From Harlem to Harrar
Posted: Jul 27, 2010
Development funds for coffee farmers can come from a variety of places—governments, aid groups and coffee companies themselves are typical sources. Now you can add the church to that list. Well, one church in particular: the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem. The New York Times yesterday ran a lengthy piece on the church’s efforts to develop a fund to help improve the growing and harvesting techniques of around 700 farmers in Ethiopia’s Harrar region.
The Abyssinian Baptist Church, one of the most prominent religious institutions in Harlem, has Ethiopia at the heart of its history, having been founded in part by Ethiopian seamen who were visiting New York in the early-1800s. The Harrar effort began after a group of church members toured the region in 2007. “The villages were so simple, so lacking in the amenities that we are so used to,” one congregant tells the NYT, “and at one point I just had to walk away, and I stood there and cried.”
—Dan Leif
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