SOME GOOD NEWS!  from our partners at First Crop 

It has been one year since we visited Tanzania, discussed the Mwika co-ops challenges and came up with a plan on the spot to get their washing station running and the raised beds built.

We are super proud and excited to share with everyone the official opening of the Mwika Co-op Washing Station, in Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. 
Over the course of 2019 and to date, with the help of our friends Inglewood Coffee Roasters, DC Coffee Roasters, and Wide Open Road Coffee Roasters, we raised US$10,000.00 towards the building of this washing station. We at First Crop Coffee also contributed a separate US$3,000.00 to help get this washing station completed. 

Due to the current travel restrictions, we had to cancel our trip to the opening ceremony, however as the current season is about to start processing the opening was not delayed. We hope to be seeing the first season of machine pulped, raised bed dried coffee from Mwika this August and we cannot wait! 

The completion of this washing station means that over 900 families in the area now have access to high-quality processing, and can sell their cherries for the first time under the new government regulations, which require all coffee to be processed through co-ops or independent washing stations. 

We learned a lot through this project and we hope that this year we can do something similar for another one of our producing groups. We're incredibly grateful for Wide Open Road, Inglewood, and DC for all their support and efforts in getting this project funded.
We are so grateful to have such amazing friends who share our vision for change! Thank you guys so much for changing lives!