Coffee Co-op Brews Mugs of Peace

By Sue Fishkoff
Published on August 25, 2005

In his three decades at the helm of the Thanksgiving Coffee Co. in Fort Bragg, California, Paul Katzeff has pioneered the process of buying coffee beans directly from Third World growers and funneling money back to them after sales to promote economic self-sufficiency and social justice.

But Katzeff had never helped Jewish coffee farmers, who don't usually figure in the ranks of those growers.

That changed with the recent release of Mirembe Kawomera, or "Delicious Peace," a Fair Trade -- and kosher -- coffee produced by a new cooperative of Jewish, Muslim and Christian coffee farmers from the Mbale region of Uganda.

"We think this coalition is unique in all of Africa," said coffee farmer J. J. Keki, leader of the 700-member Abayudaya Ugandan Jewish community that is at the core of the project.

The Nation and The World

Published on January 6, 2005

The Nation And The World.

The Graves Of Sudan

By Ruth W. Messinger
Published on November 25, 2004

In this remote region, more than 1.5 million African tribal farmers have been violently driven from their homes by the government of Sudan and the militias they armed, called Janjaweed (evil men on horseback). Despite repeated calls from humanitarian organizations and U.N. agencies warning of the worst humanitarian crisis in the world today, there continues to be a systematic program of expulsion, rape and murderous violence that has taken at least 100,000 lives.