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"Not Just a Cup, but a Just Cup"

You receive two 2 oz. bags of Ugandan light roast ground coffee.

But that is just the beginning of the story. (Watch a video about this Fair Trade, Cup of Justice Ugandan Coffee )

The Arabica coffee you will be drinking comes from a cooperative composed of Ugandan Muslims, Christians and Jews. (Yes, there are indigenous Jews in Uganda, but that's a long story. We know that it's true because the Ugandan Jewish founder of the cooperative spoke at our synagogue.) This laudable "partnership for peace and sustainability" produces an equally splendid coffee bean called Mirembe Kawomera -- which means "delicious peace" coffee.

The cooperative itself is called Peace Kawomera and consists of 400 small-scale farmers and their families who cultivate coffee on the slopes of Mt. Elgon in Mbale, Uganda.

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"Today the world is in pain. We want to prove that a better way is to be proud of who you are, respect each other, and make something great together," says JJ Keki, founder and director of the cooperative.

According to a recent article:

"We brainstormed," Keki said, "and through participatory discussions we came up with the Mirembe Kawomera Cooperative."

The diverse religious groups came together, Keki says, by focusing on what united them.

We looked to common things that were reflected in the holy books," Keki said. "For example, we all acknowledge that we greet with the word of 'peace': shalom, salaam, mirembe."

The article also notes that "by banding together and by establishing a fair trade relationship, the farmers now realize enough profits from sales to meet their families' basic needs-a sharp contrast to the hardship of trying to sell as individuals to large corporate buyers in a glutted world market. Better circumstances have, in turn, sweetened relations between the unique Mbale Jewish community and their more numerous Muslim and Christian neighbors."

Truly a role model story of fair trade collaboration and peaceful empowerment.

Aid to Africa continues to get mostly just lip service from the Bush Administration and most of the rest of the world. Here is your chance to economically enhance the lives of a peaceful community of coffee farmers in a country that has known so much strife.

You can also buy 4 12 oz. bag of Fair Trade Peace Coffee from BuzzFlash in our Fair Trade Section.

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