorably undesired for the first time
And ended up sustain my life!
A houseblend roasted full-bodied besides love
The grind of those coffee beans
The way the filtered liquid warms me enough
Makes me steady, curious and ready for the day
Ready to complete people’s lives and hence completing mine as well
Positively affecting calm nerves, thoughts, and emotions

I like those early morning hours just for me
Before the business, before the clatter,
After the drip of crazy dreams that muddy up
My mind in motion theatrics those pretty little beans
Glisten, listen to my inner settling, quiet healing
And think about the week.

Mostly looks like;
On Mondays getting up is trouble
Without a quick espresso as it’s double
Tuesday’s if I’ve had a shocker, my only solace is black eye
Wednesdays if I get frustrated it has to be
Black cold brew to cool down negatives vibes
Thursday as I am approaching the weekend
I take the beans, roasted and new
Add water, grind and brew
Bitter as dark chocolate, rich, smooth and sweet
Mix friendship, oh what a treat!?
Coffee!

More sips of freshly dripped coffee ahead of sunrise everyday
As obsessed, look at my coffee
Get wide across the horizon
Hear and feel my slurp of coffee daymaker
As a roaster and cupper
Such a feeling of another winday!

And here coffee and poetry I go!

ALWAYS BETTER TOGETHER

I used to think that friends were
The people that you could laugh
And talk to, now I know that friends
Aren’t that, they are people you laugh with,
Cry with, having with, and stay with and
It is always better together.

He is someone I turn to
When my spirit need a lift
He is someone I treasure.
Sometimes we can’t ease our
Aching heart. nor take our pain
Away, but let’s stay
Will always be better together

I wonder how did he know I needed guidance
To help me through the day,
How did he know I needed kindness
To take stress away,
But he knows I need a hand to show me on my way
And he knows I need a smile to reassure me through the day
He knows I need courage to make an honest real stand and laugh
To take away a sadness, because
It is always better together.

I met him as a stranger
But making him a friend wasn’t that strange.
He is always there when I need a help
He is such a handsome melanin
Austen such a good blessin’
That always makes me smillin’
Tnd that’s always better together.

He loves fun, I love fun
He made me type, he made skype
He is such a good friend for many years
Through the tears and fears.
And he never forsake me
He been my loyal supporter,
He is not just a friend but a brother

He always saw best in me
Even when I was too blind to see me
And always better together.
I never tell him
How important he makes me feel
For all the times he makes me smile
And showing just how much he cares
It does my heart good. and
Always hoping for better together

I just want to thank you
Though i am unable to explain
How grateful i am to have
Such a friend like you
Even though there is miles between us
But we will always keep each other
Close at heart and will always be
Better together

THE DAY

That day in a coffee shop was me.
You sat in the corner,sipping coffee
They say they best brew.
In the midst of many unknown faces
Only mine you knew.
The descent at the reminiscing rain
Of million memories,it seemed to cue.
I was oblivious of your presence over there
Or maybe i knew but i wouldn’t care.

The movement of my lips while i spoke
With shannon. and that a miss smile at my
Her potrayed everything i couldn’t mend,
these innocent expressions and that child
Like behavior.
To be equally care free and to laugh
Heartily is all that you endeavor.

And these dangling dreadlocks seemed
To follow my everymove
So grateful,these glistening eyes
Of mine seemed to be window to my soul,
So beautiful the moment stopped for you
As i stood to leave and searched for my coat.

A strange fear gripped your heart as a lump
Formed in your throat.
Hmm!!!is it that,you have faded into the oblivion?
You reflect.
Apart from this smile everything seemed so perfect.
Spilling your coffee you half-stood on your place.
As i turned my back on you and to the main door
I started to pace.then i did something leaving you
Eternally satisfied.
I looked at you,winked and smiled, a smile which
Was not a miss anymore.the one that you deserved.
Forever more,gone was i…seeing you smile too.
He said…..

I am kigali

I am me

I am small but smart

I am talented

I am wild and free

I am fresh as green

I am capital of thousand hills country.

I had a vision

But he ruined my mission

I was shocked by the time

I was hurt

I lost my people

I lost my fellow

I lost my lovers

I lost everything

But I remained with my brain

I am kigali.

Chaotic was all I was

Sorrow and pain was all I felt

Anxiety was all inside

But still I will be pretty kigali.

Now I realize that my past is

Better  place to visit but isn’t

good place to stay,

I decided to stand tall than living on my knees

I knew I was strong enough to rebuild myself

and always felt victory in me,

I am kigali.

I am now standing tall like a pyramid

I have hope for the future,

my people are so courageous,

and contributing a lot to strengthen my country

I am now welcoming the whole world

I am kigali.

I can not forget about my good leadership that pulled me

from the dark to light but with the power of God

It was just like born again kigali.

I am now shinning

giving hope to the hopeless ones

my story is a lesson for the world

I am kigali.

Can’t wait to see my tomorrow but still

I will be shinning, flashing, and rising kigali.

Coming together was a start, keeping together

was a progress and now working together is

a success of I

I am kigali.

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